Canadian study on northern lion sightings
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ARCTIC
VOL. 54, NO. 2 (JUNE 2001) P. 185–187
Cougars (Puma concolor) in the Northwest Territories and Wood Buffalo National Park
ROBERT J. GAU,1,2 ROBERT MULDERS,1 TAMARA LAMB3 and LIBBY GUNN3
(Received 26 April 2000; accepted in revised form 5 September 2000)
ABSTRACT. Extralimital reports of cougars (Puma concolor) at the northern limits of their range are rare. We documented at
least 21 individual occurrences of cougars from the Northwest Territories and the Wood Buffalo National Park area between the
years 1983 and 2000. Our evidence suggests that, at a minimum, transient cougars are regular visitors to northern Alberta and the
Northwest Territories.
Key words: Alberta, cougar, Northwest Territories, Puma concolor, Wood Buffalo National Park
RÉSUMÉ. La présence de couguars (Puma concolor) est rarement rapportée en dehors des limites septentrionales de leur
territoire. On a documenté au moins 21 cas individuels de la présence de couguars dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest et le parc
national Wood Buffalo entre les années 1983 et 2000. Les éléments de preuve que nous apportons suggèrent que, à tout le moins,
les couguars de passage sont des visiteurs réguliers du nord de l’Alberta et des Territoires du Nord-Ouest.
Mots clés: Alberta, couguar, Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Puma concolor, parc national Wood Buffalo
Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nésida Loyer.
1
Wildlife and Fisheries Division, Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Government of the Northwest
Territories, #600, 5102 – 50th Avenue, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories X1A 3S8, Canada
2
Corresponding author: rob_gau@gov.nt.ca
3
Wood Buffalo National Park Warden Services, Box 750, Fort Smith, Northwest Territories X0E 0P0, Canada
©The Arctic Institute of North America
The usual range of cougars (Puma concolor) extends from
Chile, through the western United States, to northern
British Columbia (Lindzey, 1987). In Alberta and northern
British Columbia, cougars are primarily found in forested
habitats similar to those used by their primary prey spe-
cies, the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and
the mule deer (O. hemionus) (Dixon, 1982). It is often
difficult for the public to observe cougars, as the species
generally has a low population density and is cryptic and
highly mobile (Ross et al., 1996). Forest cover may also
obscure or reduce an observer’s view, and lynx (Lynx
canadensis), wolf (Canis lupus), coyote (C. latrans), and
feral or domestic cats and dogs may be mistaken for
cougars.
Accounts of cougars in the Northwest Territories (NWT)
have been regarded as exceedingly rare (Kuyt, 1971). Kuyt
(1971) documented three observations of cougars in the
Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) area from 1962,
1967, and 1970. Novak et al. (1987) documented seven
cougars harvested from the NWT in 1919–20. However,
Obbard et al. (1987) noted that those data, summarized
from fur-trading records, represent the places where the
skins were sold and may not be the area of harvest. In other
parts of Canada, there has been evidence of cougars out-
side their normal range in the Yukon Territory (Anderson,
1983; Klassen, 2000) and Alberta (Alberta Fish and Wild-
life Division, 1992). Also, Nero and Wrigley (1977) sum-
marized cougar sightings and carcass collections from
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario (northwest of Lake
Superior).
We constructed a database consisting of cougar sightings
from firsthand visual accounts by Parks Canada staff and
wildlife personnel of the Government of the NWT Depart-
ment of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development
(RWED), and firsthand sightings relayed directly to RWED
Wildlife or Parks Canada staff. A sighting was considered
reliable if the observer reporting the event was the primary
witness, the distance from the animal observed was less
than 250 m, and identifiable characteristics (including
colour, tail length, fur length, and body size) were de-
scribed without prompting.
We catalogued 37 reliable visual sightings of cougars
between the years 1983 and 2000 (Table 1). However,
because long-distance movements have been reported for
some cougars, we wanted to reduce the possibility of
multiple sightings of the same animal in our database.
Anderson et al. (1992) reported maximum dispersal dis-
tances for 33 male and 32 female cougars from various
North American populations to be 274 and 140 km, respec-
tively. Logan and Sweanor (2000) reported a 483 km
dispersal for an individual cougar from his natal area to the
site of his death at 30 months of age. Thus, we filtered our
database to yield one sighting per year from a 200 km
radius surrounding its coordinates. Our filtered database
has 21 reliable visual sightings of cougars in the NWT and
the WBNP area (Fig. 1). Note that not one of these
186 • R.J. GAU et al.
