Nanoose Bay’s Brant Protasiewich says he hasn’t slept for days as he tries to protect his herd of sheep from a hungry cougar that’s stalking his property.
He told CHEK News the large cat even stalked him Monday morning.
The BC Conservation Officer Service (COS) has told Protasiewich the cougar is doing “cougar things” and will move on, but Protasiewich is up all hours of the day and night watching over his herd.
The cougar has been hanging out in a ravine adjacent to his farmstead.
The Nanoose Creek ravine is a protected area, but he says he’s ready to shoot to kill if it comes on his property again.
So far, the cat has killed two of his and one of his neighbour’s sheep.
Enter CHEK News viewer Kathy Miller, who watched the weekend news stories with concern and compassion and now has a suggestion for Protasiewich.
“We were here for just about a year before we got Pippen because we did notice the bear and the cougar footprints on the property, and we were worried about the grandkids, so that’s when we got Pippen,” Miller said.
Pippen is a six-year-old Anatolian Shepherd, a dog breed bred for centuries to protect livestock.
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Miller only has ducks now, but she used to have goats on her Errington property and says there was never a problem with Pippen around.
“We haven’t seen a cougar at all since we’ve had her so you know cougars are looking for easier prey, so I think Pippen is a really good deterrent,” she added.
She can sense a wild animal on the property from inside the house and begins barking nonstop until it’s gone.
“I’ve seen some bear scat, or I’ve seen some evidence of a bear around the perimeter, so every time we say, oh, it’s nothing, she’s barking at nothing. It always turns out to be something,” said Miller’s partner, Matt Small.
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In fact, Anatolian Shepherds are being used to protect livestock from Cheetahs in Namibia. Before the dogs were used, 800 to 900 cheetahs had to be killed every year.
After the dogs were brought in, zero Cheetahs were killed because they were no longer harassing the livestock.
“I think it would really help, yeah, and not always Anatolians, there’s other ones, like Great Pyrenees are very common livestock guardians,” added Miller.
Words of advice for any livestock owner having problems with wild animals.
Dean Stoltz
