Cougar cancels Canyon School recess

Canyon School
C. Davis photo

Sheri Monk

Kids attending at least one school in Pincher Creek were kept inside for their lunch-hour recess today, Thursday, September 22, after a cougar was spotted in the area.  Update: At St. Michael's School in Pincher Creek, recess was held outside,  but only on the east side of the school.

“Around 11 a.m., Fish and Wildlife were down around the creek, down around Kettles Street and up behind the school. One of our TAs (teacher assistants) asked if there was any issue and they said no, they were just being precautionary and our kids weren’t out," said Canyon School Principal Carole Goodreau.

"Then they phoned the school and said there had been a potential sighting west of town on the ridge, behind the creek, behind the community hall, and they would keep us posted. Before recess they phoned back and said it hadn’t been confirmed yet, but it was best if we kept the kids in."


The decision to keep the kids indoors was precautionary – it would be exceptionally rare for any animal to stage any attack with so much activity in the vicinity.

“Really, with 300 kids on the playground, no cougar in his right mind would be there,” said Goodreau. “Shortly thereafter they phoned and said it was a confirmed sighting, west of the school, behind the community hall and they would keep us posted. So at that point, they brought out the dogs and they actually chased the cougar way out of town and beyond.”

The school was contacted again by Fish and Wildlife once the cougar was successfully chased out of town.

“Some parents had also heard the rumour just out and about around town, and they phoned to say they were going to come and pick their kids up, but at that point we were assured by Fish and Wildlife and RCMP that there were no issues and kids weren’t in any imminent danger,” explained Goodreau, who added that students were advised to walk home in groups and were instructed to walk up the big hill at the back of the school by taking a path free of trees, which was open and visible. The children were watched by staff until they safely reached the summit of the hill.

This is the third cougar sighting near the school in recent history. Goodreau says the first, several years ago, was spotted in the trees at the base of the hill behind the school, and there was an incident last year. In both previous instances, the cat was seen in the early morning, before school began. Parents were called before school started and advised of the situation to provide them an opportunity to provide an alternate means for their child to get to school.

“It’s not common, but infrequent and I said to the kids, ‘It’s not really all that surprising. There’s been an awful lot of deer right in town and I’ve seen them on Main Street.’ I said, ‘There’s one thing that drives deer into town, they feel more protected when they’re in here,’ and they all agreed with me,” said Goodreau.

Cougar
Stock photo

The cougar (Puma concolor) are solitary predators who prey primarily on wild ungulates such as deer and big-horn sheep. Elk and moose are also hunted, though less frequently because of their larger size. Cougars are obligate carnivores, which means they eat exclusively meat. As a result, they are a generalist hunter and they will prey on insects, rodents, rabbits and other small prey items when choice animals are unattainable. They will also prey on livestock, though this is a rare event as the cats are secretive and reclusive. The cougar utilizes a ‘stalk and ambush’ hunting style most conducive to forests, bushy slopes and terrain with cover to hide the cat’s movements. As a result, livestock depredation is less common when domestic animals are in wide open pasture.

The fourth largest cat species in the world – only lions, tigers and jaguars are bigger – the average weight for a female is 90 lbs and the average weight of a male is 137 lbs. Males are often reach a nose-to-tail length of nearly eight feet, and females average out at 6.5 feet. Of their total length, two or three feet is comprised of their signature tail, which helps greatly with balance on the steep slopes they evolved to hunt on. Like many other animals, cougars are most active at dawn and dusk.

Cougars never hunt, live or travel together, except in instances of brief courtship when the female is in heat, and when she is raising cubs. Males have a much larger territory than females so – often more than double. One male with a large territory may service several females, each with a smaller territory within his. Female territories will occasionally overlap, but males rarely tolerate sharing their hunting and mating grounds with a competitor. Territory size is dictated primarily by prey density – the more plentiful the prey, the more cougars an area can support. In sparsely populated areas, cougars have been found to have a range as large as 300 square miles.

Cougars can breed or give birth at any time of the year, though they will only become pregnant once every two or three years. The mother will raise her litter alone, and she will have an average of two or three cubs, though higher litter sizes are possible, and more common in regions rich with prey. Cubs will remain with their mother for as long as two years – the survival rate of a cub to adulthood is on average one per litter. Life expectancy in the wild is approximately 8 - 12 years, but may reach 20 years in captivity.
Attacks by cougars on humans are very rare, and less common than bear attacks on people.  There have been only 23 fatal attacks known on humans by cougar in North America since 1890. Cougars that do attack people are often found to be young and inexperienced males, or starving, injured, sick or aging animals. Research has shown that cougars that attack humans have often shown unusual behaviour atypical of the species, such as being seen in the daylight hours, and displaying signs of being habituated to humans such as being unafraid of people or dogs. Most attacks are on children, because their smaller size makes them a more attractive prey item.

Walking and hiking in groups can help prevent a cougar encounter. When in cougar country, keep small children near, and pets on a leash. Make some noise while hiking, walking, cycling or setting up camp – like bears, cougars prefer to avoid human contact. Knowing how to respond when seeing a cougar is dependent on the circumstances of the encounter. In all instances, small children should be picked up, and if in a group, all people should move calmly toward one another – there is strength in numbers. Never should the animal be approached and never should a person run away from the animal – this could trigger the animal’s predator response to chase and attack.

A mother with cubs is very protective and if she is surprised and feels threatened, she may attack. In this instance, talking while calming walking backwards away from the animal may defuse the situation. However, in the event a cougar is stalking a human, the goal is to look as large and dangerous as possible. People should gather, yell, open their jackets, swing their arms and stomp their feet. No one should ever bend over, or crouch down. While attempting to scare off the animal, scan the ground for possible weapons, or even a stick or branch to wave in the air to look even larger.

If a cougar does attack, people should fight back – playing dead will not deter the cat. Cougar sightings should be reported to Fish and Wildlife, as should cougar tracks, suspected scat, kill sites and sudden and widespread disappearances of household pets. In some cougar-dense areas, residents are advised not to feed birds, as the seed will often attract deer and the deer may bring cougars into human-populated areas in search of food, especially in the winter. If a cougar cache – the remains of a prey item a cougar or other predator may return to feed on – is discovered, leave the area immediately. If the cache is located near or in an urban or settled area, report the find to the closest Fish and Wildlife office.
Humans are encroaching on wildlife habitat with greater frequency and as a result, encounters with large predators are sometimes inevitable. While it is advisable to be safe and informed, attacks are exceedingly rare and should not prevent people from enjoying outdoor activities. Statistically, death by car accident or an angry cow is far more likely.

The Pincher Creek Fish and Wildlife office was contacted for comment, but had not returned the call by the time this article was published.