Alberta expands cougar hunting as critics express safety and conservation concerns

Alberta has established six additional areas in the province where cougar hunting is allowed, much to the disappointment of conservationists.

Alberta Parks and Forestry Minister Todd Loewen says Alberta's cougar population has reached about 2,000, while an ideal population is 1,500.

Loewen says he doesn't want to see cougars overhunted, but says some "harvesting" is needed, because the big cats are appearing in different habitats.

One of the new designated cougar management areas is Cypress Hills Provincial Park, about 360 kilometres southeast of Calgary.

Alberta ranchers and hunters from the area who spoke with CTV News off camera seemed happy with the move, citing a large cougar population that is greatly reducing the number of mule deer.

However, the change is not sitting well with Ruiping Luo, a conservation specialist with the Alberta Wilderness Association (AWA).

She says the cougar population must be kept intact, and that even killing one cougar could have a significant impact.

"Cougars in the ecosystem play the role of an apex predator, so they can help to control prey populations and prevent overgrazing," Luo said.

"The cougars control deer populations, which prevent the overuse of that landscape and especially overuse of trees like cottonwood – which are really important for stabilizing riverbanks. The presence of cougars can prevent erosion and maintain the health of the soils and the waters."

Luo says the AWA only found out about the new rules for cougar hunting after legislation was put into place.

She says cougar hunting has also been shown to increase human wildlife conflicts.

"Trophy hunting targets the larger and healthier cougars, often the more dominant males on the landscape, and when dominant males are removed, other males tend to come into that territory," she said.

"When the males are competing for that territory, that shifts the social structure, and it shifts the behavior, and those younger males are more likely to run into conflicts with humans."

This latest policy comes after the provincial government started a program earlier this year to allow private citizens to shoot down what were deemed as "problem" grizzly bears.

Until recently, Albertans were almost entirely prohibited from trapping wolverines on Crown land and had limitations on lynx, river otters and fishers (a weasel-like mammal), but Loewen also lifted those limits to make it open season on all four.

Wolverines are considered threatened species in Ontario, but in Alberta, they are considered as "data deficit" and the province has argued it needs to get a better idea of how many there are.

 'A huge safety concern'

A cougar is seen in Alberta in an undated photo. (Jem Photography)The season for hunting cougars in Cypress Hill officially began this week, opening up on Dec. 1 for Alberta residents who purchase a cougar licence sold by the province for $20.31.

The province confirmed its quota for the number of cougars that can be killed across Alberta this year has increased from 106 in 2022-23 to 132 as of Dec. 1, 2024.

This latest quote increase is primarily due to a spike in the number of female cougars that can be hunted, which has gone up from 42 to 68.

In Cypress Hills, one female and one male cougar can be killed between Dec. 1 and March 31, 2025, or until the quota is met.

Hunting has always been allowed in the Cypress Hills Provincial Park area, but it is regularly frequented by hikers, cyclists, school children, equestrian users, community groups, volunteers and park employees.

"Please be aware of their presence and take appropriate measures to ensure you are being safe and aware at all times," read a statement from Alberta Parks.

Despite that precautionary message, some locals disagree with the practice of expanding cougar hunting in the area.

"This is a huge safety concern," said John Marriott, a wildlife photographer with nearly 30-years of experience and the co-founder of Exposed Wildlife Conservancy.

"Hundreds of people go out with their families looking to cut down Christmas trees in Cypress Hills. There are cross country skiers all over the place, and people just out recreating and have no idea it's even a possibility they could run into hunters."

He also criticized Loewen's cougar management plan.

Marriott says since he started studying cougars in 2006, there's never been a livestock predation incident involving them, and the only conflict in recent memory occurred in 2013 when two young juvenile cougars killed a couple of pets outside Cypress Hills Provincial Park.

Loewen criticized for hunting motives

Minister of Forestry and Parks Todd Loewen gives an update on the Alberta wildfire situation, in Edmonton on May 15. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jason Franson)Loewen – who is a hunter himself and whose family owns a hunting business called Red Willow Outfitters – has been criticized for his motives, but maintains his hunting background has no impact on this decision. 

The ministry says the ethics commissioner has "confirmed there's no conflict of interest" and Loewen is not a registered trapper and has not been for years.

He has previously declared income from Red Willow Outfitters in his ethics disclosures but has not listed any income in his latest filing.

Registry documents also show the company, which was previously named Todd Loewen Outfitting Ltd., is now run by some of his family members, including his wife.

According to the Alberta government's website, there are hunting opportunities 'on more than 85 per cent of the land base in Alberta's parks system,' which includes all ecological reserves, wildland provincial parks and wilderness areas.

Luo disagrees with the latest hunting regulations, suggesting they should be based on managing animal populations, but that the provinces "seems to have no reason behind them."

"He (Loewen) has been very open about his connections to the hunting and trapping community, and especially with the recent changes generally in favor of hunting, so we're concerned that there is a conflict of interest in him being in that wildlife management role," she said.

"Cougar hunting regulations and quotas are regularly adjusted to reduce human-wildlife conflicts, protect at-risk species like Caribou, and manage predation on big game species like bighorn sheep, elk, and deer – all while ensuring the long-term health and sustainability of cougar populations," said Loewen in a statement to CTV News.

"Cougar management areas were expanded to account for the movements of cougars, including into Cypress Hills, where they have been present for years."

CTV News reached out to the Alberta Professional Outfitters Society (APOS) for comment, but the organization declined to comment further. 

- With files from The Canadian Press