Residents and visitors familiar with Alberta, Canada, can share many stories of witnessing wildlife. From bears to deer, moose, and beaver, the province has healthy populations.
One of the most exciting animals in the area? The mountain lion, also known as a cougar. But what if one runs right across your path?
What is going on?
Alberta resident Tina Hayes (@outwestbannockbites) shared a video documenting her husband’s recent excursion.
“My husband was driving on the back road with his Hunter, and he caught this beautiful cougar. Walking away from our place!” Hayes wrote.
Commenters were eager to share their own experiences with cougars.
“It will be detrimental to the deer population. We have one or two in the area that we hunt and it is noticeable how much less deer there are,” wrote one viewer.
“They are much more common than you think,” said another.
Why is this important?
According to the Government of Alberta, cougars usually live in wooded and rocky areas rather than flat, open terrain. While they sometimes pass through river valleys and other corridors, if they are found in flatter, more residential areas, it is possible that they are experiencing habitat loss.
Habitat loss can be driven by a number of factors, including development projects, which often push into wild spaces. Construction can reduce ecosystems, impact animal food supplies, and disrupt animal behavior.
Exacerbated by human-caused changes in weather patterns, wildlife in search of food and water sometimes roam into nearby communities, increasing the chance of human-wildlife encounters.
Experienced from a distance, such encounters can leave human witnesses with a sense of awe, even if they can also be a worrying sign of habitat destruction. Up close, these encounters can mean danger to animals and humans, including an increased risk of car crashes when animals cross roads, as in this case in Alberta.
Pushing into new areas can also be disruptive and dangerous to other species. As one commented, the imbalance of the ecosystem can have an impact on deer populations. Down the line, this can have knock-on effects for the life of the plants deer typically consume.
What is being done?
The Alberta government has moved to increase cougar hunting, according to a June report by The Narwhal, which quoted conservation specialist Ruiping Luo as saying the hunting quota changes “were not based on science and there were other factors, such as economics, that interfered.”
Wildlife experts generally recommend addressing human-wildlife encounters through land conservation, habitat rehabilitation, relocating animals to safer locations, and prioritizing trail cameras to monitor animal populations and keep people safe.
In the meantime, if you encounter a cougar in the wild, officials recommend steps that include retreating, not running, never turning your back, and being prepared to fight back using bear spray and anything else at hand.
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