TABLE 1. Year and general location of cougar sightings in the Northwest Territories and the Wood Buffalo National Park area, 1983–2000.
FIG. 1. Location and year of sighting of some cougar occurrences from the Northwest Territories and the Wood Buffalo National Park area.
Year General Location
19831 Wood Buffalo National Park
19831 Hell Roaring Creek, Nahanni National Park
19841 Near the community of Jean Marie River
19871 Near the community of Pine Point
1987 Near the community of Pine Point
19901 Wood Buffalo National Park
19901 Hell Roaring Creek, Nahanni National Park
19911 Petitot River by the BC-NWT border
19921 Alberta-NWT border
19921 Liard Trail-Mackenzie Highway junction
19941 Near the community of Edzo
19961 60 km north of Fort Providence
19961,2 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Slave River near Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Near the community of Fort Smith
Year General Location
1997 Near Caen Lake by Fort Providence
19971 Near the community of Enterprise
19981 Wood Buffalo National Park
19981 Near the community of Trout Lake
19991 Near the community of Fort Providence
19991 Near the community of Hay River
19991 Andrew Lake north of Lake Athabasca
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Near the community of Fort Smith
20001 Southwest of Fort Providence
20001 Near the community of Fort Simpson
20001 Wood Buffalo National Park
2000 Wood Buffalo National Park
2000 Wood Buffalo National Park
2000 Near the community of Fort Providence
1
Year and location in filtered location database (Fig. 1).
2
Two cougars were observed together.
COUGARS IN THE NWT AND WBNP • 187
sightings included cubs, nor was any sighting wholly
substantiated by a carcass or photograph.
Local climate and snow accumulation variations can
affect the distribution of ungulates and cougars (Murphy,
1983; Telfer and Kelsall, 1984). Recent years with mild
winters and low snow accumulations could aid a resident
cougar population to persist in the southern NWT and
WBNP. However it remains unknown whether the cougar
sightings we documented represent transient or resident
individuals. Should it be determined that a resident cougar
population is established in the NWT, wildlife managers
will need to consider the potential affects of cougars on the
behaviour, distribution, composition, and density of some
ungulate species (Compton et al., 1995; Ross and Jalkotzy,
1996; Wehausen, 1996; Kunkel et al., 1999).
Other management implications for cougars in the NWT
and WBNP are currently limited. Since no cougar hunting
season currently exists in the NWT, cougars cannot be
hunted legally by resident hunters. The Federal NWT Act
does guarantee to all status Indians and Inuit the right to
subsistence hunting on unoccupied Crown lands of any
species not in danger of extinction. In that circumstance,
however, it is illegal to keep or sell the hide for trophy
purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank P.I. Ross, K. Poole, E. Krutko, S. Ransom,
J. Hordal, I. McLeod, K. Davidge, D. Williams, A. Helmer,
R. Bourget, H.D. Cluff, S. Douglas, B. Bergman, C. Lafferty,
M. Rosen and the other observers and trappers that took the time
to report their findings directly to the interested wardens,
biologists, and wildlife officers. The authors also thank the three
reviewers who improved an earlier version of this manuscript.
REFERENCES
ALBERTA FISH AND WILDLIFE DIVISION. 1992. Management
plan for cougars in Alberta. Wildlife Management Planning
Series Number 5. Edmonton, Alberta. 91 p.
ANDERSON, A.E. 1983. A critical review of literature on puma
(Felis concolor). Special Report Number 54. Fort Collins,
Colorado: Colorado Division of Wildlife. 91 p.
ANDERSON, A.E., BOWDEN, D.C., and KATTNER, D.M. 1992.
The puma on Uncompahgre Plateau, Colorado. Technical
Publication Number 40. Fort Collins, Colorado: Colorado
Division of Wildlife. 116 p.
COMPTON, B.B., ZAGER, P., and SERVHEEN, G. 1995. Survival
and mortality of translocated woodland caribou. Wildlife Society
Bulletin 23:490–496.
DIXON, K.R. 1982. Mountain lion. In: Chapman, J.A., and
Feldhamer, G.A., eds. Wild mammals of North America: Biology,
management, economics. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins
University Press. 711–727.
KLASSEN, D. 2000. Cougars in the Yukon. Technical Report.
Whitehorse: Yukon Department of Renewable Resources. 47 p.
KUNKEL, K.E., RUTH, T.K., PLETSCHER, D.H., and
HORNOCKER, M.G. 1999. Winter prey selection by wolves
and cougars in and near Glacier National Park, Montana.
Journal of Wildlife Management 63:901–910.
