VIDEO: Cougar sighted in Pukaskwa National Park

MARATHON, ON — There have been sporadic sightings of cougars in Northwestern Ontario in recent years, but seldom has there been evidence as clear as what was recently found in Pukaskwa National Park.

Biologist Daniel Pouliot, the park's resource conservation manager, says he used to be "very skeptical" about the presence of cougars in the region.

But Pouliot told TBnewswatch he was very surprised to see images that are so conclusive as these.

The pictures show an adult cougar passing in front of trail cameras on two occasions in December 2020 and January 2021.

Individual digital images from one camera mounted near the Lake Superior shoreline have been edited by park staff to show the cougar in motion.

"You are not dreaming," said a message on Pukaskwa's Facebook page where the video is now posted. "You can tell a cougar from other wild cats by its long tail, tan or brown fur, and its large size."

It's the first time a cougar sighting has been documented in the park since it opened nearly 40 years ago.

Pouliot said his team is very excited about what they might find when they go through the next set of images in the coming months.

"The question we want to answer if if the animal is still around, maybe establishing part of its territory within Pukaskwa, or if it was just a cougar wandering and passing through, which is possible."

He said finding a cougar in the remote park is significant.

"It's a big event for us and for the diversity of the region. The fact it was detected on our cameras but not before might say something about the protection of resources that the park provides....keeping a pristine forest where such a big animal can remain unseen."

About two dozen trail cameras are scattered throughout the Pukaskwa backcountry.

One of the cameras that captured the cougar is about 35 kilometres from the Hattie Cove campground, while the other is about 50 kilometres away.

The units are in remote locations, so their SD cards are only retrieved once a year when staff go out to change the batteries.

Because of the huge number of images they have to sort through, it usually takes considerable time for staff to scrutinize all of them, but this time the process will be expedited.

Among other sightings in Northwestern Ontario, a cougar was caught on a trail camera outside Thunder Bay in December, 2020.