Workers at 40 Knots Vineyard and Estate Winery, north of Courtenay, made a grim discovery Tuesday.
A dead sheep; victim of an apparent cougar attack.
40 Knots tasting room manager, Alana Johnson, said they haven’t seen the cougar since the attack, but the B.C. Conservation Officer Service has been paying close attention to the matter.
“We have called in a conservation officer and they have been taking care of everything since,” said Johnson. “They came out and set up a trail cam to see if they can find it, and they (officers) have been back and forth every day.”
(The B.C. Conservation Officer Service had not responded to interview requests by the time of publication.)
As for the winery, Johnson said the appropriate action has been taken to ensure another such incident does not happen.
“We moved [the other sheep] off the property that day,” she said. “We still have geese and chickens, but they get penned up every single night.”