Natalee Dennis was sitting in an outside scorching tub together with her father, Steve Dennis, of their yard scorching tub after they heard an animal close by.
Pondering it was a raccoon or a cat, Dennis grabbed her cellphone to make use of the flashlight and begin filming.
“We obtained one thing down right here?” her dad requested her, peering over the sting of the bathtub in Tofino, on B.C.’s Vancouver Island.
“In all probability the raccoons,” he says as a pair of glowing yellow eyes might be seen peering via foliage. “C’mon. C’mon.”
Moments later, Dennis will get a greater view, exclaiming, “Oh, it’s a cougar, Dad!”
“It’s! It’s!” she repeats as her father replies, “No, it isn’t” on the similar time the video captures the animal’s head and higher torso peering immediately at them.
“Holy shit! Ho ho! Sure certainly,” her dad might be heard saying simply because the video cuts off, and the pair splash to the far facet of the bathtub.
Dennis says her dad had encountered cougars earlier than, and understanding what to do, they obtained out of the bathtub as calmly as attainable and slowly moved inside, the place they watched it for an additional 20 minutes or so.
“It was simply trying round,” she mentioned in an interview with CHEK Information. “It truly is cool.”
Many individuals agree: Dennis has posted the video to TikTok the place it has obtained 1000’s of views and feedback, many impressed by how calmly the pair reacted.
“Sure certainly,” in response to seeing a cougar mere ft away from you, is a brand new form of class I aspire to realize,” wrote one viewer.
“WAAAAY too informal,” mentioned one other.
However Wooden says rising up within the space, each she and her dad are well-acquainted with the right way to react to a cougar even whether it is watching you whilst you sit in a scorching tub.
“You study staying calm if seeing a cougar,” she mentioned. Even so, she says, she by no means anticipated to be so shut to 1. “We will need to have been solely a foot away from it … a 200-pound kitty subsequent to us.”
There have been a number of latest sightings of cougars on each Vancouver Island and the B.C. Decrease Mainland however, according to numbers from the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, there have not been any extra reported sightings than common in latest months.
And whereas they’ll pose a threat, WildSafe B.C. says cougars attacking people are uncommon.
The group says anybody who encounters a cougar is suggested to “hold calm” and “by no means run.” As a substitute, it says it is best to “make your self look as massive as attainable and again away slowly, protecting the cougar in view and permitting a transparent exit” for the animal.
Dennis says the encounter hasn’t stopped her household from utilizing their scorching tub, however they’re altering their hours in the meanwhile.
“The rule is we’ll go in throughout the day however not at night time proper now.”
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