When a cougar wanders into the Canadian suburbs, it's likely somebody will panic and call animal control. The animal is then captured and destroyed. That's the way the story plays out in Squamish, British Columbia where five cougars, including two year-old cubs, have been destroyed since 2009 because they ventured too far into civilization.
But when a builder clear cuts the cougar's forest home and builds tract houses, the cougar has nowhere to lodge its complaint and no voice in the matter. Brian Vincent, a local wildlife advocate, thinks the cougar most recently spotted in Squamish was displaced by clearcutting for a new housing development. He is calling for better municipal planning which develops the city's downtown instead of moving more houses into wild areas.
Support Vincent's argument for leaving wild places for native inhabitants like the cougar and focussing human development on areas already cleared for business and housing.
We the undersigned support Brian Vincent's argument that Squamish needs to focus further development on its downtown and brown spaces and avoid displacing wildlife. When builders clear cut a forest to build a new residential development, hundreds of animals lose their homes. You are seeing cougars because they have lost their homes and are now wandering into yours. Leave the cougar's habitat alone and build in areas that are not important wildlife areas!
