Hikers might want to be a tad cautious when heading up the Grouse Grind this week after a cougar was allegedly spotted halfway up the rocky staircase Tuesday.
The animal displayed “no aggression, no predatory behaviour, no stalking,” according to B.C. conservation officer Robin Sano.
Despite having the power to kill a moose, cougars tend to avoid humans, said Sano.
“You have a better chance of probably being hit by lightning or a meteor than anything happening to you by a cougar, if you’re looking at it statistically,” he said. Deaths from bee stings are far more common than cougar-induced fatalities, according to the Ministry of Environment.
Cougar sightings are more common in late spring and summer, as young cougars tend to look for new territory.
While slightly more credible than accounts of Elvis, Sano warned that many cougar sightings are cases of misidentification.
“We got a bunch of reports this month of ‘cougars,’ because (people) heard noises in the bushes, and that was a cougar,” he said. “A lot of times, when we do investigate, it’s not actually a cougar at all.” Sano chronicled a story of a cougar spotted in Maple Ridge that turned out to be an orange housecat.
A cougar can be identified by its long tail, which tends to account for about one-third of the animal’s length. The Ministry of Environment advises hiking in pairs and making noise on the trail.
