Re: “Big Cats on the Prowl,” July 2-8

I am compelled to respond to some of the myriad inaccuracies in Willi Boepple’s letter about cougars, Sitka black-tailed deer and my article on both species which recently appeared in Monday.

Ms. Boepple’s statement that “West Coast old growth forest is singularly inhospitable to deer” and her inference that clearcut logging is ultimately preferential for deer are simply untrue. In fact, there is an abundance of scientific literature that contradicts her assertions.

Scientific studies published by the United States Forest Service in the temperate rainforests of the Tongass National Forest in southeast Alaska have shown that “short-rotation clearcut logging of old growth forests… will reduce habitat capability for Sitka black-tailed deer. This conclusion is supported by an extensive body of research spanning 30 years on forest succession following logging, silvicultural practices, deer-habitat relations and nutritional ecology of deer.”

Although forage in early cut-over areas may be temporarily abundant, typically it is of lesser nutritional value. The Ministry of Environment has acknowledged that Vancouver Island’s cougar population has been in decline as a result of a drop in the deer population, which is linked to the clearcut logging of old-growth forests and accompanying habitat loss and fragmentation.

Regarding Ms. Boepple’s declaration that Vancouver Island is teeming with cougars, no scientific basis exists for such an assertion as no systematic Island-wide surveys have been carried out. The “densest population” meme has become popular “fact” by repeated but unsubstantiated claims.

Chris Genovali, Executive Director
Raincoast Conservation

A recent cougar attack in Squamish has brought to the fore BC’s failure to manage these top-level predators. Reports that BC has 4-6,000 cougars have no scientific basis. In fact, since little or no effort has been made to study BC’s cougars, there is no reliable method to assess cougar numbers.

A preliminary BC cougar-management plan drafted in 1980 discussed habitat issues and cautioned that provincial cougar populations would likely fall in the near future as a result of habitat loss and prey population decline and recommending cougar conservation through protection of cougar and prey habitat – 30-year-old advice that the provincial government has yet to take.

According to Raincoast Conservation’s senior scientist, large carnivore expert Dr Paul Paquet, ‘the distribution of cougars was once the largest of any land mammal in the western hemisphere.

However, the historic North American range has been reduced by 50%. Three subspecies are found in western Canada: the Vancouver Island cougar, the Coastal cougar and the Rocky Mountains cougar. Owing to extirpation elsewhere, BC harbours most of the remaining cougar population in Canada.’

Deer on Vancouver Island -the main prey species for cougars- have dropped from 200,000 to around 55,000 in the last 20 years.
A major factor behind the decline is the loss of old-growth forest, an important habitat for Blacktail deer. Out of 91 primary watersheds over 5,000 hectares, only six are left intact; not one watershed on eastern Vancouver Island remains intact or is protected-and 75% of the Island’s productive ancient forests have been logged.

As prey decreases, so do its predators: the Ministry of Environment estimates that Vancouver Island’s cougar population has fallen from approximately 750 in 1995 to around 350.

Settlement Encroachment

It has been confounding to read comments of a provincial conservation officer dismissing the role of development in the upsurge in sightings and cougar-human interactions. Even the mother of the toddler who experienced the cougar encounter in Squamish agrees that rampant development is at the root of increasing conflicts with the big cats.

Leading cougar researchers Ken Logan and Linda Sweanor have written that habitat loss due to human development is the single greatest threat to cougar conservation in North America. Cougars require habitat for prey availability, hunting and feeding cover, as well as nurseries and bedding sites.

In BC, continuing settlement encroachment on wildlife habitat has lead to a predominantly ‘shoot-first-ask-questions-later’ method of large carnivore management. Trophy hunting of cougars continues unabated, without even the pretense of scientific management. The government has also promoted lethal predator control in connection with endangered Vancouver Island marmots and mountain caribou recovery.

Predator control has negative effects on individual cougars, cougar populations, kittens, prey, and entire ecosystems. Any contemplation of cougar control should include the understanding that ecosystems are extremely complex and that reliable scientific data is generally limited.

The Paradox of Gulf Islands’ Deer

On the Gulf Islands deer populations are unchecked by any naturalpredator. Cougars occasionally appear on the islands, where they might be ecologically welcomed, given the ubiquity of deer and lack of predators. Instead, the appearance of a cougar typically results in the swift removal of the animal.

This is unfortunate as the predator-prey imbalance in the Gulf Islands is evident in the severely over-browsed understory of the region’s remaining forested lands. Sustained over-browsing by deer alters the natural succession of vegetation in forested landscapes, reduces plant cover and diversity, alters nutrient and carbon cycling- and is difficult to reverse.Over-browsing affect the growth and survival of many herb, shrub, and tree species; modifying patterns of relative abundance and vegetation dynamics; and redirecting the forest structure. This has cascading effects on insects, birds, and other
mammals. Deer overpopulation also contributes to the spread of Lyme disease.

