WATCH: A cougar gets too close for comfort to some campers near Campbell River. Submitted by Oren Hanscomb.
Oren Hanscomb was on a camping trip with three friends near Ralph River about an hour north of Campbell River a couple weeks ago when they had a hair-raising encounter with a cougar.
“It wasn’t moving like prey. It was moving like a predator,” said Hanscomb.
The group was out for the day in their jeep looking for wildlife and were just about to turn around for dinner when a cougar crossed the road in front of their car.
Hanscomb expected the typically shy predator to hide in the bushes below the road, but the cat boldly poked it’s head out and came a lot closer than he expected.
“It was looking at us like ‘can we eat this?'” said Hanscomb.
The group had their windows open, but as the cat crept closer, the group quickly rolled up their windows.
Hanscomb says he was no doubt it would have jumped in the car, given the chance. For the campers, the predator got a little too close for comfort, but they still managed to sleep soundly that night.
“It was fairly close, but there were lots of people in the area. For it to follow us back to our campsite, that would have been pretty rare,” said Hanscomb.
Hanscomb said he has no doubt that this cat was looking for its next meal and is warning people to not get too close, no matter how safe they feel.
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