After a tense cougar encounter on Friday (Jan. 30) that surprised a Canmore man who sprang forward with some quick-thinking, experts say he “probably did everything right” to avoid a potentially dangerous situation.
Ben Allan, 20, said he fended off a “charging” cougar at around 4:30 a.m. on Fourth Avenue and Fourth Street while biking home from a friend’s house. The incident that happened about 20 metres from Allan’s home left him feeling lucky to be alive, as all he had between himself and the wild animal was his bike, which could have really deterred the animal, said Tyler McClure, a Canmore WildSmart education and outreach worker.
“He had the bike between him and the cougar and that might have actually stopped the cougar,” McClure said.
During the dark morning, Allan couldn’t make out what it was that was charging him, thinking it was a coyote and then a wolf because of the larger size of the animal.
“I saw something out of the corner of my eye and it charged me from my left side and I kind of veered right and I got off my bike and it was really dark,” Allan said. “I instantly started like screaming and smacking my bike and it wouldn’t even like flinch on anything I did and it made me feel uneasy.”
A member of Canmore Fish and Wildlife confirmed there was a wildlife encounter reported Friday morning, but no further information was provided as of the Outlook’s press deadline.
Allan used his bike as a barrier until he was close enough to the front door of his house, when he threw his bike at the cougar and made a run for it.
“I was continuously backing up, and it ran underneath a (pine) tree in my yard and I was wedged between the tree and my dad’s car. I tossed my bike at it and ran for my door and thank God it was unlocked,” he said of the heart-pounding experience.
A likely reason the cougar repeatedly charged at Allan was because he kept moving backwards away from the big cat, said McClure.
McClure didn’t rule out predatory actions, but said it may have been a case of curiosity.
“Cats, of all the animals around here, have that tendency to want to know what is going on, but the fact is Ben probably did everything right in this situation with what he had at hand,” McClure said.
McClure wouldn’t speculate on a big cat in the area that was sick or injured until it can be found. WildSmart reports that no further activity has been detected.
Albeit rare, cougar encounters can occur at any time of the year in the Bow Valley, said McClure, and particularly in this incident, the time of day and season may have factored in.
“When it’s wintertime, the alpine and subalpine environments become much more difficult to live in and we’re seeing prey species like deer coming down closer to the valley bottom and the problem that creates is that cougars then follow that prey down into the valley where they wouldn’t normally be looking for food,” McClure said. “It was an early morning encounter and cougars, like a lot of the animals in the Bow Valley, are most active in the early hours and in the evening.”
As Allan rushed through his darkened front doorway to escape the animal that morning, the commotion woke his father and girlfriend who came to investigate. As Allan explained some large animal had been charging at him, he then got an up close look at the culprit.
“I turned on the balcony light and looked down and there’s a cougar on my front steps, six feet long, looking at me in the eye and that’s when I realized it was a cougar,” he said. “I remember its green hazel -y eyes looking at me.”
Allan said it was gone after about 20 seconds and the whole ordeal lasted about two and a half minutes. He notified Canmore RCMP of the encounter. Allan wasn’t injured, but said he’s never experienced anything like that in his 20 years in Canmore.
“I was really scared and that didn’t seem like normal (cougar) activity to me … If my house wasn’t there I don’t know what would have happened, (or) if I didn’t have a bike,” Allan said.
In 2011, a six-year-old girl suffered non-life threatening injuries after being attacked by a cougar at Barrier Lake. The cougar was found and killed a few days later by conversation officers.
A previous cougar-human attack in the Bow Valley occurred in 2001, where a woman was attacked and killed while she was cross-country skiing. Park wardens later located and killed the large cat.
All cougar sightings should be reported to Kananaskis Emergency Services at 403-591-7755.
