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It’s a sight you wouldn’t expect to see in the Strait of Georgia – a cougar swimming alongside a boat.

A group of people was travelling back to Sechelt last Thursday afternoon when all of a sudden they noticed a cougar in the water beside them. They were at Nine Mile, where Sechelt Inlet and Salmon Inlet meet.

“It was the first cougar I ever saw so it was pretty exciting,” said Mark Wilson who had hopped a ride on his friend’s boat to go home at the end of the day. Wilson works on power plants in the area.

“It was an adrenaline rush,” said Wilson, who wasn’t scared by the big cat. “It got me fired up.”

As the group scrambled to take pictures and video, the cougar appears to be trying to get on the boat.

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“I think he felt a bit threatened by us,” said Wilson, “but there wasn’t any danger or anything.”

While this is the first cougar Wilson has seen swimming in the inlet, he said he’s also seen a bear and a deer going for a swim.