Banff – A cougar is the carnivore responsible for hunting and killing an elk along a busy riverside trail in the Banff townsite.
Parks Canada’s wildlife experts said a Town of Banff employee walking on the north side of the Bow Valley between the Bow Avenue bridge and Muskrat Street pedestrian bridge on Tuesday morning (Sept. 10) reported his dog got wind of what he thought might have been an animal carcass.
“We got staff there shortly after and it’s a younger cow elk that had been taken down that night and all signs indicated it was a cougar,” said Blair Fyten, a human-wildlife coexistence specialist for Banff National Park.
“It was probably scared off because it’s a pretty busy spot of town right beside the older pedestrian bridge. It might have had a feed and got scared off, and then coyotes moved in and started eating on the carcass.”
The elk carcass was immediately taken away and a spot closure was put in place around the immediate area amid concerns any remaining smell could attract other carnivores like wolves or bears or the same cougar back. The closure is still in place for now, but will likely be lifted soon.
“What we find when carnivores kill something, even if they get pushed off, they tend to come back the following night,” Fyten said.
“We stuck up a cell camera there but we haven’t picked up anything coming back, so the cougar never came back to the site, which is good.”
Though rarely seen, the cougar is one of the largest and most powerful predators in North America. A large male cougar can measure up to two metres in length and weigh more than 90 kgs.
Solitary animals and nocturnal hunters, cougars’ prey typically consist of larger animals such as deer and elk, although they do also feed on smaller mammals.
With the fall elk rut underway, Fyten said there is increased elk activity around town that could draw predators.
“Commonly they (the elk) come down the river into that part of town there along the river and and feed and do their thing,” he said.
“There was probably just a group of elk in there and one of them got ambushed by that cougar.”
The location is the same vicinity of where a cougar took down a mule deer under the cover of darkness in January 2021 in a nearby vacant lot on Muskrat Street.
Based on tracking and remote camera data, wildlife experts were confident that cougar was the same that approached a man and his dog on the Muskrat Street pedestrian bridge a day or two earlier.
The cougar had also been spotted near the intersection of Muskrat and Wolf streets and was then tracked to a backyard near the pedestrian bridge.
In the end, Parks Canada put down the eight-year-old female cougar after she was found emaciated, dehydrated, and in general poor health, with various injuries, including a broken upper canine tooth.
“It’s pretty much the same spot, so, you know, cougars are sneaking into town at night looking for prey,” Fyten said.
“We do see this on occasion and they’re probably around more often than we think they are.”
Fyten said there have not been many cougar sightings reported since earlier in the summer, when there were several sightings on Tunnel Mountain.
“We did find another elk carcass up there early in the summer that had been killed by a cougar, fairly close to Tunnel Mountain campground,” he said.
“We ended up removing the carcass.”
Parks Canada and the Town of Banff are urging the public to stay alert and exercise extra caution when travelling.
“People should continue practicing wildlife safety in the townsite; do not leave children and pets unsupervised,” states a Town of Banff post.
Even in fall and winter, it is highly recommends visitors and residents carry bear spray.
Fyten said bear spray can be effective on cougars and other carnivores, not just bears, and likewise works on elk.
“Because of the elk rut that’s on right now, it’s well worth carrying bear spray,” he said.
Fyten also reminded residents not to leave cat or dog food outside because that could attract cougars, too.
He said it is mandatory in the national park to have dogs on leash at all times.
“If a dog is off-leash, it could be ambushed by a cougar and/or lead the cougar right back to the pet owner,” Fyten said.
Fyten said there are an estimated four to six cougars in the lower Bow Valley at any given time.
“That’s just a rough estimate,” he said.
“Every winter, we do pick up their tracks on our corridor transects and usually there’s a couple of family groups and then another couple of individual males probably,” he said.
Residents are asked to report any cougar sightings or kill sites to Banff National Park dispatch immediately at 403-762-1470.
