Since 2004, at least one Puma a year has been seen alive(or dead) in Manitoba, Canada.......... Historical records are not clear about whether cougars were in Manitoba when European settlers first arrived................... In their book, Manitoba's Big Cat, published in 1982, Robert Wrigley and Robert Nero summarize what was known of cougars in this province to that date............... From 1870 - 1981, they list evidence of 436 sightings of Pumas and records of 15 Pumas killed in Manitoba........... In 1973, a Puma was killed near Stead, northeast of Winnipeg............ At the time, with that animal and a body of anecdotal evidence, it was suggested that there very likely was a resident population of the big cats in the province............... But for a long time no more bodies turned up and sightings tailed off.............. Then in 2004, two dead cougars from western Manitoba were turned over to Manitoba Conservation(It is illegal to deliberately shoot a cougar in Manitoba).............. In May 2008, a Plum Coulee woman got a picture of a cougar on her land....... Plum Coulee is about 120 km southwest of Winnipeg.............. Then in November 2008, a man in Lac du Bonnet in eastern Manitoba saw another cougar on surveillance camera footage from his property...... Seems like the evidence is mounting that catamounts (yet another name for cougars) may be residing here(or at the very least be wandering in from North and South Dakota).......................In 2008, a Puma was shot and killed near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan(Province to the West of Manitoba)..................... [ It turned out to be carrying a radio tracking collar that had been placed on it in South Dakota as part of a research project........... The cat was nearly 1000 km from where it had been captured!..........Is there enough wooded river habitat in highly agricultural Manitoba to support a breeding Puma population?

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Chance encounter with

 cougar in Manitoba

By: Oliver Sachgau

Posted: 06/14/2014 1:00 AM | Comments: 20 | Last Modified: 9:42 AM | Updates

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This cougar was seen May 13 near a trail 10 kilometres southwest of MacGregor. (KLAUS DITTBERNER PHOTO)

TRACING STEP OF ELUSIVE MOUNTAIN LION

The existence of mountain lions in Manitoba is no longer a myth.

For more than 30 years, not a single dead mountain lion -- also known as a cougar or puma -- had been reported or turned over to Manitoba Conservation.

That changed in 2004 when two cougar carcasses were reported to the department.

Since then, the number of verified sightings has increased to at least one a year.

"It's nice to know we have them here in Manitoba," said local wildcat researcher Joanne Hutlet. "They are very elusive, very hard to study. But they're here."

The Winnipegger, a competitive diver and marathon runner, has had an interest in cougars since she was a child growing up in the Baldur and Glenboro areas, south of Spruce Woods Provincial Park in southwestern Manitoba.

She recalls placing ads in the local weekly paper, the Gazette, asking readers, 'Have you seen a cougar?'

"Back 20 years ago, there wasn't much proof that they existed here," Hutlet said. "But I knew that's what I wanted to study."

Fast-forward to the mid 2000s and Hutlet, indeed, focused her studies on the existence of the big cat in the province. Her thesis was, The Cougar in Manitoba.

Non-believers were everywhere.

"I was nicknamed the girl studying the Sasquatch," Hutlet said. "There were strong hints that I should change my thesis."

But there was evidence of cougars' existence here in 2004, about halfway through her studies to obtain a master's degree in natural resources management from the University of Manitoba. Two cougars were found in separate incidents 10 years ago around Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Riding Mountain National Park. One was shot and one was caught in a trap.

Then, in September 2007, retired miner and farmer Guy Dew took photos of a large cougar on land adjacent to his Swan Valley farm, which is on the edge of the Duck Mountains.

At the time, Bill Watkins, a zoologist with Manitoba Conservation, says Dew's shots were the first showing a live cougar in the province.

Four years later, a trapper near Boissevain found the carcass of a large male in a power snare set for coyotes.

Several reports of sightings have come in since, but they haven't received confirmation from Manitoba Conservation -- until Klaus Dittberner's chance meeting with a cougar May 13 on a trail near MacGregor.

-- Jason Bell

Canada received a
 surprise visitor from
 the United States in
 mid-May, but the
 four-legged visitor
 probably won't find
 what he's looking for
 in Manitoba.

A cougar, likely a
young male on the
 prowl for a mate,
 was spotted by a
 Manitoba man just
off a trail 10 kilometres
 southwest of MacGregor.

Klaus Dittberner noted
 he was in the bush and
 trying to find his bearings
 when he saw the well-
camouflaged cougar.
He immediately snapped
 a photo of the animal.

"If I hadn't been looking
 so carefully for the trail
I had lost, I never would
have seen it," he wrote
in an email. "It didn't
appear aggressive,
just curious, that's why
I approached so close
to get the pic. Beautiful
animal!Bill Watkins, a 
zoologist with Manitoba 
Conservation, confirmed
 the animal in the photo
 is a cougar.

"There are no other
 animals in Manitoba
 that look even remotely
like a cougar. When you
have a photo that shows
the facial markings, it's
very clear," Watkins said.

Dittberner didn't contact
 Manitoba Conservation
 directly, but got in touch
 with Joanne Hutlet, a
Winnipegger who has a
 master's degree in
natural resources
 management whose
 thesis was titled The
 Cougar in Manitoba.
 She has a website
 (www.manitobacougar
.com) that highlights her
 research.

Hutlet passed the photo
on to Watkins, who spoke
 with Dittberner and then
confirmed the photo was
 no hoax — which happens
 more than most people
 might think, Watkins said.

Watkins said because only
 a portion of the animal is
 visible in the photo, he
 can only guess as to the
 animal's age and sex, but
 said it's likely a young male.

These animals are forced
 from the family unit as they
 mature and travel to find
 females in new locations.

Watkins said the most
probable route into Manitoba
 would be from the Dakotas.

"We have populations of
cougars to the south of us
. We have river corridors
 that connect those areas
 with Manitoba, and we
believe that most of the
animals that are entering
 Manitoba are coming from
the south," he said.

Another population has
 been charted in the
Cypress Hills on the
border of Alberta and
 Saskatchewan, but
 those cougars don't
have easy access to
Manitoba.

Watkins said if the
Manitoba cougar is
 a young male searching
 for a female, he won't
 have much luck.

"We have no recent
evidence of breeding
 cougars in Manitoba.
No one has spotted or
 photographed kittens," he said.

Watkins said the chances of human-cougar contact are very low.

"We've never had an incident with a cougar attacking a human
 in Manitoba. There is no recorded incident," he said.

oliver.sachgau@freepress.mb.ca

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