Large areas of Whistler Blackcomb will stay closed again on Monday after more cougar encounters over the weekend.
The latest sightings were reported Sunday morning on the Blackcomb side of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park.
Whistler Blackcomb says the Ascent Trail, Blackcomb bike trails, and both the Creekside and Garbanzo Zones will stay closed Monday.
A young family tells Global News they were on a trail just before noon when a woman got caught with a cougar above her and another below.
The family says the woman banged her hiking poles together to scare the big cats off before they arrived.
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“My dad had pepper spray on him,” explains 11-year-old Carter.
“And he’s like, ‘yeah it’s a cougar’ and he just kept screaming ‘it’s a cougar, it’s a cougar.’”
Carter and his parents then took the Gondola the rest of the way down.
Conservation officers say they have not found the cougars yet but stress the priority is public safety.
“We’re still up on the mountain investigating those incidents and we have a number of conservation officers in the area,” says Sgt. Chris Boyle with the BC Conservation Officer Service.
“In both instances no one was injured however the cougars did get quite close to the bikers and in one case, the cougar chased the biker for about 300 metres,” he added.
Officers say the animals are not candidates for relocation since they’re already in a wild area, they hope the big cats will leave on their own, adding these incidents are believed to be related.
“We had some encounters at Rubble Creek a couple of weeks ago in Garibaldi Park and then again on Whistler Mountain a couple of days ago, and now on Blackcomb mountain, Boyle explains.
“So, it’s a series of events similar in nature, which is quite unusual.”
Officers say if the cougars remain in the area and threaten the safety of people, they could be destroyed.
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