Wildlife photographer believes cougar kittens orphaned near Canmore after mother killed by hunters

A wildlife photographer says a female cougar that he had tracked for years was recently hunted down and killed. Teri Fikowski reports.

An Alberta wildlife photographer and conservationist is sharing on social media what he believes to be the site where a mother cougar was hunted and killed on Grotto Mountain, orphaning two kittens, in hopes of garnering attention to recent changes to hunting regulation in Alberta.

John E. Marriott had been tracking a mother cougar in the area for the past four years as part of a project and book with the EXPOSED Wildlife Conservancy, which he co-founded.

On Monday, he was checking trail cameras along Highway 1A near Gap Lake, just outside Canmore, when he discovered a bighorn sheep carcass with cougar and kitten tracks surrounding it and a hunting group nearby.

“It was three big trucks full of men with big cougar hound boxes in the back, so I immediately feared they’ve went and killed this cougar,” he said.

He returned to the area the next day and discovered evidence of a kill, including a trail of blood, tracks from a trailer and dogs, and grown cougar and kitten prints in the snow.

“To actually go up and see the spot and see all the blood there and know that is where she died, I mean, I just can’t imagine the terror she must have gone through being chased by those dogs, separated from her kittens, and then sitting up in a tree while someone shoots her with a bow and arrow,” he said.

“It was just one of the most demoralizing moments of my career.”

Marriott tracked and caught the kittens on one of his trail cameras, without their mother, and has submitted it to Alberta Fish and Wildlife.

The Ministry of Public Safety and Emergency Services said Alberta Fish and Wildlife are in the early stages of an investigation.

“Four cougars have been harvested in the Bow Valley this hunting season by licensed Alberta residents. The four harvests did not involve non-resident hunters. These harvests have been registered with Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services (FWES), and officers are inspecting the cougars to determine if they have been taken in accordance with current hunting regulations,” the ministry said.

“Additionally, FWES is currently investigating reports of two young cougars spotted alone near Canmore. If the reports are confirmed, FWES officers will work to capture the young cougars and will work closely with officials from Alberta Environment and Protected Areas to determine the best course of action for them moving forward.

“As the investigation is ongoing, we are unable to release further details at this stage.”

While the ages of the kittens are unknown, based on his footage and track measurements, Marriott and other wildlife biologists estimate the pair of kittens are three and a half to five months old.

“They have no chance of surviving on their own. So, the next steps are trying to figure out with Alberta Fish and Wildlife if we can get them into a zoo or a rescue shelter, or (if) we let nature take its course,” he said.

“But unfortunately, nature hasn’t taken its course up until this point.”

Marriott believes the suspected hunt is the result of lax regulations around hunting in Alberta and recent changes around cougars in particular.

Last year, the province expanded where cougars could be hunted with six additional designated cougar management areas.

It also more than doubled how many female cougars can be harvested.

Marriott said the large bounties private companies put on female cougars compound the issue.

“When you target the females in particular, it lowers the population substantially, and this can actually be really bad and really detrimental to ecosystems. They are ecosystem engineers, they are apex predators, they are top of the food chain; you take them out, and there can be all kinds of cumulative effects that can affect this ecosystem right around Canmore right now,” he said.

Alberta’s Forestry and Parks Minister Todd Loewen has defended the changes around cougar regulations, saying the population in the province had reached about 2,000, while an ideal population is 1,500.

While many Alberta ranchers and hunters have supported the regulation changes, the numbers don’t sit well with conservation groups, who cite the last available public data in 2019 that estimates there were around 1,500 cougars across the province.

“All of the evidence has been pointing to the conflict becoming worse when there is hunting, and that seems to disagree with what the minister has been saying about this protecting livestock or reducing conflict,” said Ruiping Luo with the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA).

“Our concerns have been the lack of transparency and lack of any evidence to support these decisions.”

The calls for change come as Loewen travelled to Salt Lake City, Utah, to attend the Western Hunting and Conservation Expo to promote the minister’s special licences for cougars and other animals, including elk, mule deer, moose, pronghorn, and turkey.

“This minister is supposed to be in charge of and protecting our wildlife, and instead he’s out there promoting people to come and kill it, and he’s doing this under the disguise of conservation,” Marriott said.

Loewen’s background as a hunter and trapper has been called into question as a conflict of interest ever since the Wildlife Management Division was transferred to his department.

In his 2022 annual public disclosure to the Ethics Commissioner of Alberta, Loewen again reported receiving dividends from Red Willow Outfitters in Valleyview, which offers guided hunts for bears, deer, moose, elk and wolves.

Loewen’s office has denied the minister’s actions are a conflict of interest and he has been cleared by the Ethics Commissioner of Alberta.

Marriott and the AWA say the recent hunting changes around other animals in Alberta further reflect bias, including the decision to lift trapping limits on wolverines and other fur-bearing animals and the decision to allow a targeted hunt on problem grizzly bears after a nearly 20-year ban on hunting the threatened species.

“Our wildlife management is still stuck back in 1950,” said Marriot, who’s hopeful his videos of the cougar family will raise awareness and lead to change.

“I’m hoping this is going to be a catalyst for people,” he added.

“Phone the ethics commissioner, phone Minister Loewen’s office, phone your MLA; let’s get the policies and regulations changed so you can’t kill females with kittens, period.”