Bear and cougar sightings up from last year

It may not be the mountains but Mountain View County does have its share of wildlife including bears and cougars.A recent report by the Mountain View BearSmart Society stated that, in the month of September, there were 21 bear sightings and four cougar sightings in the county. In total, 155 carnivores were sighted this year up from 98 in 2011 (see sidebar).Nate Webb, carnivore specialist with Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development, said that there is not much to worry about despite the increase in the frequency of sightings from last year.“Part of the reason (for the increase) may be that people are more aware of wildlife and are reporting more sightings to our offices,” said Webb.“As part of the Mountain View BearSmart Program (which started in 2008), people are encouraged to report sightings and this may have influenced the numbers between this year and last.”He noted that there are also more and more people venturing into the wilderness, and it follows that there would be more encounters with these animals because of this.“An increase in sightings does not necessarily mean that the number of carnivores has increased this year,” he added. “Although that is also a possibility.”The risk to the public from cougars is actually extremely low, noted Webb. “Very, very rarely do they have any kind of contact with people or cause any sort of injury.”And as far as bears are concerned, though they may be out, foraging for the last bits of food they can get before hibernating, he said that they should not be a problem for the most part either.“If a bear comes near a house,” he said, “they're usually attracted to something, maybe a food source near the house. So things like barbeques, bird feeders, garbage, pet food, fruit trees, gardens, all those things can be an attractant to bears.”He said that making sure these attractants are minimalized or eliminated will greatly reduce the chances of a bear wandering by.If a black bear doesn't run away when you try to shoo it, he recommends calling the local fish and wildlife office, who will then help residents and campers deal with the problem.Webb noted that cougars are common but elusive animals and they are not seen very often. This is due to their living habits such as only coming out into the open at night and keeping to the cover of forest during the day.“Bears tend to be a little more visible, more out in the open, particularly this time of year when they're getting ready for denning,” he said. “They tend to be feeding quite a bit throughout the day, so they tend to be more visible than cougars are.”He added that bear populations are much higher than cougars as well, which adds to the difference in the numbers of sightings.“It's a bit complicated in that we keep track of sightings that are reported into fish and wildlife by the public,” said Webb. “But obviously there are many sightings that happen where there's no concern or conflict, where it's not reported, so those aren't kept track of.”As bears start to go into hibernation in the next six weeks, they will not be much of a worry for residents and campers. However, Webb noted that cougars are out year-round.“They're pretty much active all the time, and something that's a bit unique about cougars is they can give birth year-round and they're the only large mammal species in the province that does that.”He said that because of this, and the fact that they don't hibernate either, there is not really a set pattern for cougar behaviour as it is consistent all year.Cougars are becoming more widespread, he added, so residents and campers should be cautious when they are in or around cougar habitats.“Cougars are expanding their range in the province,” said Webb. “They've been moving out further and further east from the mountains and foothills in the past couple of decades.“So anywhere where there's some forest cover and good numbers of prey, particularly deer, you can expect to see cougars.”Populations in the area are expected to increase as well, he added.“Their numbers had declined to a fairly low level after bounty programs and control that was done in the 1950s and prior to that,” he noted. “And so they've basically been slowly increasing and expanding ever since then, and re-occupying habitat that they used to live in before human settlement.“So they're just following the prey, and deer numbers in much of the province is quite high and cougars are taking advantage of that.”