Strathcona Park Cougar

I also lived on Van Isle for several years. Cougars are scary but your odds are very good. Adult fatalities are virtually unheard of. There is a chance but not large enough that its worth giving up hiking IMO.

Thanks Dan.  I don’t usually worry about cougars too much.  There was a cougar warning in East Sooke Park for the last couple weeks of June.  Sure thinned out the traffic along the coast.  I solo hiked it several times without much concern.  I suppose it’s the “in your face” photos and video that make it a little more real.  I might avoid the more remote backcountry treks in Strathcona for now.

That was pretty wild, thanks for sharing the link. I found it fascinating that it turned its back on the hiker and just kind of chilled for a bit. Not only was the hiker very cool acting, so was the cougar!

My only Cougar siting was one crossing the road on the drive up to Strathcona. Stunning creature. I zipped the tent up extra tight that night I can tell you.

One did pass by the front of my tent up at cape Scott a few days later of the footprints were anything to go by.

great video

I’ve hiked there but no cougars, it does seem wilder than here in the states

When my kitty does that it wants it’s ears scratched and it’s belly rubbed

Maybe he should have been more aggressive, yelled at it and threw stuff at it.  Cougars are best fearful of humans.

I make no claims of being knowledgeable about cougars, but that one didn’t seem completely healthy. I would expect a healthy one to be more fearful of an adult human and run off, not lay down with its back to the human.

yeah, very skinny

also, maybe very young so it hasn’t learned to be fearful

I too am no expert but the stomach looked sunken like it hadn’t eaten for awhile.

I can’t access the post because I am not on FB so I don’t know if it is actually unhealthy/skinny. I do know that when I do my presentations a lot of people comment on a couple of pictures that the cougar is too skinny when in fact it is a very healthy, lean and hungry young cat. A lot of the pictures we see are wintertime shots with a lot of fur and even more of them are taken in reserves where the cats are fed and would not be able to chase and take down a deer . Cougars will eat a deer in 3 nights on average and look quite full and after a week or two they will look gaunt with a saggy skin belly and some bone showing. Older animals even more so.

Bring a boat horn can and keep it next to your bear spray.

Unfortunately, that link seems to have expired.

I wonder if it was moved to the member’s only area.

When I saw it yesterday, I read some of the comments as well. While a few folks talked about how skinny it looked, there was one person who said he worked with a number of wildlife biologists (or something like that) who all said the cougar looked young and healthy, not too skinny and such, FWIW.