Visitors to Radium Hot Springs last weekend got a first-hand glimpse of one of the most powerful and impressive events in nature – a cougar attacking a bighorn sheep.
Parks Canada wildlife specialists say a cougar attacked a yearling bighorn sheep on the cliffs at Sinclair Canyon, about 150 metres south of the popular thermal springs, and both fell to the ground 10 metres below.
“The traffic was heavy on Sunday and there were lots of people around, so I am sure that some people there got a spectacular show,” said Glenn Kubian, resource conservation supervisor for Lake Louise, Yoho and Kootenay.
“To see the cougar attack the sheep and then fall down right on the roadside… I am sure that it unfolded very quickly, but it would have been amazing to see.”
Parks Canada’s dispatch got the call from a member of the public around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday (March 18) that an injured bighorn sheep was walking along Highway 93 South near Radium Hot Springs, while a cougar stood across the road in a ditch.
By the time Kubian got to the scene, the badly injured yearling female sheep was lying in the ditch and the cougar had long taken off across Sinclair Creek and into the forest.
Looking at prints in the snow and blood and hair on the cliffs above, Kubian said he was able to work out that the sheep and cougar had both fallen from the cliff above.
“The sheep had a broken leg and wounds to the head and neck from being attacked, and because of the injuries I had to put down the sheep,” said Kubian.
“It was incapacitated. It travelled about 100 metres up the road and was lying there. The sheep was in good health, other than the injuries from the attack.”
While very elusive, Kubian said cougars are quite common in the southern portion of Kootenay National Park and bighorn sheep are an important part of a cougar’s diet.
“Normally in this type of circumstance we would try to leave a sheep for a cougar to eat,” he said. “But in this case, where the terrain was steep and there was a lot of human activity in the area, we couldn’t safely do that.”
If people come face to face with a cougar, Parks Canada reminds people to stay calm, face the animal and retreat slowly. “Never run or turn your back,” said Kubian.
Cougar sightings in the national parks should be reported to 403-762-1470.
