It’s not common for a person from Manitoba to have seen a cougar, let alone trap one. But Clint Janzen did.
In more than 40 years of trapping, he mentioned he had never encountered a mountain lion before. But on Feb. 20 near Minitonas, Manitoba, “surprisingly, I caught a mountain lion,” Janzen said.
“I could see it when we were going down the trail for 15, 20 yards. ‘Oh no. That’s a mountain lion. Now what do we do?'”
First, he mentioned he and a friend approached to ensure the mountain lion was okay and wouldn't come after them.
“She did make some growling and snarling sounds, so we just stepped back, recorded 30 seconds of video and took a few pictures, and then stepped back,” he said.
Janzen said he contacted conservation officers “right there and asked what they would like me to do with it. They called me back within five minutes.”
The Manitoba government stated that this is the first time a mountain lion has been caught alive in the province, and expressed appreciation for Janzen’s actions.
“This incident presented a unique opportunity to learn more about the movement and habits of these shy 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 province said, adding the collar will transmit location information twice a day.
“Samples of hair, blood and feces have also been sent to the Assiniboine Park Zoo for DNA analysis, adding to a small dataset already collected from other mountain lions in Manitoba.”
Currently, the government stated it’s believed the female mountain lion was not yet an adult, but could also just be small.
Normally, it mentioned sightings occur in the western part of the province, such as Riding Mountain, Duck Mountain and Porcupine Hills.
It added that the wild cats typically avoid humans, but in the event of a sighting, photo or video evidence should be sent to local conservation officers.
More information about mountain lions can be found on a provincial factsheet.
