CANMORE – Alberta Fish and Wildlife has confirmed the cougar kittens left orphaned when the mamma cat was killed by hunters earlier in February near Canmore did in fact have spots, but argued there was not enough evidence to lay charges.
While cougars can be hunted in Alberta, the law is clear that it is illegal to hunt a young cougar with spotted fur, or a female cougar accompanied by a young cougar with spots.
A government statement said Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services (FWES) identified two factors that contributed to the determination that the Feb. 10 hunting death of a female cougar near Gap Lake “did not meet the threshold for an unlawful hunt” following a thorough review of the case.
“Importantly, FWES believes that the young cougars were not with their mother at the time the cougar was harvested,” read the statement from the Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services under whose portfolio FWES falls.
“This factor was crucial in our assessment, as the absence of the young cougars during the hunting incident indicates that this was not a situation involving a dependent family unit.”
However, the Calgary Zoo, which took the two kittens in temporarily until a permanent home can be found, indicated otherwise.
“These little ones lost their mother and, at approximately 5-6 months old, wouldn’t have survived on their own,” according to the zoo’s social media post.
The FWES statement also said officers are aware of photographs showing faint spots on the kittens.
“These spots would likely not have been discernible in the forest environment during a hunting situation,” according to the statement.
“The lighting and distance in such settings often make such markings difficult or impossible to detect in real-time.”
The statement said FWES is committed to ensuring that hunting activities are conducted in accordance with all regulations, and the branch continues to monitor and investigate any potential violations. “However, at this time, there is insufficient evidence to conclude that an unlawful hunt occurred,” according to the statement.
“Anyone with further information on this matter can contact the Report-a-Poacher line or contact their local Fish and Wildlife office.”
This decision has sparked outrage in the Bow Valley, with local social media sites condemning the kill and lack of charges.
John Marriott, a prominent wildlife photographer and co-founder of Exposed Wildlife Conservancy who discovered the female cougar had been killed by hunters Feb. 10 and reported the orphaned cougars, said no charges being laid is “shocking news.”
He said the evidence he provided FWES from being on scene the day the female cougar was killed, and from tracking the next day, made it clear the kittens were in the area and had visited the bighorn sheep carcass before the hunters had.
Based on this, Marriott said he believes the hunters must have known there were kittens.
“The FWES statement essentially makes the Wildlife Act protection of female cougars with dependent spotted kittens useless and unenforceable, because any cougar hunter can claim they ‘didn’t see the kittens’,” he said.
“When I saw the kittens in person in a tree in daylight – which is when the hunt happened – it was immediately clear they were very young and had visible spots. It was also clear from tracking that the kittens were very small and young given their track size. “
Marriott is calling for the province to reopen the investigation.
“How does it go for you when you blast through a 30km zone at 75 km/h and tell the officer you ‘didn’t see the sign’? What is the point of having a female cougar with spotted kittens law if you can’t enforce it, or worse, won’t enforce it?”
Alberta’s 2012 cougar management plan estimated the province had a population of approximately 2,050 cougars, but the 2019 winter cougar season quota updates by the province’s own biologists reassessed cougar abundance in Alberta and found a population of 1,559 cougars.
Cougar quotas in some areas were reduced in 2022 to maintain target removal rates at 14 to 16 per cent.
The cougar management plan sets an objective to maintain a viable population of at least 1,500 cougars on provincial lands in Alberta. Based on the 2019 numbers, Alberta is already precariously close to the minimum viable population.
However, without consultation and in a decision not grounded in science, Alberta Parks and Forestry Minister Todd Loewen expanded the cougar hunt in Alberta last year. The province also allowed cougar hound hunting in more areas of Alberta.
There are two cougar management areas (CMAs) that include the Bow Valley – CMU 6, which has a quota of two females and two males. The southern portion of CMA 8 also overlaps with the Bow Valley. The quotas for CMA 8 are two males and one female.
The cougar hunting season is now closed in both CMA 6 and 8 because kills have been registered.
Marriott said he has heard that five female cats have been killed in the Bow Valley this hunting season and questioned whether cougar hunting here was being under-reported.
On Tuesday (Feb. 25), Minister Loewen’s press secretary, Alexandru Cioban, said so far this season, harvests for two male cougars and two female cougars have been registered in CMA 6 in the Bow Valley.
“Quotas for the area were closed for female cougars on February 11 and for male cougars on February 19,” said Cioban in an email.
“Under current regulations, harvested cougars must be registered within 24 hours of the harvest.”
The Outlook is awaiting confirmation if the cougars were hunted in the Bow Valley portion of CMA 8, as well as information on previous quotas before the changes last year.
Sarah Elmeligi, the NDP MLA for Banff-Kananaskis, said the female cougar quota for females has almost tripled across the province to 68, up from 24 last year.
“One of the things that is really hard about this is that the death of this mamma cougar, and her kittens being raised in captivity for the rest of their lives, is not only a loss of three cougars to this population but it’s a loss of every cougar kitten that she would have had in the future,” she said.
“All of that loss is because of decisions made by the minister of forestry and parks to open up cougar hunting across Alberta last year. Right now, there are quotas for 68 (female) cougars to be killed across the province and that’s triple what it was just over a year ago.”
Elmeligi said Loewen wants people to believe there is a human-wildlife conflict problem with cougars in this province, noting the cougar killed near Canmore had lived on the edge of town for years without incident.
“We’ve got a problem here in Alberta; we’ve got a minister who just really wants to go out and kill all of our wildlife,” she said.
“He’s doing it one species at a time by lifting one quota at a time. If that’s something that bothers you, let him know, let me know, and I’ll carry your concerns to the legislature.”
The Wild Sheep Foundation Alberta has new initiatives for its 2024-25 cougar program requirements, paying out up to $3,000 for a cougar kill, with an additional $1,000 if the cougar is female.
The foundation will also pay up to $7,000 if the cougar is killed in several specific wildlife management units (WMU), which does include WMU 410, which takes in the Bow Valley.
As part of the bounty, the hunter must present GPS data, elevation and pictures or video of the hunt and kill location. A picture of the GPS at the kill location with coordinates clearly displayed, is mandatory, with a photo of the wild cat in the background. Proof of sex is also required.
To qualify for the bounties being paid out, the hunter must be a current member in good standing of the WSFA.
It is not known if the hunter who killed the cougar at Gap Lake is a member of the WSFA.
A spokesperson for the WSFA was not immediately available.
“This is deemed legal in this province. That is not acceptable,” Marriott said.
“Cougars should not be getting slaughtered in our province and our valley because of a WSF bounty. It’s both disgraceful and despicable.”
Marriott said cougars are an integral part of wild space, apex predators at the top of the food chain, fully capable of managing or self-regulating their own populations biologically.
“They are keystone species, meaning they affect huge parts of ecosystems despite there being so few of them on the landscape,” he said.
“In short, without them, our wilderness is empty.”
