CALGARY – Sundre fish and wildlife officers have destroyed 12 cougars in the area over the past year, twice more than in previous years.
“There’s just too many, and we’re not hearing it in one specific area, we’re kind of hearing it everywhere,” said Adam Mirus, a fish and wildlife officer based in the west-central Alberta community.
The town used to have a thriving deer population, which attracted cougars who fed and bred big litters. But deep snow wiped out most of the deer last year, leaving brash young cats hungry.
“We’re seeing very small cats; thin, not healthy, so that’s why they’re going for an easy food source,” said Mirus.
The most recent cougar sighting in Sundre was last Wednesday night. The cat wandered fearlessly around a residential neighbourhood for several hours while hunting for deer. It came within 150 metres of a local elementary school, making some residents nervous.
“They’re sneaky and you never see them and you know they’re there,” said resident Heather Dolan outside the Sundre Aquaplex.
“Kind of scary.”
Officials are discouraging residents from feeding deer, which can attract cats to residential areas.
The local fish and wildlife office is getting three or four sighting reports a week.
They won’t tranquilize and relocate the cougars, because they say drugging the starving animals would likely kill them. Right now, rural landowners can legally shoot cougars on their property without a tag.
The Alberta government is considering raising the number of tags available to hunt cougars for next season.
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