Police are warning pedestrians about an adult cougar roaming near downtown Victoria, telling them to avoid the area this morning. A wild cougar runs away before it was chased down and eventually trapped and tranquilized in the community of James Bay in Victoria, B.C., Monday, October 5, 2015. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chad Hipolito

Victoria police say they had to kill a cougar Tuesday after the animal was spotted near a school and residences.

The department says officers made the "difficult decision" to kill the animal just before 4 p.m. Tuesday because it was spotted in a busy area near the Selkirk Waterfront.

Police say the full-grown cougar was first spotted in the early morning in the same neighbourhood in the middle of a park, and officers killed the animal after finding it a high risk to public safety.

Victoria police say the animal was close to schools and homes and conservation officers would have taken too long to respond. The department says it's "extremely rare" for police to kill an animal and the decision was "not made lightly."

Victoria police first alerted the public to the stealthy cougar's pre-dawn stroll through the Vancouver Island neighbourhood, using loudspeakers on their cruisers to warn residents to take shelter.

A statement from Victoria police said officers were called to the Selkirk Waterfront area along the east side of the Gorge Waterway at around 5 a.m. for a report of a cougar sighting.

They located the big cat, described as full grown, moving through bushes along the side of a building in the Burnside neighbourhood, about three kilometres north of Victoria's downtown core.

"Officers kept an eye on the cougar’s location and used their patrol car P-A systems to notify pedestrians and cyclists, and assisted in escorting pedestrians out of the immediate area," said the police statement.

"While uncommon, cougars have occasionally wandered into urban areas in Victoria in the past," said the BC Conservation Officer Service in a statement, after its members were called to assist in tracking the animal.

Officers were posted outside a nearby school, to ensure students arrived safely, but no further signs of the cougar had been found at the time.

Cougars have been spotted numerous times in or around Victoria in recent years, including separate cats prowling the James Bay neighbourhood near the B.C. legislature in 2015 and again in 2017.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2023.

News from © The Canadian Press, 2023