Cougars in Canada
Revisiting relocation
Relocation is sometimes suggested
as a potential solution for “problem” cougars. Just
how viable is it?
By Kris Popp
We’ve all heard the stories. A mother and child attacked by a rogue cougar. A hungry wildcat hunting
the family pet. A long-time outdoorsman stalked in the forest’s shadows. But rarely do
we hear what happens to the animals after the drama of the story has been told. One of the
many possible endings is relocating the assailant — the cougar.
But as longtime British Columbia conservation officer Gerry Brunham reveals, the relocation
of these animals is fraught with difficulties, ethical issues, and a number of important
considerations.
"If I were to pick you up, put you in a box and drop you in the middle of some city
in India, you’d probably have quite a bit of difficulty adjusting," says Brunham.
For this reason, when relocation is being considered, a cougar’s physical condition
is examined, including its age and its health, to determine whether or not it could reasonably
be expected to survive the trauma of adapting to a new environment.
There are other equally critical considerations. Brunham and other conservation officers
must consider the nature of the event involving the cougar. For instance, if a cougar attacked
a person, relocation is not considered an option. In cases of livestock predation, Brunham
explains that teaching animal husbandry practices to the farmer are considered instead.
It’s easy to talk about placing a cougar "somewhere else," but another
problem conservation officials have encountered is that they are not equipped with an infinite
supply of "somewhere elses." Cougars require a large habitat — upwards of
100 square kilometres — and are very territorial and potentially cannibalistic when
competing for prey and/or land. Possible relocation sites need to be examined for proximity
to humans, prey populations, and distance from the original and problematic home site. Officials
also need to consider to what extent and in what numbers cougars are already present at the
potential relocation site so they do not create too competitive an atmosphere for food and
territory.
As Brunham puts it, "if you shove him somewhere else," without adequate thought
to the presence of other predators, "he’s going to take a beating."
The ideal candidate for relocation is a young, healthy cougar who has just left its mother
and is beginning the process of branching out, looking to establish a new territory of its
own. And how often is a "problem" cougar an ideal candidate? Of the approximately
400 cougar complaints Brunham has responded to in 32 years of service, he estimates that
roughly 10 percent of them would be strong contenders for relocation.
Given that the relocation of cougars is so seldom destined for success, the National Wildlife
Federation advocates that more proactive efforts should be used to prevent problem encounters
before they occur. Limiting further human development into cougar habitat, working with ranchers
and farmers to utilize "cougar-safe" livestock management practices, and providing
information to people living in cougar country about suburban activities that can attract
unwanted cat visitors — such as feeding domestic pets outside, or planting shrubs which
invite deer — are just a few of the many recommendations.
Brunham agrees that people need to act responsibly in sharing their landscape with cougars. "They’re
an indicator of a healthy environment," he says. "We can live with these
animals."
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