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A young male cougar cub is the newest addition at the B.C. Wildlife Park.
The cub was brought to the park by conservation officers who trapped the cougar in the Vernon area after her mother brought him into an urban area to hunt for food. The youngster will join resident female cougar, Zoe, after spending about four weeks in quarantine.
“There's not much chance of survival for an urban cat that comes into an urban area hunting and, if it’s teaching its young to do that, that's just got a problem all over it looking forward,” said general manager Glenn Grant.
“Even if they are left alone, that young cub is going to be trained that's an easy food source and be looking in urban areas, which is obviously going to create more conflict, create stress on the animal.”
Grant said they had been looking to adopt another cougar to live with the older female, Zoe, who was the only cougar at the park. The Wildlife Park park has a long-term plan for maintaining its collection of animals to continue its education programming.
Last year the Wildlife Park acquired three wolves that were born in captivity and, prior to that, the newest addition was Clover the Spirit Bear. It has been seven or eight years since the park welcomed a new cougar.
“We really don't know a lot about its history,” Grant said.
“When the CO's had trapped it, they knew we were looking for one and there was a great opportunity to make sure this young cub survived. Surviving in human care is a lot better than not surviving in the wild.”
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