A COUGAR VISITS STANLEY PARK 243

means an easy matter to make a “kill.” You may travel
for days and days and never strike a fresh scent. Of
course the best time is when there is snow on the ground
and you can get some sort of an idea if there are any
in the vicinity. Cougar may be in one place one day
and miles away the next. They roam over a vast extent
of country and, except in the breeding season, generally
keep pretty well on the move. Like wolves they seem
to have regular routes of travel, and, while they may be
away for one, two, or even three weeks, generally turn
up again in the same locality. Occasionally, when the
hunting is particularly good, such as round a “ lick” or
in the neighbourhood of a farm where sheep are kept, or
even a slaughter-house on the outskirts of a town, they
will take up their residence for a week or two; but unless
you happen to hear of some such animal, or fortune
favours you considerably, you may have to do many weary
miles of tramping before you find a fresh track,

When cougars take up their residence near a town, as
they often do for short periods in the immediate neighbour-
hood of Vancouver, they, like bears, soon become very
bold and carry on their depredations in broad daylight,
carrying off dogs, chickens, cats, and anything they can
catch, as well as scaring women and children out of their
lives. A few years ago a cougar came to the conclusion
that Stanley Park, which has an area of about nine
hundred acres and is almost an island, was a fine place
for a holiday, so she (it proved to be a female) decided
to spend a week or two there. The depredations this
lone beast committed in the three weeks it was allowed
to live there gave a fair idea of how destructive they are
to game. By the time it was shot it had accounted for
three deer and three Angora goats, and made several
attempts to get others. During the time the cougar was
in the park, or, rather, soon after it became known to
be there, the park was a very dangerous place to go to,
not from any danger of the cougar itself, but from the
swarms of would-be hunters whom the park officials
allowed to roam around with rifles to hunt the beast.

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