Boone Smith is a big cat tracker who has spent 20 years catching a total of nearly 500 cougars and pumas in Chile, California, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho and Colorado, collaring or marking more than 150 of them............ A fourth-generation tracker and houndman raised on a cattle ranch in southeast Idaho, Smith has used his expertise to gather data on big cats, their behavior and their landscape to help scientists with conservation studies............... Boone is the host of Man v. Lion, which kicks off Nat Geo WILD’s Big Cat Week (Nov. 28 – Dec. 3) an extension of the Big Cats Initiative, a long-term commitment by the National Geographic Society to stop poaching, save habitat and sound the call that big steps are needed to save big cats around the world.................I hope one day that instead of collaring wild and free animals, some other type non-invasive technology can be utilized in the studying of carnivores.

Article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com
/boone-smith/collaring-cougars-in-the-_b_6248618.html

Collaring Cougars

 in the Name of 

Conservation

Posted: 12/01/2014 11:11 am EST Updated: 12/01/2014 11:59 am EST

A large portion of my capture career has been focused on

 mountain lions or cougars as they're also referred to. My

 job is really quite simple: Find, track, capture and radio

 collar these animals so that scientists can obtain valuable

 data to make management and conservations decisions.

The process goes like this: After locating a track, I turn 

specially trained hounds loose to scent trail the cougar 

and chase it up a tree. The dogs really do the toughest 

part of the job; they run with unmatched passion and 

excitement, covering endless miles. When I arrive on scene,

 I leash the dogs. A tranquilizer dart is quickly loaded, and

 the cat is darted. My job then becomes a little tricky. I must

 climb the tree, rope up the cougar by the hind legs and 

lower it to the ground safely. Animal safety is priority 

number one, and despite putting myself in what may

 seem like a very dangerous situation, I take it very 

seriously and use a lot of common sense. The protocols

 for animal tracking are designed to do just that -- 

keep us all safe. But the wild is not a controlled 

environment, and sometimes adapting on the fly is

 the name of the game. I have been chased out of trees, 

snarled at and swatted at, and I've literally had to 

wrestle cats to get the job done. The "rodeo," as I call

 it, is what I believe is the best part of my skill set -- 

making it work when things are not going according

 to plan.

When we have the cougar on the ground, we place a

 GPS collar on it and gather all kinds of information

 (weight, age, blood samples, DNA, measurements, etc.).

 We then give the animal a reversal drug to get it up 

and on its feet. Animals are fully recovered in less 

than an hour. The collar then allows us to learn

 information such as movements, habitat use, 

predation rates and proximity to other predators

 and humans. This data then helps us understand

 unique dynamics that exist for specific species in 

different regions.

I recognize the capture process is fairly invasive. There is no

 doubt that the animal is stressed from our actions and 

presence. However, these animals are hardy and tough 

and evolved to be very resilient and adaptive. And the means

 justifies the end, because the data we get from the collars is

 so essential to wildlife conservation. People often tell me we

 should just leave these animals alone, and nature will 

restore them, but the human footprint is so large and

 far-reaching. We have to factor ourselves into the

 equation when talking about conservation and management.

So why go to all the effort? Cougars, like all big cats, are

 apex predators. Healthy big cat populations help 

balance ecosystems and environments. Additionally, 

big cats require big spaces. Also, whether we recognize

 it or not, we need these wild places with big predators.

 Perhaps we don't go there often, but all of us need 

that touch of the wild.

Boone Smith-"Big Cat Tracker"

This post is part of a series produced by The 

Huffington Post in conjunction with Nat Geo 

WILD's Big Cat Week. To see all the other posts 

in the series, click here. For more information

 about big cats, check out National Geographic's 

Big Cats Initiative.