September 20, 2022 – Millarville, Alberta
Bear has been hearing unusual animal sounds out our bedroom window during the night recently. I am as deaf as a rock, so I haven’t been any help distinguishing what the disturbances might be.
We decided to mount a wildlife camera on a tree, facing the bedroom end of the house and the north lawn, to see what is going on out there at night.
For the first few weeks all the camera captured was me mowing the lawn, our house painting crew hauling ladders about, and the occasional deer. I stopped checking the camera every day because it was getting boring.
Boredom wasn’t my reaction when I downloaded these images last night. This big cat made an appearance at 3:29 AM and was still prowling around under our bedroom window at 3:36 when the camera captured the second shot.
We hear about cougar sightings in our area regularly, but in all the years living out here I have only ever seen one live cat.
It came as a shock to see this nocturnal visitor, stalking prey right under our bedroom window.
If we are to co-exist with such large predators, I decided I should know something about them, so I did some research.
Big cats go by many names; cougar, mountain lion, catamount (cat of the mountains), and puma all describe the same animal, depending on who is narrating.
Cougars have no predators, other than man. Occasionally a cat will get in a fracas with a grizzly bear or a pack of wolves over a kill, but cougars are essentially the top of the food chain. Male cats average about 8’ in length, from nose to the tip of the tail, and weigh about 150 lbs.
In winter in Alberta, 99% of their diet is ungulates (deer, moose, elk, and bighorn sheep). In summer a cougar’s diet may occasionally include rodents, hares, and birds.
Adult males average one large kill, every two weeks. Females with young may kill is often as every 3 – 4 days when the cubs are maturing.
Cougars are solitary animals. Other than females with pups, they travel alone. Life span is 8 – 13 years in the wild.
Being nocturnal and well-camouflaged, cougars are seldom seen. But not seeing them doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
Cougars are listed of “least concern” on wildlife conservation lists.
There is a managed hunting season for cougars in Alberta. Hunters are chosen by lottery and must be able to distinguish a male from a female, as there are separate seasons for each. The male cougar has a dark spot about 4-6 inches below the base of its tail. (I for one, will not be lifting a big cat’s tail to determine its gender. As far as I am concerned, the only cougar pronoun that matters is “dangerous”).
Fatal attacks on humans are very rare. Most of the documented cases are children, or adults who have startled a cat. Other occasional human victims are trappers, who wear animal hides as clothing and can be mistaken for other prey.
Now that I realize we are living so close together, I decided it would be helpful to know what to do if I encounter a cougar in the flesh. According to Alberta Wildlife websites, if you find yourself in contact with a cougar, defend yourself, don’t run. A fleeing target is an invitation to a stalking cougar. Make yourself seem large, yell, and get aggressive.
If a cougar attacks your dog, let the dog go. Trapped between a cougar and its food, you are likely to become food.
In most cases a cat’s prey won’t live long enough to know about it. Cougars typically pounce on the back of their victim and sink their teeth into the neck, killing instantly.
One of my neighbor’s gave me this (joking) piece of advice; He told me that he always carries a jackknife with him when he walks in the bush. “That way, if a cat attacks, I can cut my own throat!”
Cougars are mythologically connected to attributes of agility, adaptability, and secrecy. Some Native Americans say that cougars walk in silent moccasins.
Cougar myth and cougar reality became one for us this week. I enjoy the fact that we coexist with animals at the top of the food chain, provided I am not …
… on the menu.
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