Cougar cubs lead precarious lives. Other predators – even male cougars — prey on them. They can also become sick or get injured. But perhaps the worst thing that can happen is losing their mom.
This three-week old cougar kitten was photographed in southern California by Eric York while working for UC Davis Wildlife Health Center.
Most young adult cougars head out on their own when they’re 18-months to two-years old. By that time they have rudimentary hunting skills and are usually large enough to take down prey on their own. Even then some young cougars don’t survive.
But if mom is shot by a hunter, hit by a car or killed taking down prey when her cubs are younger than 18-months old, their chances of survival decrease dramatically.
Cougars are secretive carnivores so much about their day-to-day lives and relationships with each other remains unknown. So it was a real surprise when researchers with Panthera’s Teton Cougar Project in Jackson Hole, Wyoming discovered a female cougar with young of her own had adopted three orphaned cubs.
Drawn to Sea: Paintbrush to Chainsaw — Carving Out a life on BC’s Rugged Raincoast, by Yvonne Maximchuk is an intimate glimpse of modern day pioneering seen through an artist’s eye.
Drawn to Sea is published by Caitlin Press
In the 1980s Maximchuk was a single mom living in White Rock, BC. She supported her two children by selling her paintings and pottery and teaching art. Then she met crab fisherman Al Munro. When Munro shifted to prawn fishing further up the coast, he invited Maximchuk, as well as Theda and Logan to accompany him.
Their new home — a float house only accessible by boat or seaplane – was anchored off Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago, a wilderness area east of northern Vancouver Island.
Maximchuk rowed her children to the to the one-room school and adjusted to life with a generator and the fact that the nearest grocery store was a two-hour boat ride away. She also soaked up the beauty and tranquility of the sparsely populated area, which soon infused her artwork.
But when Munro and Maximchuk split up, she faced a tough decision. Remain in the place she’d come to love or return to an easier life in the Lower Mainland? If she stayed, two major purchases were required: a chainsaw and a boat.
So began the challenge of being self-sufficient in an out-of-the-way pocket of the BC coast. Maximchuk was buoyed by the friendship of others living nearby including coastal icons Alexandra Morton and Billy Proctor. Proctor, with his “If I can’t do it, no one can,” attitude was especially helpful and always had whatever part was needed to fix anything and knew just how to do it.
When Maximchuk reunited with Munro, they bought land from Proctor and sweated and swore together as they built a truly handcrafted house. One that they still live in today and that now includes Maximchuk’s SeaRose Studio and a lush garden.
Drawn to Sea is an honest, affectionate story about love, the landscape and a gutsy woman finding her way in the ebb and flow of life. Maximchuk recounts the challenges and rewards of living and working in an isolated area and trolling with Proctor off the Queen Charlotte Islands. Nature and wildlife is never far away; she’s found cougars in her yard, been eye to eye with a killer whale and shared a finshake with a dolphin.
The book is funny too. I laughed out loud over the stories of Maximchuk dangling Proctor overboard in order to capture an especially large Japanese float, the kinks in her wedding day that failed to dispel the joy and one of her best Christmas gifts ever – an orange survival suit.
Maximchuk writes with a painter’s eye and a poet’s voice creating a richly rewarding sense of place, time and emotion. Drawn to Sea is a BC coastal classic that deserves a place on the shelf next to M. Wylie Blanchet’s A Curve of Time.
Drawn to Sea: Paintbrush to Chainsaw — Carving Out a life on BC’s Rugged Raincoast, by Yvonne Maximchuk is an intimate glimpse of modern day pioneering seen through an artist’s eye.
Drawn to Sea is published by Caitlin Press
In the 1980s Maximchuk was a single mom living in White Rock, BC. She supported her two children by selling her paintings and pottery and teaching art. Then she met crab fisherman Al Munro. When Munro shifted to prawn fishing further up the coast, he invited Maximchuk, as well as Theda and Logan to accompany him.
Their new home — a float house only accessible by boat or seaplane – was anchored off Gilford Island in the Broughton Archipelago, a wilderness area east of northern Vancouver Island.
Maximchuk rowed her children to the to the one-room school and adjusted to life with a generator and the fact that the nearest grocery store was a two-hour boat ride away. She also soaked up the beauty and tranquility of the sparsely populated area, which soon infused her artwork.
But when Munro and Maximchuk split up, she faced a tough decision. Remain in the place she’d come to love or return to an easier life in the Lower Mainland? If she stayed, two major purchases were required: a chainsaw and a boat.
So began the challenge of being self-sufficient in an out-of-the-way pocket of the BC coast. Maximchuk was buoyed by the friendship of others living nearby including coastal icons Alexandra Morton and Billy Proctor. Proctor, with his “If I can’t do it, no one can,” attitude was especially helpful and always had whatever part was needed to fix anything and knew just how to do it.
When Maximchuk reunited with Munro, they bought land from Proctor and sweated and swore together as they built a truly handcrafted house. One that they still live in today and that now includes Maximchuk’s SeaRose Studio and a lush garden.
Drawn to Sea is an honest, affectionate story about love, the landscape and a gutsy woman finding her way in the ebb and flow of life. Maximchuk recounts the challenges and rewards of living and working in an isolated area and trolling with Proctor off the Queen Charlotte Islands. Nature and wildlife is never far away; she’s found cougars in her yard, been eye to eye with a killer whale and shared a finshake with a dolphin.
The book is funny too. I laughed out loud over the stories of Maximchuk dangling Proctor overboard in order to capture an especially large Japanese float, the kinks in her wedding day that failed to dispel the joy and one of her best Christmas gifts ever – an orange survival suit.
Maximchuk writes with a painter’s eye and a poet’s voice creating a richly rewarding sense of place, time and emotion. Drawn to Sea is a BC coastal classic that deserves a place on the shelf next to M. Wylie Blanchet’s A Curve of Time.
Although many cats don’t like water, cougars are excellent swimmers. And they don’t just go for little dips either. One, wearing a GPS collar, was tracked swimming 6.5 kilometres from downtown Nanaimo to Gabriola Island.
In the last two years I’ve seen four YouTube videos featuring cougars swimming off Vancouver Island and the BC mainland. And in each video, the big cat went straight for the boat.
Was it curious or had its chase instinct been triggered by the fast moving object? Who knows, perhaps it just wanted to hitch a ride.
As curious as you may be, there are documented cases of cougars attempting to climb into moving boats so it’s best not to get too close.
A friend who loves to kayak asked what she should do if she saw a cougar swimming towards her kayak. My advice: pray, prepare your bear spray and paddle like hell!
This is one of my favourite swimming cougar videos. (It’s at the end of the article.)
