Cougars are solitary animals, so when conservation officer Glenn Naylor checked one of his remote cameras near Canmore recently and found a picture that captured five cats in one frame, he knew it was something unique.
For Naylor, it is a timely reminder that living in the Bow Valley means living with wildlife like cougars and people should behave accordingly.
“We think it was a female with three large kittens from a good year ago and right behind them was a male,” he said. “We also think the male was trying to find a way to kill the kittens because then it has a chance to mate with the female.
“They are solitary animals and the only time you see a group like that is when there is a family unit. A family group of up to four is not unusual, but it is the first time we captured five at one time.”
Naylor said it is a reminder that the big cats are living here in the valley and we almost never see them. If five cougars together haven’t been spotted, he said, imagine how easy it is for one to stay hidden.
“I always talk about the fact that just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t here. They are here all the time and they are in very close proximity to us all the time,” he said. “They are not in remote wilderness, they are here. They may not be in the confines of our suburban landscape, but they are right on the edge all the time.
“What I am saying is, nobody has seen a group of five cougars, so how easy do you think it is for one to hide if five can stay this well hidden?”
Naylor said he suspects cougars have a high mortality rate, but they also reproduce quickly. He said he thinks they are in the valley because their prey, elk, deer and bighorn sheep, are plentiful between Bow Valley Park and Canmore.
He reiterated how important it is to keep dogs on a leash when walking them, as cougars are present in the surrounding area.
“Your path and a cougar path may cross – if you want to keep dogs safe on a landscape with cougars in it, you have to keep your dog on a leash,” he said, adding carrying bear spray and a walking stick are also recommended.
“If you keep it on a leash your chances of keeping it safe are infinitely better than if it is running loose.”
The next Wildsmart speakers series will be about cougars as well, titled Cougars in my backyard: co-existing with a large carnivore. In this talk, Kyle and Aliah Knopff will present some of their research on cougars in Alberta and discuss implications of their results for managing human-cougar interactions.
The Knopffs have been studying cougars since 2005. The talk is being held next Wednesday (March 26) at Canmore Collegiate High School at 7 p.m.
