CANMORE — Steve Andreucci couldn’t believe his ears when he woke up on a recent morning to the sounds of a growling cougar sinking its teeth into a small mule deer.
The 28-year-old Canmore resident and his roommate found a cougar kill site behind their Canmore apartment building early on March 4.
“My roommate was awoken to the sound of the growl when (the cougar) took down the deer. He woke me up, and we went on the porch,” Andreucci recalled. “At first, it looked like a big rock. Then it peered up and looked at us. He was lying on top of the deer.”
They called the RCMP, who arrived to see the cougar feed on the small mule deer in the middle of the neighbourhood.
“He was on the top of the deer, hunkering down,” he said. “Then he slowly walked into the woods.”
At 6 a.m. the next morning, Andreucci took another look for the cougar.
“I popped my head out and there he was again. He began to bury the carcass. We snapped a few pics and informed the RCMP and (Fish and Wildlife) officers he was burying his kill,” he said. “He was 60 feet away from the balcony. It was uncomfortable to be out there with the guy. My heart rate was up. I didn’t want to get any closer.”
Fish and Wildlife officer Dave Dickson showed up — shotgun and rubber bullets ready — to monitor the situation.
The dead deer was in a busy residential area near Catamount Court, across from a large soccer field near Benchlands trail, so he decided to take the kill away. By removing the deer, he said, the cougar would likely move on.
“It was a concern, so we removed the kill,” Dickson said.
Wildlife officials had received reports of a large cougar on Mount Lady MacDonald earlier this winter, but this was the lowest this particular cougar has been spotted.
Heavy snowfall likely forced the young deer into town and the cougar followed, Dickson said.
Once the deer was removed, Andreucci installed a wildlife camera in the backyard. By the next morning, the camera captured more than 200 pictures of the cougar searching for its missing dinner.
“We were told they were most likely to come back the first night, but not after their kill was gone,” Andreucci said.
Signs warning people about the cougar in the area have been put up around the neighbourhood. The nearby Elizabeth Rummell School also notified its students about the risk.
Dickson advised the public to stay out of the trees and off the trails in the area, although there was no official area closure.
If you encounter a cougar, Dickson said you should immediately pick up any children or pets and maintain eye contact with the cougar as you back away slowly. Don’t turn your back on a cougar and never run, he added.
Justin Brisbane is a reporter for the Rocky Mountain Outlook