Rob Green, a Pinebrook resident for over 30 years, received an alert Tuesday morning that his security camera facing his home’s driveway had detected movement around 6 a.m.
When he pulled up the footage, rather than the usual runner or package delivery sighting, the gray, dimly lit video showed three cougars, a mom and two kittens, walking from his entryway toward the neighborhood’s main area.
Green is no stranger to wildlife encounters near his property, he said, with a home that backs up to Ecker Hill. But cougar activity is somewhat new for him.
“Over the years I have seen moose, elk, raccoons, rabbits, some bobcats, but only one or two cougars. That is, until recently. In the past month we have recorded three separate incidents of single and multiple cougars,” he said.
These cougars haven’t been bothered by the city lights and are willing to roam on roads and driveways.
“They come through our yard and even up our walkway,” said Green. “Motion lights don’t startle them at all.”
Green has posted alerts and videos to NextDoor, a neighborhood social media platform, hoping to prevent any unnecessary encounters: one on Dec. 14 alerting of two consecutive morning sightings, and most recently, on Dec. 26, a post with video recording and some details.
“They come early evening and early morning. I posted this to alert neighbors with children and dogs/cats to be (aware) of this and take precautions, not to harass them,” said Green.
Cougars — otherwise known as mountain lions or pumas, depending on the region — are native to the Americas, once roaming all 48 contiguous U.S. states. Now breeding pairs are only found in 16 states, including Utah.
According to the Utah Department of Wildlife Resources, they live all across the diverse geography of the state, but it is common for them to prefer mountainous and forested areas like the Wasatch Back.
They’ve always been here, said Faith Heaton Jolley, the department’s spokesperson, but the recent increase in sightings could have more than one explanation.
“There has been an increase in cougar population numbers over the last decade, so there are more cougars now. But another part of that is more people just have doorbells and security cameras more commonly now, that capture these cougar sightings more frequently,” she said.
In Utah, biologists estimate there are about 2,000 adult cougars, which doesn’t include the number of kittens that travel with mothers until the age of 2. Cougars on average live until 5, according to the division’s cougar biologist, but some have lived up to 15 to 20 years old.
Most active in dusk and dawn, these creatures are known for being secretive and elusive, said Heaton Jolley. But with the increase of homes built in cougar habitats, and the use of security cameras, their activities have been captured more frequently.
Also, said Heaton Jolley, cougars travel with their prey, primarily mule deer. So if the deer are snowed out from higher elevations, cougars will follow. With a winter like last year, lower elevations became the feeding grounds.
“Basically, anywhere that you see deer there’s a potential that you’re going to see cougars or encounter cougars,” said Heaton Jolley.
This is a trend that members of Save People Save Wildlife have also noticed.
“We live in a wildlife zone! The animals were here first. When we bisect their landscape and build our houses, hotels, and roads, we disrupt their daily and nightly activities. By doing so, we increase the chances of wildlife encountering humans,” said Erin Ferguson, president of Save People Save Wildlife.
Since the group’s creation in 2016, Ferguson said, she has seen cases of cougars being killed on I-80. In another case, an encounter between a cougar and an off-leash dog led to the removal of a cougar by DWR, she said.
Save People Save Wildlife’s efforts for wildlife crossings and fencing are intended to create safer environments for both groups, she said. Evidence from footage on the Parleys wildlife bridge over I-80 shows use by animals, including cougars.
Ferguson and officials from DWR said education about cougar behavior is key, especially when choosing to recreate and live in these habitats.
Cougars don’t have dens, Heaton Jolley said, but they tend to stick around their kills, called caches.
“They will kill a deer, for instance, and then they’ll kind of leave it in that area … then they’ll bury it,” she said. “And they’ll just come back to that spot to feed.”
Unlike animals whose activities decrease in the winter, cougars are just as active, growing shaggy winter coats.
“The adults typically will weigh between 90 to 200 pounds, so they can get quite large,” said Heaton Jolley. “They’ve got long tails. That’s kind of a good indicator to tell the difference between them and a bobcat, for instance. Plus, they’re quite a bit larger than a bobcat and bobcats typically will have more speckles.”
By winter, kittens are old enough to hunt and keep up with mothers, so they often travel as a group.
“Cougars can have up to four kittens at a time. But typically having just two or three is more common,” said Heaton Jolley. “They don’t typically travel in packs. They’re usually solitary unless they do have kittens. So if you do see a group of cougars, it is usually just mothers with kittens.”
Like most animals, mother cougars can be aggressive when protecting their young, but these animals can also be protective of their caches of food. Because of this behavior, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources advises people to report dead animals on their property.
“We do want people to report those to us, just because the cougar will probably continue to come back to that area since its food is there. We basically want to eliminate anything that’s going to continue to draw a cougar to a residential area for safety reasons,” said Heaton Jolley.
The usual strategy, she said, is to tranquilize and relocate these animals to prevent further risk to residents.
People are encouraged to report cougar activity when one is showing unusually aggressive behavior or if a cougar or family of cougars is repeatedly caught on security cameras — when it’s clear the animal is not just migrating through.
“If you are picking it up multiple times on your cameras, or it’s hanging out in your yard, it’s just laying there, that is something that we want to know about so we can come and tranquilize and relocate those animals just to prevent any of those public safety issues,” said Heaton Jolley.
In recent years, there have been no reports of cougar attacks in Summit County, she said, but some have occurred in Millcreek Canyon, Diamond Fork Canyon and Provo Canyon, though none during winter. All were cases of solo trail runners who startled the cougars, and the first two were scratched before getting away, she said. The incident in Provo Canyon was recorded on a six-minute video that went viral in 2020.
“I think a lot of people just don’t even think about wildlife when they go out and recreate in the outdoors. So being aware that, yes, they are here, and knowing what to look for and when to leave an area,” she said. For trail runners and hikers, making noise to alert the animal is best, as these animals would rather have a chance to hide than attack, said Heaton Jolley.
For residents of Summit County, caution is encouraged during dawn and dusk hours when cougars are more active, especially for pet owners. Homeowners can prevent cougar activity by removing food sources like pet food from outside, as well as installing motion sensing lights to deter them. Also, keeping vegetation trimmed will eliminate hiding places for wildlife and decrease the likelihood of their presence.
“When you recreate in this area, or even when you go outside to get in your car or take your trash bin to the street, listen and look. Most of the time you hear wildlife before you see them,” said Ferguson.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this article misattributed the information, “cougars don’t have dens,” to Erin Ferguson of Save People Save Wildlife. It has been updated to correctly attribute Faith Heaton Jolley, spokesperson for Utah Department of Wildlife Resources.
