Wildlife
Bullets, condoms and refuse – see what’s dumped in our protected grasslands
KAMLOOPS – Watching several trucks drive by Batchelor Heights into the province's protected grasslands and not knowing the driver's purpose for visiting makes Park Ranger Amanda Weber-Roy nervous as she prepares for a day of work in the Lac du Bois Grasslands Saturday. She looks for signs of recreational users — an ATV, a mountain...
Why the City of Kelowna wants your dog on a leash
KELOWNA - The warm weather means more residents and their dogs are out enjoying the outdoors, and in some cases, that's leading to conflicts with wildlife. The City of Kelowna issued a press release Thursday afternoon asking dog walkers to help ensure wildlife can enjoy the nice weather too. Park Services was recently notified of...
Bobcat sightings becoming more common in the North Okanagan
VERNON - North Okanagan residents spotted an increasing number of bobcats in recent years. Conservation officer Mike Richardson says there have already been 16 bobcat reports since April of 2014. That’s not out of line with the last few years—14 last year and 18 the year before. But it’s a lot more than it used...
Hunters to march on Premier’s office
KELOWNA – The president of the Oceola Fish and Game Club isn’t going to Saturday's protest at Premier Christy Clark’s office for himself. He’s doing it for his step-son Colin and others of his generation. “I grew up in the Cariboo and general open season on moose ran from September to November,” Sean Richardson says....
Up close and personal with a bobcat in Kettle Valley
AMAZING PHOTO OF WILD CAT KELOWNA – A close encounter with a bobcat has prompted a warning for people living in the Village of Kettle Valley in Kelowna. A couple of neighbours spotted a bobcat dragging a house cat away Friday afternoon, Jan. 9, according to Kettle Valley president Stephen Wells. “They ran at the...
NEWSMAKERS 2014: North Okanagan cougars clash with humans
THIS WEEK, INFONEWS.CA IS COUNTING DOWN THE TOP FIVE STORIES OF THE YEAR. TODAY: NUMBER FIVE VERNON - It may have been the year of the horse according to the Chinese Zodiac, but in Vernon, 2014 was the year of the cougar. Between April and October, the Conservation Service received 186 cougar reports in the...
Man captures incredible photo of picnicking bear in Coldstream
LAST DAY TO ENTER OUR CAPTION CONTEST AND DON'T FORGET TO LIKE YOUR FAVOURITES! VERNON - It was a scene right out of a children's story: A bear nonchalantly snacking on chestnuts at a picnic table. No, it’s not photoshopped. Rick Zoethout, with Cidel Moving and Storage, captured the photo while loading items into a...
HELSTON: Don’t be afraid to call the conservation officer
Residents across the Interior contacted the conservation service over the past year to report wildlife encounters ranging from simple sightings to bizarre and in some cases, tragic extremes. There was a cougar found inside a Vernon home chewing on a squeaky toy, a pack of wolves that killed a woman’s dog in Merritt, aggressive coyotes...
Check out the neat surprise these North Okanagan residents found on their game camera
ENDERBY - Some North Okanagan residents found a warm and fuzzy surprise on their game camera this past summer: two baby bears. The cubs were caught wrestling, attacking the camera and playing around in a clearing. The camera was located about 100 meters from the photographers’ home on a forested property just outside Enderby. The...
Trap set for yet another North Okanagan cougar
NORTH OKANAGAN - A cougar preying on house cats in a North Okanagan subdivision marks yet another big cat encounter in what has been a busy year for the conservation service. Sgt. Josh Lockwood of the North Okanagan Conservation Service says the latest cougar was spotted two weeks ago in the McLeod subdivision, north-east of...
Dogs get between cougars and people during two Osoyoos encounters
OSOYOOS - Two people encountering cougars in Osoyoos were fortunate to be with their dogs when the chance meetings occurred. A cougar was spotted near Magnolia Place (Destiny Beach) on Monday, Sept. 29 around 8:30 p.m. The cougar was chased off by a dog who came back injured but with blood on his mouth, according...
A cougar killed her dog and dropped it at her feet
VERNON - A Vernon family is readjusting to life without their beloved family dog after he was killed by a cougar in their backyard. Milton, a six-year-old Chihuahua/Maltese, was let out to play as usual the morning of Sept. 21 in the backyard of the family’s McLennan Road property in the BX area of Vernon....
I spy: Have you seen these endangered species of the South Okanagan?
PENTICTON - The South Okanagan is a vast land full of rare, strange and interesting creatures. And it is known as one of the most at risk regions in all of Canada, according to the South Okanagan-Similkameen Conservation Program. Most at-risk species can be divided into four categories: Wetlands, grasslands, forests and riparian areas. Here’s...
Cougar discovered inside a home, chewing on a dog toy
VERNON - It wasn’t a 911 call anyone would ever expect to make. “There’s a cougar in my house chewing on a squeaky toy,” says a Westside Road resident who asked to be referred to only by her first name, Verena. “The police initially thought I might be hallucinating.” Verena, 53, just returned home from...
Wondering where the wildlife is? WildSafeBC has you covered
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - It’s spring and that means there are lots of wild baby animals roaming around, but hopefully not in backyards and towns. In the Thompson-Okanagan, black bears are the most common wildlife spotted. There have been a total of 42 black bear sightings in the last two weeks; three in Kamloops, eight in Naramata,...