From caribou to flying squirrels, Pukaswka National Park Conservation Survey Manager Daniel Pouliot has seen many interesting animals captured by the park’s trail cameras in northwestern Ontario.
But nothing like a cougar.
Cameras showed the big cat at two locations in the park, which is on the north shore of Lake Superior, south of Marathon – in December 2020 and again in January 2021.
In a recent interview with CBC News, Pouliot called the images provided by Parks Canada “amazing.”
- LISTEN | Park researcher Daniel Pouliot tells Superior Morning what makes these cougar images special:
Superior Morning8:03Daniel Pouliot: Cougar Sighting
For years, people have been telling stories of cougar sightings in northwestern Ontario, but there is very little evidence. Well, now there’s more evidence, thanks to a trail camera image captured in Pukasqua National Park. Hear more.
“I’m really skeptical,” he said. “I was aware of the cougar story over the years.
“Sometimes we have visitors to the park or actually to the region who come in and say, ‘Hey, I’ve seen tracks,’ and I’ve listened to their story,” Pouliot said. “But I was looking for hard evidence. And now it was undeniable that it was a cougar.
“And I was very excited, very happy to finally be able to see and confirm an actual sighting.”
The first set of images of the cougar were posted on the park’s social media channels earlier this week. Pouliot said it took some time to find and release the images due to the large number of them captured by the surveillance cameras.
“The technician looks at each picture and determines what it is,” he said. “Is it a bear? Is it the moose? And finally there is a report.
“What was a surprise this time was to scan all those thousands of photos and see 20 of them of the cougar.”
The images are the only evidence of a cougar at Pukaskwa since its discovery in 1983.
The first photos released by the park were taken in an area called Swallow Cove, which is along the shoreline, about four kilometers past the end of the park’s coastal walkway.
The other photos, which Pouliot said would be released soon, were taken about 30 kilometers further north. They show the cougar traveling in the opposite direction.
Cougar sightings are ‘extremely rare’
The cougar, also known as the mountain lion and cougar, has acquired an almost mythical status in the region over the years.
There are many stories of sightings of the big cat, which can reach two meters in length and weigh more than 60 kilograms. But the actual evidence is another story.
This trail camera image released by Parks Canada this week shows a cougar in Pukaskwa National Park, which is located along the north shore of Lake Superior near Marathon, Ont. (Parks Canada/provided)
“Cougars sightings are extremely rare,” a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks told CBC News via email. “Each year the ministry may receive several reports, but there is rarely photographic evidence to confirm these sightings.
“Cougars found in Ontario, in addition to being native, may have come from western North America or may have been escaped or released pets.” Ministry officials may conduct an on-the-spot investigation to confirm the reports.”
Pouliot said park staff will work to determine if the cougar spotted in Pacasqua was passing through or now lives in the 1,900-square-kilometre park.
“What we know so far is that there won’t be an established breeding population in northwestern Ontario, and it looks like it could be [an] individuals traveling across the landscape,” he said. “Cougars have a huge territory, especially males.
“The territory could cover almost 500 square kilometers,” Pouliot said. “They are loners. They are also very shy. For a big cat, they are very good at avoiding people.
“It’s basically a needle in a haystack.”
Pouliot said the sightings could lead to more research because if the cougar decided to stay in the area, it would affect the ecology of the park.
“If the animal is just traveling across the landscape, it might attack a few moose or a rabbit or a beaver and then move on, and then the impact would be very limited,” he said. “But if you find out [it] as a predator, well, we could think about competition with bear, wolves potentially having some local impact on elk, for example, so that could be a topic of future research.”
The ministry spokesman said several cougar sightings had been investigated in recent years:
- In December 2021, a video shared on social media showed what appeared to be a cougar crossing a remote road north of Kenora, Ontario. Officials of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests visited the site and took genetic samples.
- Surveillance cameras in the Thunder Bay area captured a series of photos of the cougar between November 2020 and January 2021. Ministry officials were able to collect genetic evidence confirming the cougar was male.
- In March 2017, the frozen carcass of a cougar was found northwest of Thunder Bay. The animal was emaciated and likely starved to death, and genetic testing showed it was closely related to cougars found in the Black Hills region of Wyoming, South Dakota and Nebraska.
How large the cougar population may be in Ontario remains unknown, but the species is categorized as threatened in the province.
“In Ontario, cougars are most likely believed to live in northern Ontario due to the remoteness of the habitat,” the statement said. “However, there have been several reports of sightings from the southern part of the province.”
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