KUYT, E. 1971. Possible occurrence of cougar near Fort Smith,
N.W.T. Blue Jay 29:142–143.
LINDZEY, F. 1987. Mountain lion. In: Novak, M., Baker, J.A.,
Obbard, M.E., and Malloch, B., eds. Wild furbearer management
and conservation in North America. Toronto: Ontario Ministry
of Natural Resources. 657–668.
LOGAN, K.A., and SWEANOR, L.L. 2000. Puma. In: Demarais,
S., and Krausman, P., eds. Ecology and management of large
mammals in North America. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall. 347–377.
MURPHY, K.M. 1983. Relationships between a mountain lion
population and hunting pressure in western Montana. Master
of Science Thesis, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana.
48 p.
OBBARD, M.E., JONES, J.G., NEWMAN, R., BOOTH, A.,
SATTERTHWAITE, A.J., and LINSCOMBE, G. 1987. In:
Novak, M., Baker, J.A., Obbard, M.E., and Malloch, B., eds.
Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America.
Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 1007–1034.
NERO, R.W., and WRIGLEY, R.E. 1977. Status and habits of the
cougar in Manitoba. Canadian-Field Naturalist 91:28–40.
NOVAK, M., OBBARD, M.E., JONES, J.G., NEWMAN, R.,
BOOTH, A., SATTERTHWAITE, A.J., and LINSCOMBE, G.
1987. Furbearer harvests in North America, 1600–1984. Toronto:
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 271 p.
ROSS, P.I., and JALKOTZY, M.G. 1996. Cougar predation on
moose in southwestern Alberta. Alces 32:1–8.
ROSS, P.I., JALKOTZY, M.G., and GUNSON, J.R. 1996. The
quota system of cougar harvest management in Alberta. Wildlife
Society Bulletin 24:490–494.
TELFER, E.S., and KELSALL, J.P. 1984. Adaptation of some
large North American mammals for survival in snow. Ecology
65:1828–1834.
WEHAUSEN, J.D. 1996. Effects of mountain lion predation on
bighorn sheep in the Sierra Nevada and Granite Mountains of
California. Wildlife Society Bulletin 24:471–479.
click to view map
ARCTIC
VOL. 54, NO. 2 (JUNE 2001) P. 185–187
Cougars (Puma concolor) in the Northwest Territories and Wood Buffalo National Park
ROBERT J. GAU,1,2 ROBERT MULDERS,1 TAMARA LAMB3 and LIBBY GUNN3
(Received 26 April 2000; accepted in revised form 5 September 2000)
ABSTRACT. Extralimital reports of cougars (Puma concolor) at the northern limits of their range are rare. We documented at
least 21 individual occurrences of cougars from the Northwest Territories and the Wood Buffalo National Park area between the
years 1983 and 2000. Our evidence suggests that, at a minimum, transient cougars are regular visitors to northern Alberta and the
Northwest Territories.
Key words: Alberta, cougar, Northwest Territories, Puma concolor, Wood Buffalo National Park
RÉSUMÉ. La présence de couguars (Puma concolor) est rarement rapportée en dehors des limites septentrionales de leur
territoire. On a documenté au moins 21 cas individuels de la présence de couguars dans les Territoires du Nord-Ouest et le parc
national Wood Buffalo entre les années 1983 et 2000. Les éléments de preuve que nous apportons suggèrent que, à tout le moins,
les couguars de passage sont des visiteurs réguliers du nord de l’Alberta et des Territoires du Nord-Ouest.
Mots clés: Alberta, couguar, Territoires du Nord-Ouest, Puma concolor, parc national Wood Buffalo
Traduit pour la revue Arctic par Nésida Loyer.
1
Wildlife and Fisheries Division, Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, Government of the Northwest
Territories, #600, 5102 – 50th Avenue, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories X1A 3S8, Canada
2
Corresponding author: rob_gau@gov.nt.ca
3
Wood Buffalo National Park Warden Services, Box 750, Fort Smith, Northwest Territories X0E 0P0, Canada
©The Arctic Institute of North America
The usual range of cougars (Puma concolor) extends from
Chile, through the western United States, to northern
British Columbia (Lindzey, 1987). In Alberta and northern
British Columbia, cougars are primarily found in forested
habitats similar to those used by their primary prey spe-
cies, the white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) and
the mule deer (O. hemionus) (Dixon, 1982). It is often
difficult for the public to observe cougars, as the species
generally has a low population density and is cryptic and
highly mobile (Ross et al., 1996). Forest cover may also
obscure or reduce an observer’s view, and lynx (Lynx
canadensis), wolf (Canis lupus), coyote (C. latrans), and
feral or domestic cats and dogs may be mistaken for
cougars.