Chris Genovali is the Executive Director of Raincoast Conservation. Later this year, Raincoast Conservation will publish a report providing a comprehensive assessment and framework for a cougar conservation
plan.

By Tiffany Crawford
CanWest News Service
July 14, 2009

OTTAWA — Fatal attacks on humans by animals with big, sharp teeth are rare in Canada despite a recent spike in cougar maulings, but a sustainable plan is needed as urban sprawl threatens the habitat of predators, say conservation experts.In one recent wild animal mauling, a British Columbia woman and her two sons — aged five and seven — were walking through a park in Quesnel, B.C., on July 4, when a cougar jumped out of the forest and attacked the older boy. The boy suffered scratches to his face and back and required stitches.

He was lucky. Conservation officers say it’s very rare that a cougar would leave once it was focused on its prey.

Some experts say the animals are losing their fear of humans, causing them to see humans as prey. Others insist the increase in human-predator interaction has more to do with human encroachment into their habitat, and the animals are likely protecting their territory, rather than stalking people for a human snack.

“There are more people recreating outdoors than ever before, whether mountain running or skiing, and eventually humans are going to come in contact with large predators and carnivores, more than in the past,” said Chris Genovali, executive director of the Raincoast Conservation Foundation.

Conservation officer Michael Krause said the latest mauling was the first reported incident in the area 650 kilometres north of Vancouver at least 25 years.

A cougar pounced on a three-year-old girl who was out for a walk on the evening of June 16 with her mother in their Squamish, B.C., neighbourhood,about one hour outside Vancouver. She was taken to hospital with non-life threatening injuries and also received stitches.

The cougar — also known as mountain lion — has become a potent symbol of the conflicts between humans and nature in Canada. The sleek, tawny cat with razor sharp claws can sprint at 56 kilometres per hour and can leap nine metres forward, or jump five metres straight up, to attack its prey. In Canada, they are the most abundant in northern B.C.

But, it’s not just the cougar that is becoming more of a threat. Other predators such as wolves, bears and coyotes have also been making more contact, often resulting in human injury.

A 15-year-old boy mauled in May near Edmonton was the victim of a predatory bear attack and conservationists said the bear likely did view the boy as food.

And in one particularly gruesome incident in 2008, 53-year-old Brent Case described how he felt a grizzly bear eating the back of his head as he was mauled in Bella Coola, B.C., about 700 kilometres north of Vancouver.

The problem is a human one rather than a predator problem, said Jake Goheen,assistant professor of zoology at the University of B.C. He believes predators may be becoming more accustomed to humans, but it’s unlikely they’ve changed their hunting behaviour.

“People are coming into contact with these species more often than they have historically, as a lot of people want to move into scenic areas. And the things that attract people to these areas — woods, clean air, songbirds and so forth — those things go hand in hand with predators.”

Also, he said people are moving into the wild and bringing their pets with them, which can attract predators.

“Dogs and cats — those are tasty tidbits for creatures,” he said. “But(attacking a person) is not necessarily a shift in the animal’s behaviour,it’s a shift in a number of humans in their spaces.”

Fragmentation of predator habitat because of urban sprawl must be considered when creating a sustainable land use plan, says Genovali. He said Squamish is a good example of what is “going wrong” with development.

Squamish, on the route to Whistler, B.C., has seen a lot of construction,including a $1 billion upgrade to the Sea to Sky Highway for the 2010 Olympics and a plan to build a new ski resort. Genovali feels there’s been no serious consultation about what to do about the wildlife habitat.

Squamish Mayor Greg Gardner said city officials have done some mapping of wildlife habitat but there are currently no wildlife corridors, which are large swaths of land banned to humans to allow the safe movement of predatory animals.

“Wildlife corridors would be essential if they go ahead with the ski resort,” said Genovali. “Keeping humans from those corridors would also be critical.”

One of the lead researchers on the first approved wildlife corridor in Banff in 1993, Paul Paquet said the wildlife corridors in the Rocky Mountains have been a success, and even encouraged the repopulation of wolves in that area.

For example, Banff’s Middle Springs wildlife closure is a 500-metre wide band of forest and is legally closed to people to help large carnivores move across the Bow Valley, and around the town of Banff.

“Humans and predators can coexist and it’s never going to be perfect but that’s why you have to become more tolerant and understanding that conflicts can occur and try to reduce the impact,” said Paquet, an environmental scientist with the University of Calgary.

There have been at least 12 fatalities from bear maulings in Canada since 2000. Coyote attacks have been on the rise in Eastern Canada but there are no known fatalities. Death by cougar remains relatively rare in Canada.

