Cougar vs. bobcat: Tree-top tussle captured by B.C. photographer

A tense confrontation between a cougar and a bobcat played out on a very precarious battleground last week in B.C.’s Fraser Valley.

A tense confrontation between a cougar and a bobcat played out on a very precarious battleground last week in B.C.’s Fraser Valley.

Chilliwack resident Tammy Jordan, a hobby wildlife photographer, told CTV News she spotted the animals tussling atop a towering cedar tree near their backyard Wednesday evening.

“I was in the kitchen making dinner and something out of the corner of my eye caught my attention,” she said. “Something big was moving.”

Jordan initially thought there might be a raccoon in the tree – but her family broke out the binoculars and eventually confirmed not one, but two wildcats were balancing on the upper-most branches.

Jordan estimated the cedar is at least 30 metres tall, or about 100 feet.

From the family’s vantage point, Jordan said it appeared the cougar had chased the bobcat up the tree – and was climbing up and down in pursuit, repeatedly trying to attack the much smaller animal.

“It moved really fast, but it was three times the size of the bobcat,” Jordan said. “It would move up to that tiny top little branch, and the whole branch is moving and (the bobcat) is doing whatever he could to get away.”