Accounts of cougars in the Northwest Territories (NWT)
have been regarded as exceedingly rare (Kuyt, 1971). Kuyt
(1971) documented three observations of cougars in the
Wood Buffalo National Park (WBNP) area from 1962,
1967, and 1970. Novak et al. (1987) documented seven
cougars harvested from the NWT in 1919–20. However,
Obbard et al. (1987) noted that those data, summarized
from fur-trading records, represent the places where the
skins were sold and may not be the area of harvest. In other
parts of Canada, there has been evidence of cougars out-
side their normal range in the Yukon Territory (Anderson,
1983; Klassen, 2000) and Alberta (Alberta Fish and Wild-
life Division, 1992). Also, Nero and Wrigley (1977) sum-
marized cougar sightings and carcass collections from
Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario (northwest of Lake
Superior).
We constructed a database consisting of cougar sightings
from firsthand visual accounts by Parks Canada staff and
wildlife personnel of the Government of the NWT Depart-
ment of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development
(RWED), and firsthand sightings relayed directly to RWED
Wildlife or Parks Canada staff. A sighting was considered
reliable if the observer reporting the event was the primary
witness, the distance from the animal observed was less
than 250 m, and identifiable characteristics (including
colour, tail length, fur length, and body size) were de-
scribed without prompting.
We catalogued 37 reliable visual sightings of cougars
between the years 1983 and 2000 (Table 1). However,
because long-distance movements have been reported for
some cougars, we wanted to reduce the possibility of
multiple sightings of the same animal in our database.
Anderson et al. (1992) reported maximum dispersal dis-
tances for 33 male and 32 female cougars from various
North American populations to be 274 and 140 km, respec-
tively. Logan and Sweanor (2000) reported a 483 km
dispersal for an individual cougar from his natal area to the
site of his death at 30 months of age. Thus, we filtered our
database to yield one sighting per year from a 200 km
radius surrounding its coordinates. Our filtered database
has 21 reliable visual sightings of cougars in the NWT and
the WBNP area (Fig. 1). Note that not one of these
186 • R.J. GAU et al.
TABLE 1. Year and general location of cougar sightings in the Northwest Territories and the Wood Buffalo National Park area, 1983–2000.
FIG. 1. Location and year of sighting of some cougar occurrences from the Northwest Territories and the Wood Buffalo National Park area.
Year General Location
19831 Wood Buffalo National Park
19831 Hell Roaring Creek, Nahanni National Park
19841 Near the community of Jean Marie River
19871 Near the community of Pine Point
1987 Near the community of Pine Point
19901 Wood Buffalo National Park
19901 Hell Roaring Creek, Nahanni National Park
19911 Petitot River by the BC-NWT border
19921 Alberta-NWT border
19921 Liard Trail-Mackenzie Highway junction
19941 Near the community of Edzo
19961 60 km north of Fort Providence
19961,2 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Slave River near Wood Buffalo National Park
1996 Near the community of Fort Smith
Year General Location
1997 Near Caen Lake by Fort Providence
19971 Near the community of Enterprise
19981 Wood Buffalo National Park
19981 Near the community of Trout Lake
19991 Near the community of Fort Providence
19991 Near the community of Hay River
19991 Andrew Lake north of Lake Athabasca
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Wood Buffalo National Park
1999 Near the community of Fort Smith
20001 Southwest of Fort Providence
20001 Near the community of Fort Simpson
20001 Wood Buffalo National Park
2000 Wood Buffalo National Park
2000 Wood Buffalo National Park
2000 Near the community of Fort Providence
1
Year and location in filtered location database (Fig. 1).
2
Two cougars were observed together.
COUGARS IN THE NWT AND WBNP • 187
sightings included cubs, nor was any sighting wholly
substantiated by a carcass or photograph.
Local climate and snow accumulation variations can
affect the distribution of ungulates and cougars (Murphy,
1983; Telfer and Kelsall, 1984). Recent years with mild
winters and low snow accumulations could aid a resident
cougar population to persist in the southern NWT and
WBNP. However it remains unknown whether the cougar
sightings we documented represent transient or resident
individuals. Should it be determined that a resident cougar
population is established in the NWT, wildlife managers
will need to consider the potential affects of cougars on the
behaviour, distribution, composition, and density of some
ungulate species (Compton et al., 1995; Ross and Jalkotzy,
1996; Wehausen, 1996; Kunkel et al., 1999).