In 2001, 30-year-old Frances Frost was skiing on the Cascade Trail, 12 kilometres from Banff, Alta., when she was killed by a cougar. Authorities believe the cat had stalked the woman as prey.

In 1996, Cindy Parolin was killed while defending her young son who had been knocked off a horse by a cougar in Princeton, 250 kilometres east of Vancouver.

A cougar also killed an eight-year-old boy in 1992 in a schoolyard in Kyuquot, B.C., on the northwest side of Vancouver Island.

A recent cougar attack in Squamish has brought to the fore BC’s failure to manage these top-level predators. Reports that BC has 4-6,000 cougars have no scientific basis. In fact, since little or no effort has been made to study BC’s cougars, there is no reliable method to assess cougar numbers.

A preliminary BC cougar-management plan drafted in 1980
discussed habitat issues and cautioned that provincial cougar populations would likely fall in the near future as a result of habitat loss and prey population decline and recommending cougar conservation through protection of cougar and prey habitat – 30-year-old advice that the provincial government has yet to take.

According to Raincoast Conservation’s senior scientist, large carnivore expert Dr Paul Paquet, ‘the distribution of cougars was once the largest of any land mammal in the western hemisphere.
However, the historic North American range has been reduced by 50%. Three subspecies are found in western Canada: the Vancouver Island cougar, the Coastal cougar and the Rocky Mountains cougar. Owing to extirpation elsewhere, BC harbours most of the remaining cougar population in Canada.’

Deer on Vancouver Island -the main prey species for cougars- have dropped from 200,000 to around 55,000 in the last 20 years.
A major factor behind the decline is the loss of old-growth forest, an important habitat for Blacktail deer. Out of 91 primary watersheds over 5,000 hectares, only six are left intact; not one watershed on eastern Vancouver Island remains intact or is protected-and 75% of the Island’s productive ancient forests have been logged.

As prey decreases, so do its predators: the Ministry of
Environment estimates that Vancouver Island’s cougar population has fallen from approximately 750 in 1995 to around 350.

Settlement Encroachment

It has been confounding to read comments of a provincial
conservation officer dismissing the role of development in the upsurge in sightings and cougar-human interactions. Even the mother of the toddler who experienced the cougar encounter in Squamish agrees that rampant development is at the root of increasing conflicts with the big cats.

Leading cougar researchers Ken Logan and Linda Sweanor have written that habitat loss due to human development is the single greatest threat to cougar conservation in North America. Cougars require habitat for prey availability, hunting and feeding cover, as well as nurseries and bedding sites.

In BC, continuing settlement encroachment on wildlife habitat has lead to a predominantly ‘shoot-first-ask-questions-later’ method of large carnivore management. Trophy hunting of cougars continues unabated, without even the pretense of scientific
management. The government has also promoted lethal predator control in connection with endangered Vancouver Island marmots and mountain caribou recovery.

Predator control has negative effects on individual cougars, cougar populations, kittens, prey, and entire ecosystems. Any contemplation of cougar control should include the understanding that ecosystems are extremely complex and that reliable scientific data is generally limited.

The Paradox of Gulf Islands’ Deer

On the Gulf Islands deer populations are unchecked by any naturalpredator. Cougars occasionally appear on the islands, where they might be ecologically welcomed, given the ubiquity of deer and lack of predators. Instead, the appearance of a cougar typically results in the swift removal of the animal.

This is unfortunate as the predator-prey imbalance in the Gulf Islands is evident in the severely over-browsed understory of the region’s remaining forested lands. Sustained over-browsing by deer alters the natural succession of vegetation in forested landscapes,
reduces plant cover and diversity, alters nutrient and carbon cycling- and is difficult to reverse.Over-browsing affect the growth and survival of many herb, shrub, and tree species; modifying patterns of
relative abundance and vegetation dynamics; and redirecting the forest structure. This has cascading effects on insects, birds, and other
mammals. Deer overpopulation also contributes to the spread of Lyme disease.

Chris Genovali is the Executive Director of Raincoast Conservation. Later this year, Raincoast Conservation will publish a report providing a comprehensive assessment and framework for a cougar conservation
plan.

Monday Magazine
By Chris Genovali
July 02, 2009

The recent cougar attack in Squamish has brought to the fore the significant gaps in the management of these top-level predators. At present, the B.C. government does not have sufficient ecological data on cougars or a comprehensive cougar-management strategy.

A preliminary B.C. cougar-management plan drafted in 1980 discussed habitat issues and cautioned that provincial cougar populations would likely fall in the near future as a result of habitat loss and prey population decline. It recommended that cougar conservation could be ensured via the protection of
cougar and prey habitat-advice that the provincial government has yet to take almost 30 years later.

