THE WOMAN WHO WRESTLED A COUGAR

Her mind racing, Larrane Leech leapt on to the cat, hoping against hope she could protect the children

- Mary Murray

Nudged awake by the morning sun, the young cougar opened its jaws in a teeth-baring yawn and stretched its muscular forelegs. Then it started down the mountainside, crossed a narrow highway and loped towards the wide, rushing river. For days, the cougar had been edging closer to the small lumber village of Lillooet on the Fraser River, at the edge of the mountains of southern British Columbia. Now, after drinking the river’s cold water, the cougar bedded down again in the nest of tall grass.

On 3 July 1991, the five children in Larrane Leech’s daycare group were outdoors early, painting bright tempera landscapes under the penetrating sun. By 10 a.m., it was time to find shade, so Larrane decided they would walk down to the river. “We’re going to pick berries now,” she announced.

At 44 years old, she had made one of her dreams come true when she turned her home into a daycare centre. It had taken hard work and determination to get her certification. After completing her coursework in early-childhood education, she had worked as a volunteer in a daycare centre while holding down a job at the local lumber mill and raising three teen sons alone.

So far, the centre was operating smoothly. But it was too soon to tell whether the families she worked for would be happy with it. And she worried about being able to care for enough children to make the business pay off.