Alberta wildlife advocates outraged over reports female cougar with kittens killed

An Alberta wildlife photographer and conservationist is calling for changes to the province's cougar hunting laws after a female cougar with kittens was killed near Canmore.

“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.”

“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.