Contained within some news reports has been the statement that “B.C. is home to about 4,000 to 6,000 cougars.” There is no sound scientific basis for such a population estimate; in fact, there is no reliable and inexpensive method to continuously assess our cougar numbers. And there is also little or no effort made by the province to study B.C.’s cougars.

According to Raincoast Conservation’s senior scientist, large carnivore expert Dr. Paul Paquet, “the distribution of cougars was once the largest of any land mammal in the Western Hemisphere. However, the historic North American range has been reduced by 50 percent. Three subspecies are found in western Canada: the Vancouver Island cougar, the Coastal cougar and the Rocky Mountains cougar.  Owing to extirpation elsewhere, B.C. harbours most of the remaining cougar population in Canada.”

Deer on Vancouver Island have dropped from 200,000 to somewhere in the 55,000 range in the last 20 years. A major factor behind the decline is the loss of old-growth forest, which is important habitat for Blacktail deer-the main prey species for cougars. Out of 91 primary watersheds over 5,000 hectares, only six are left intact; not one watershed on eastern Vancouver Island remains intact or is protected-and 75 percent of the Island’s productive ancient forests have been logged. As prey decreases, so do its predators: the Ministry of Environment estimates that Vancouver Island’s cougar population has fallen from approximately 750 in 1995 to around 350 at this time.

It has been confounding to read the comments of a provincial conservation officer dismissing the impacts from development to cougar and prey habitat in terms of having any role in the upsurge in sightings and cougar-human interactions. Even the mother of the toddler who experienced the cougar encounter in Squamish agrees that rampant development is at the root of increasing conflicts with the big cats.

Cougars require habitat for prey availability, hunting and feeding cover, as well as nurseries and bedding sites. Leading cougar researchers Ken Logan and Linda Sweanor have written that habitat loss due to human development isthe single greatest threat to cougar conservation in North America.

Logan and Sweanor point out that there are more people living in cougar habitat than ever before. Greater human development contributes to smaller, more fragmented cougar populations, increasing the risk of extirpation and increasing the chances of potentially negative cougar-human interactions as more people recreate outdoors than ever before.

According to the Cougar Management Guidelines Working Group, high densities of humans, roads and development decrease habitat quality for cougars by increasing the potential for depredation incidents involving pets and making more likely the implementation of policies favouring the removal of cougars to reduce the potential for attacks on humans. Clearly, this is the case in B.C. where continuing encroachment on wildlife habitat has lead to a predominantly “shoot-first-ask-questions-later” method of large carnivore management.

In B.C., cougars face imminent threats from the direct killing of the species. For example, trophy hunting of cougars throughout the province continues unabated, without even the pretense of scientific management. The government has also promoted lethal predator control in connection with endangered Vancouver Island marmots. Currently, cougars are being killed in an effort to promote mountain caribou recovery. It now appears they are being increasingly targeted for removal because of potential conflicts with suburban sprawl.

Predator control has negative effects on individual cougars, cougar populations, kittens, prey, and entire ecosystems. Any contemplation of cougar control should include the understanding that ecosystems are extremely complex and that reliable scientific data is generally limited.

Based on our review of cougar ecology, research and management in B.C. and elsewhere, Raincoast Conservation will be publishing a report later this year that will provide a comprehensive assessment and framework for a science-based cougar conservation plan. Current provincial management policies, which depend solely on hunting regulations, are inadequate to protect cougar populations and their habitat in the long term.

Chris Genovali is the Executive Director of Raincoast Conservation.

Re: ‘I just knew I had to get between them’; mother says her instincts took over when she saved her daughter from attacking cougar, Westcoast News, June 18This article stated that B.C. is home to 4,000 to 6,000 cougars. There is no sound basis for such an estimate. The fact is, there is no reliable,inexpensive method to assess cougar numbers continuously; furthermore, the provincial government makes little or no effort to study cougars.

It was also mind-boggling to hear a provincial conservation officer dismissing the impact of development on cougar and prey habitat. Leading cougar researchers Ken Logan and Linda Sweanor have written that habitat loss due to human development is the single greatest threat to cougar conservation in North America.

In B.C., the continuing encroachment on wildlife habitat has led to a predominantly “shoot first, ask questions later” method of large carnivore management.

Chris Genovali
Executive Director,
Raincoast Conservation, Sidney

View the poster

In May 2008, Raincoast presented a conference poster at the Mountain Lion Workshop in Sun Valley, Idaho. The poster, entitled “Cougars in British Columbia: conservation assessment and science-based management recommendations”, includes highlights from a forthcoming report that examines opportunities for cougar conservation. Based on our review of cougar ecology, research and management in BC and elsewhere, our report will provide a conservation assessment and framework for a science-based conservation plan. Long-term conservation strategies for BC cougars should include education and awareness efforts, habitat protection and freedom from (over)exploitation.