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Cougar attacks ranch horse at Bridge Lake

A recent cougar attack near Bridge Lake left a local rancher’s horse mortally wounded.

A recent cougar attack near Bridge Lake left a local rancher’s horse mortally wounded.

Dan LaFrance of Whitley Lake Ranch is cautioning his neighbours after one of his “good” ranch horses was badly injured by a cougar.

“It’s probably about one of the nastiest cougar attacks I’ve seen. I had to put the horse down.”

On the night of Jan. 28, LaFrance says, the cougar came through during a snowstorm, went past a cattle herd and a pen containing 130 yearling calves to take out his strong, nine-year-old bay, a good sized cattle horse at 16-hands high.

“What’s more disturbing for me is there’s lots of moose and deer out here, and when you have a healthy animal being attacked like that, there might be something wrong with the cat, or it’s old.”

The rancher says he has a lot of experience with cougars and has seen the results of big cat attacks a number of times over the years, but never one involving a horse.

The sad turn of events was also a very big loss for his ranch because they used the horse for cutting, roping, sorting and range work, and it will be costly to replace, he notes.

Another of his larger ranch horses was injured less severely, and the tracks indicated the cougar had then run off, so LaFrance says he suspects the other horse charged in to try to help the bay.

When he reported the attack to the local conservation office, the rancher says he was told an officer would come out at some point to see if anything needs to be done.

LaFrance adds that spreading word of the roaming cougar might also remind folks to supervise their dogs and cats on outdoor trips, especially at night.

The ranch is located south off Highway 24 about two kilometres down Machete Lake Road.