Cougars are becoming a problem on Vancouver Island, BC. Last September, four cougars were spotted prowling through Victoria (the capital of BC), on Vancouver Island.
Vancouver Island has a growing population of deer who look for food in city gardens and the cougars are following them into the city.
Cougars rarely attack humans, but in the cases where it has happened it is usually because the cougar is hurt or startled.
Dieter Gerhard is a long-time resident of Victoria. “We have a very fat cougar living on the property next door to us,” he said. The cougar is attracted to the deer who come to graze nearby. He said the cougar does not pose a threat to him or the guests who stay at his bed-and-breakfast. “Local residents see (the cougar) occasionally and he doesn’t disturb us at all. We have to be mindful of pets, to bring them in at night.”
Vancouver Island residents are being advised to report cougar sightings immediately and if they are confronted by a cougar to stay calm, talk to the animal in a strong and confident voice and back away slowly while facing the cougar. Many people have survived cougar attacks by fighting back with rocks or even their fists.
Vancouver Island is a beautiful part of Canada. It is as far west as you can go in the country. Visitors to the island can kayak beside pods of whales, or run around the trunk of a centuries-old giant cedar tree. Every fall, thousands of salmon return to lay their eggs in the streams and rivers of Vancouver Island.
People visit Vancouver Island from all over the world and like it very much – unfortunately, so do the cougars!
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
What is the weirdest animal or insect that you have seen in your neighborhood? What did you do when you saw it?
Reading Prompt
Underline any words in today’s article that you did not understand. Now reread each sentence with an underlined word. If you have an idea of what the underlined word means because of the other words in the sentence, you’re using a reading strategy called “syntax.”
But how does that work?
Brainstorm with a friend or your teacher how a reader’s mind is able to use syntactic clues to make sense of unfamiliar words. Hint: As you read the previous sentence, you probably just did it!
Primary, Junior, and Intermediate
Predict the meaning of and rapidly solve unfamiliar words using different types of cues, including: syntactic (language structure) cues (e.g., word order, language patterns, punctuation) (OME, Reading: 3.2).
Grammar Feature: Quotation Marks
Quotation marks are always placed right before and after the exact words spoken by someone. When using quotation marks, always place periods, commas, and other punctuation between the first and second quotation mark. The paragraph below shows this well.
Dieter Gerhard is a long-time resident of Victoria. “We have a very fat cougar living on the property next door to us,” he said. The cougar is attracted to the deer who come to graze nearby. He said the cougar does not pose a threat to him or the guests who stay at his bed-and-breakfast. “Local residents see (the cougar) occasionally and he doesn’t disturb us at all. We have to be mindful of pets, to bring them in at night.“
In the sentences below, punctuation is missing between the quotation marks. Place the missing punctuation in the appropriate places.
1. He asked Lucy, “Last night when we went to the movie did I but the popcorn or did you”
2. “Three weeks ago before the storm all of the trees had leaves” explained the teacher.
3. The quarterback yelled at his players, “Jimmy Sandra and Ahmed try to get open and score a touchdown We need to score now”
4. A sign in Albert Einstein’s office famously read, “Not everything that counts can be counted and not everything that can be counted counts.”
