Two young curious cougar siblings are on the move in the valley, but have split up from each other.
As of the Outlook’s July 5 deadline, the male cougar was near the east boundary of Banff National Park and the female was on the north side of valley near Canmore.
“We’ve been monitoring them daily and they’re not travelling together anymore,” said Steve Michel, human-wildlife conflict specialist for Banff National Park.
“They stayed in the larger Tunnel Mountain area for the first three or four days after we collared them and then they made an eastward movement on Friday (July 1).”
Banff resource conservation officers caught the two sub-adult cougars in the Tunnel Mountain area June 26 and fitted them with radio collars and ear tags.
Cougars are solitary animals and typically shy away from people, but there had been several close encounters involving these two wild cats in Banff leading up to that, although none of them aggressive.
On Saturday (July 2), Alberta Parks officials suspect one of the young cougars had an encounter with a man and his dog in Eagle Terrace in Canmore. The man and his dog came within four feet of the cougar before the cat fled into the bushes.
“The cougar was practically in the backyards in Eagle Terrace,” said SRD biologist John Jorgenson.
“You have two habituated young cats here, looking to make a go of it. They’re looking for food and their own territories,” Jorgenson said. “On a limited landscape, the chance of an encounter is great.”
While there’s a good chance they may move on, Jorgenson suspects the cougars could stay close to Canmore, as there is an abundance of food. Since they seem to be curious, it’s important that monitoring continue.
“The mother was somewhat habituated and that ends up passing on to the cubs,” Jorgenson said.
Michel said Parks Canada would continue to intensely monitor the cougars when travelling in the national park, and use aversive conditioning if they show up in high human-use areas.
“We will communicate back and forth between the three different agencies – ourselves, Alberta Provincial Parks and Alberta Fish and Wildlife,” he said.
“We’re certainly in communication with each other, but each agency will need to make their own decisions on how to manage the animals when they’re in their jurisdiction.”
Michel said resource conservation officers did try low-level aversive conditioning on the cougars, such as yelling at them, after their capture and release.
“They did flee at the time, but they didn’t necessarily move a long distance away until that more substantial move to the east,” he said.
“Whether that was connected to the experience they had with humans closer to Banff is hard to say.”
Michel said it is not necessarily unusual for cougar siblings to split up at this age.
“Every animal is an individual and it’s variable how long siblings may travel together,” he said. “In the case of cougars, often siblings will travel together and sometimes we see siblings separate for a period of time, reunite and then separate again. There are no hard and fast rules.”
Parks Canada provides the following tips on ways to prevent a cougar encounter:
• travel in groups;
• keep children close by;
• make lots of noise;
• be aware of surroundings, including tracks and scat;
• carry pepper spray;
• and keep dogs on a leash at all times as dogs may be seen as prey.
In the event that you do encounter a cougar:
• never approach the animal and allow it a means of escape;
• pick up small children and pets;
• stay calm, don’t run. You may trigger a chase;
• make yourself big, wave arms, sticks and objects over your head;
• shout, throw rocks and sticks, use pepper spray;
• if approached, be aggressive and fight back;
• and steer clear of cougar kittens, as the mother will likely be close by.
Parks Canada asks that all carnivore sightings be reported to 403-762-1470.
