“She’s like this ghost neighbour and she’s a perfect example of a cat that is wonderful at coexisting and respecting humans, and living right beside us without us really knowing it.”
That’s how wildlife photographer John Marriott describes a female cougar that he’s been tracking for four years in the Grotto Canyon area, near Canmore, Alta.
“For years, I have seen her once and I haven’t gotten any photos of her — ever. So this just goes to show she’s a perfect cougar for the Canmore area,” Marriott said.
The only images he’s captured of the elusive cougar are video from a trail camera.
On Monday, Marriott was checking on his trail cams when he discovered a bighorn sheep he believes the cougar had killed and partially eaten. There were also cougar kitten tracks — and human tracks around them.
“I staked it out in my vehicle because it was right by the road,” Marriott said. “Then I saw cougar hunters coming out of the bush — and that was the moment of shock where I suddenly thought, ‘Is this the Canmore cougar — and they have killed her and orphaned some kittens?'”
Marriott said the “experienced” hunters who killed the cougar had to know it had kittens because when he returned to the area around Grotto Canyon on Tuesday he saw “cougar kitten tracks everywhere.”
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“I saw where they’ve been separated from Mom. I saw where the hounds had chased her, from where the sheep carcass had been, and they shot her out of a tree with a bow and arrow. There was blood on the snow and it was really completely demoralizing,” Marriott said.
Since then, Marriott said he has obtained trail camera video of the two kittens — and biologists tell him they appear to be between three-and-a-half and five months old and likely won’t survive without their mother.
“They’re either going to starve to death or we’re going to be able to do a rescue, hopefully, and see if we can get them into Calgary Zoo or another shelter where they can go to — but we don’t really know what the next steps are at this point,” Marriott added.
In a statement to Global News, Alberta’s Ministry of Forestry and Parks said it is, “currently investigating reports of two young cougars spotted alone near Canmore. If confirmed, officers will work to capture the young cougars and will work closely with officials from Alberta Environment and Protected Areas to determine the best course of action.”
The ministry is also asking “anyone with information about this incident” to contact Fish and Wildlife at 403-932-2388, through the Report a Poacher line at 1-800-642-3800, or online at www.alberta.ca/report-poacher.aspx.
“There’s been a lot of sorrow, a lot of rage and madness and anger, a lot of kind of feeling like a sleuth trying to uncover all of this and figure out if I’ve got something I can give to Fish and Wildlife, if there’s something illegal that’s gone on here and that without a doubt, there’s been something unethical,” Marriott said.
Under Alberta’s cougar hunting regulations, female cougars can be hunted, unless it’s a kitten with spots or a female cougar accompanied by a kitten with spots.
But Marriott said those markings can disappear when the cougar kitten is as young as three months old, and kittens can’t survive on their own until they’re a year old.
He wants the province’s hunting laws to be changed to make it illegal to hunt female cougars.
“It’s so important to keep these mature older females on the landscape because they teach their kittens how to interact with people and how to avoid them,” Marriott said.
In December of 2024, the Alberta government increased the number of female cougars that can be hunted and created six new areas where cougar hunting in allowed — including inside Cypress Hills Provincial Park.
The Alberta Wilderness Association claimed the change was made without any consultation.
Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen — who owned an outfitting business before getting into politics — defended the decision, saying Alberta has a cougar population of about 2,000 animals, while the ideal population is 1,500 cougars, so some harvesting is needed.
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