Bow Valley has a stable cougar population

Posted By Larissa Barlow

Posted 6 months ago

By Larissa Barlow

Larissa@thecrag.ca

While several cougars in BC have been killed recently after bold behaviour and brazen attacks, it’s very rare to even see a mountain lion in Banff, let alone have one go after people.

The Bow Valley has a stable cougar population with many living close to areas immediately adjacent to the Banff townsite.

Unlike bears, cougars are on the landscape in lower elevations year round, yet are a rare sight.

“It’s a real privilege if people get the chance to see a cougar in Banff National Park but it certainly is rare,” said human-wildlife conflict specialist Steve Michel.

Parks Canada does winter wildlife corridor monitoring and found one large male around the Banff area as well as a couple of groups of females with kittens.

“Obviously cougars are attracted to their prey, which is primarily deer, elk and sheep. So wherever those elk tend to be is where cougars tend to be,” Michel said.

Parks staff work to keep predators like cougars out of the townsite by hazing their prey out of the area as well.

“That ties back to why it’s so important why we don’t have lots of deer and elk in the townsite,” he said. “That’s why we don’t want people doing silly things like feeding deer in the townsite, encouraging them to stay.”

Other towns have seen first hand the problem of having too much prey in a townsite attracting predators.

A cougar was killed by wildlife officials in Waterton after it was regularly hunting and feeding on deer in the townsite. The deer population has become very comfortable in the town, seeing it as a safe place to have their fawns. That caused a problem when the cougar began killing the fawns before they were mobile.

Waterton human-wildlife conflict specialist David Argument said the fawns were “relatively easy pickings” for the cougar, who began hunting in front of people and became too much of a danger to the public.

“The last thing we want to do is have to destroy a cougar. That’s not a decision we even want to make,” he said. “This cougar was becoming far too bold, even following a group a hikers at one point.”

He said Waterton is working on a plan to keep the deer population out of the townsite, not only because they’re a prey attractant, but in some cases they’ve become very aggressive themselves.

“We certainly consult with Banff…with what’s working and what’s not working,” he said.

In Banff, where hazing programs help to keep the deer and elk populations down in the townsite, cougars are rarely seen but precautionary measures are encouraged by Parks Canada.

Michel said hikers should avoid travelling alone in the backcountry, and when in groups, people should stay close together and make noise to let both cougars and bears know you’re coming.

If travelling with children of pets, keep them with you close at hand at all times.

“Certainly with cougars, the very very rare attacks that do happen tend to be on small children and pets. They do recognize them as sort of a prey source than a larger adult,” Michel said.

If you see a carcass on a trail, don’t approach it and contact the Banff warden office at 403-762-1470 to report it.

If cougar kittens are spotted, leave the trail right away because there will be a female in the vicinity.

And like with bear safety measures, bear spray should be carried at all times when in the backcountry.

If you ever do see a cougar, Michel said you should never approach it. Leave lots of room between you and the animal so it has an easy and obvious avenue of escape. Pick up any children or pets and remain facing the cougar while slowly backing away.

“Definitely don’t run away. That’s something we really stress, there’s the potential that could trigger that predatory sense,” Michel said. “Make yourself as large as possible. You can even do that just by holding your arms up. The larger you appear, so you don’t appear to be some source of prey, the better.”

If the cougar is at the point where it’s acting aggressively towards you and getting closer, Michel said you will want to act aggressive as well. Yell and throw rocks to keep the cougar away.

“If it actually got to the very very rare point where the cougar is actually making contact, you’d want to fight back as aggressively as possible,” he said.

There is a misconception that as soon as you see a cougar you should begin acting aggressively, but Michel said it’s best not to attack right away because the cougar could move off.

While cougar attacks on people are rare, Banff saw a fatal attack in 2001 when Frances Frost was killed by a mountain lion while cross-country skiing on the Cascade Fire Road.