Other management implications for cougars in the NWT
and WBNP are currently limited. Since no cougar hunting
season currently exists in the NWT, cougars cannot be
hunted legally by resident hunters. The Federal NWT Act
does guarantee to all status Indians and Inuit the right to
subsistence hunting on unoccupied Crown lands of any
species not in danger of extinction. In that circumstance,
however, it is illegal to keep or sell the hide for trophy
purposes.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors thank P.I. Ross, K. Poole, E. Krutko, S. Ransom,
J. Hordal, I. McLeod, K. Davidge, D. Williams, A. Helmer,
R. Bourget, H.D. Cluff, S. Douglas, B. Bergman, C. Lafferty,
M. Rosen and the other observers and trappers that took the time
to report their findings directly to the interested wardens,
biologists, and wildlife officers. The authors also thank the three
reviewers who improved an earlier version of this manuscript.
REFERENCES
ALBERTA FISH AND WILDLIFE DIVISION. 1992. Management
plan for cougars in Alberta. Wildlife Management Planning
Series Number 5. Edmonton, Alberta. 91 p.
ANDERSON, A.E. 1983. A critical review of literature on puma
(Felis concolor). Special Report Number 54. Fort Collins,
Colorado: Colorado Division of Wildlife. 91 p.
ANDERSON, A.E., BOWDEN, D.C., and KATTNER, D.M. 1992.
The puma on Uncompahgre Plateau, Colorado. Technical
Publication Number 40. Fort Collins, Colorado: Colorado
Division of Wildlife. 116 p.
COMPTON, B.B., ZAGER, P., and SERVHEEN, G. 1995. Survival
and mortality of translocated woodland caribou. Wildlife Society
Bulletin 23:490–496.
DIXON, K.R. 1982. Mountain lion. In: Chapman, J.A., and
Feldhamer, G.A., eds. Wild mammals of North America: Biology,
management, economics. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins
University Press. 711–727.
KLASSEN, D. 2000. Cougars in the Yukon. Technical Report.
Whitehorse: Yukon Department of Renewable Resources. 47 p.
KUNKEL, K.E., RUTH, T.K., PLETSCHER, D.H., and
HORNOCKER, M.G. 1999. Winter prey selection by wolves
and cougars in and near Glacier National Park, Montana.
Journal of Wildlife Management 63:901–910.
KUYT, E. 1971. Possible occurrence of cougar near Fort Smith,
N.W.T. Blue Jay 29:142–143.
LINDZEY, F. 1987. Mountain lion. In: Novak, M., Baker, J.A.,
Obbard, M.E., and Malloch, B., eds. Wild furbearer management
and conservation in North America. Toronto: Ontario Ministry
of Natural Resources. 657–668.
LOGAN, K.A., and SWEANOR, L.L. 2000. Puma. In: Demarais,
S., and Krausman, P., eds. Ecology and management of large
mammals in North America. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey:
Prentice-Hall. 347–377.
MURPHY, K.M. 1983. Relationships between a mountain lion
population and hunting pressure in western Montana. Master
of Science Thesis, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana.
48 p.
OBBARD, M.E., JONES, J.G., NEWMAN, R., BOOTH, A.,
SATTERTHWAITE, A.J., and LINSCOMBE, G. 1987. In:
Novak, M., Baker, J.A., Obbard, M.E., and Malloch, B., eds.
Wild furbearer management and conservation in North America.
Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 1007–1034.
NERO, R.W., and WRIGLEY, R.E. 1977. Status and habits of the
cougar in Manitoba. Canadian-Field Naturalist 91:28–40.
NOVAK, M., OBBARD, M.E., JONES, J.G., NEWMAN, R.,
BOOTH, A., SATTERTHWAITE, A.J., and LINSCOMBE, G.
1987. Furbearer harvests in North America, 1600–1984. Toronto:
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. 271 p.
ROSS, P.I., and JALKOTZY, M.G. 1996. Cougar predation on
moose in southwestern Alberta. Alces 32:1–8.
ROSS, P.I., JALKOTZY, M.G., and GUNSON, J.R. 1996. The
quota system of cougar harvest management in Alberta. Wildlife
Society Bulletin 24:490–494.
TELFER, E.S., and KELSALL, J.P. 1984. Adaptation of some
large North American mammals for survival in snow. Ecology
65:1828–1834.
WEHAUSEN, J.D. 1996. Effects of mountain lion predation on
bighorn sheep in the Sierra Nevada and Granite Mountains of
California. Wildlife Society Bulletin 24:471–479.