AWA Statement: Cougar hunting allowed in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park

December 4, 2024

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• Biodiversity
• Uncategorized
• Wildlife

A PDF of this statement is available here.

On December 1, just as the season began, cougar hunting was opened in Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park on the Alberta side, as well as expanding cougar hunting north. This change not only allows hunting of a relatively isolated population, it was also made in a manner that does not allow time for the public to raise concerns.  

Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park holds the easternmost population of breeding cougars in Canada. The area was re-populated recently, after cougars were lost from their eastern range due mainly to hunting, trapping and deforestation. Although cougars began to return to Cypress Hills in the 1990s, it was only in 2006 that a breeding population was confirmed. Some biologists hope this population may allow cougars to re-establish in parts of Eastern Canada.  

As with other predators, cougars help to control prey populations and improve vegetation health. Cypress Hills is an area with abundant deer and elk; these grazers, along with extensive cattle use, were leading to overgrazing and degradation of the ecosystem. Cougar return is helping to reduce overgrazing, through direct predation and by encouraging deer to roam. In Zion National Park, cougar presence was found to improve cottonwood health and protect riverbanks.  

Cougar hunting is not only detrimental to the population, but can increase conflict. Trophy hunting of cougars often targets large, healthy and mature cougars. This creates a selection pressure on the population that results in only the smaller and weaker cougars surviving, eventually weakening the population. It also disrupts the social structure. Younger males move into the territories of animals lost through hunting, and the inexperienced and aggressive younger males are more likely to attack cattle and other livestock, leading to higher rates of human-wildlife conflict.  

In addition, the timeline of this change suggests the Minister deliberately tried to hide the decision and give concerned citizens no time to respond. Cypress Hills was included in a Cougar Management Area through a Ministerial Order in March. The same Ministerial Order also removed the requirement to update cougar quotas before December 1 of the year they apply. However, quotas were only established for Cypress Hills and other new Cougar Management Areas on December 1. This implies the decision has been planned since March, although was only made in December, at the start of the open season. The timeline of events indicates a government purposefully trying to conceal their actions, and is not how we expect a democratic government to act.  

As with other changes that open Alberta to hunting, this decision had no justification or public consultation. We demand that these changes be reversed until there is public consultation and we fully understand the consequences of hunting on Alberta’s landscape.  

Timeline of events: 

Cougar management areas and quotas are found mainly on two Government of Alberta sites: My Wild Alberta, and through official documents uploaded to Open Government program. The quotas established on these sites are not always the same.  

March 26: 2023-2024 quotas for cougars are updated on Open Government. Female cougar quota is more than doubled. AWA is informed this change is because “some stakeholders believe cougar numbers are unacceptably high.” There is no population data to support this.  

March 28: Ministerial Order 37/2024 establishes Cougar Management Areas 33-38. Area 36 includes Cypress Hills. The order also removes the requirement for the Minister to establish open season quotas “before December 1 of any year for which they are to apply.” 

May 6: Cougar hunting season status summary on My Wild Alberta webpage is updated. Cougar management areas is posted. Cougar Management Areas 33-38 are included, and quotas in new management areas are set to zero. Quotas are not updated on Open Government page where the 2023-2024 quotas for cougars was posted.  

December 1: Cougar hunting season status summary on My Wild Alberta webpage is updated, allowing hunting of cougars in Cougar Management Areas 33-38, including Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park.