published Wednesday in PLOS One<\/a>.<\/p>\nLittlefair, who completed the research while a graduate student at the University of Alberta, said secondary roads can provide hunters with easier access to cougar habitat. Clearings can also reveal where the animals have travelled.<\/p>\n
“If a cougar was to cross the road, it’s going to leave tracks.”<\/p>\n
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Cougars often avoid trails used by people, which is why the province hopes to reduce trail density in key wildlife areas. (Submitted Delaney Frame\/Alberta Environment and Parks)<\/p>\n
Human footprint linked to mortality risk <\/p>\n
The study followed cougars between 2016 and 2021 across a landscape that included secondary roads and human-made clearings such as seismic lines, powerline corridors and railways.<\/p>\n
Hunting was the largest single cause of death, accounting for 16 of the 37. Another eight cougars died after being caught in traps intended for other animals. Five others were killed in vehicle collisions or removals involving problem animals or by a landowner.<\/p>\n
Researchers also found a large seasonal difference in survival. Estimated survival was 96 per cent from April through October, but 62 per cent from November through March.<\/p>\n
WATCH | Alberta cougar cubs find new home after mother killed by hunter:![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1793220033_199_default.jpg\")
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2 cougar cubs found a home in Quebec. Now, they each need a name<\/p>\n
Alberta’s cougar hunting season during the study began Dec. 1 each year and ran through the end of February or until quotas were met.<\/p>\n
The research found an association between cougar mortality risk and human-made features, but did not directly measure hunter activity. Littlefair said increased hunter access and the likelihood of detecting cougars could help explain the relationship.<\/p>\n
CBC News requested comment from Alberta Forestry and Parks but did not receive a response by publication time.<\/p>\n
What the findings mean for the population <\/p>\n
Researchers estimated annual survival at about 60 per cent, which Littlefair said is similar to other hunted cougar populations. Hunting also accounted for a smaller share of mortality than in some other studies, he said.<\/p>\n
The study did not estimate population size or reproduction, so researchers cannot say whether the population is growing, stable or declining.<\/p>\n
Littlefair said the research provides insight into how cougars die, but cannot determine whether they are dying at an unsustainable rate.<\/p>\n
For Cummins, the role people played in the deaths was unexpected.<\/p>\n
“Yeah, that surprises me,” he said.<\/p>\n
“There’s more people in the rural areas these days than there used to be,” Cummins said. “So from that sense, maybe it’s caused by more people being out in the bush.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":659934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[85,46,141,386],"class_list":["post-659933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-science","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=659933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/659933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=659933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=659933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=659933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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