Trapper ‘never, ever expected’ to capture live cougar

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This article was published 12/03/2024 (958 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba trapper Clint Janzen could barely believe his own eyes when he captured a cougar late last month.

“It was quite a shock,” the Minitonas-area trapper said Sunday.

Janzen expected to see a wolf in the leg trap he’d set last month along a trail on the north side of Duck Mountain Provincial Park, about 360 kilometres northwest of Brandon. On his way up the trail, the longtime trapper noticed what he assumed were lynx tracks in the snow.

Then, he spotted the female cougar — her foot held in the trap — off to the side of the trail.

“I just hit the brakes on the quad,” he said. When he called out that he’d caught a cougar, a buddy following behind on a snowmobile thought at first he was joking.

“He said, ‘No!’ I said, ‘Yes!’ There was no mistaking that it was a cougar,” Janzen said.

“I never, ever expected it,” he added.

It was the first recorded live capture of a cougar in provincial history.

Although he has been trapping in the area for decades, Janzen said he’d never seen a cougar before, only their occasional tracks, which look similar to lynx tracks. He contacted conservation officers, who tranquilized the 35-kilogram animal, placed a tracking collar on it, and released it back into the wild.

Confirmed cougar sightings in Manitoba are “extremely rare,” a provincial government spokesperson stated. The province expressed gratitude that Janzen quickly notified conservation.

“This incident presented a unique opportunity to learn more about the movement and habits of these elusive animals, especially because this is a female, so staff took a number of measurements, along with hair and blood samples as well as attaching a radio collar,” the provincial spokesperson stated.

“The collar will transmit location information twice a day, which, over time will reveal significant information about the individual’s movement patterns and could provide evidence of breeding.”

DNA samples from the cougar, which appeared to be a smaller-than-average or not-yet fully grown adult, were sent to the Assiniboine Park Zoo to be added to a small data set collected from other cougars in Manitoba.

The province stated photos or videos of cougars spotted in Manitoba should be sent to local conservation officers for the Wildlife Branch’s ongoing database of confirmed sightings.

“Encounters with cougars are rare in Manitoba as they generally avoid humans,” the provincial spokesperson stated.

The cougar Janzen captured on Feb. 20 was measured as being about 69 inches long from her head to the tip of her tail. Her paw pads were about four inches across.

While in the trap, “she was aggressive at first. Understandable. She doesn’t want anything to do with people,” Janzen said, explaining the trap was an approved, humane foothold trap that caused very little damage to the cougar’s paw.

He didn’t get too close. He backed away, took a few photos and video clips, and called conservation. His friends in the conservation office were just as surprised at the news, he said.

“They were all ecstatic that they had the opportunity to do it,” he said. “And being the first (cougar they put a tracking collar on), they did a tremendous job.”

A day or two before he captured the cougar, he caught a coyote. When he checked the trap, he discovered the coyote had been eaten by another predator. He now believes the cougar made a meal of it.

Janzen said he’s not worried about cougar attacks. He traps wolves and coyotes to protect local livestock, and said he’s much more worried about the overpopulation of coyotes as a threat to humans.

Although he has received some mixed reaction from people, including those who were concerned for the cougar’s welfare, “the majority of people are happy for the opportunity that the government does get a chance to track one,” he said.

“We know they’re here, but do they stay here, or do they just travel through? So I think this will be a really good opportunity for them to actually get to track one.”

» Winnipeg Free Press