Aggressive cougars shut down biking trails in Whistler, B.C., area

Akshay Kulkarni · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 25, 2025 9:30 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours ago

More cougar sightings successful B.C.'s Sea-to-Sky portion person led to way closures successful the edifice municipality of Whistler and successful the Garibaldi Lake area.

After a cougar sighting went viral a small nether 2 weeks ago, starring the fashionable Rubble Creek way adjacent Garibaldi Lake to beryllium closed, sightings of assertive cougars person been reported successful the Whistler skis edifice itself.

The sightings, which happened connected Thursday and Friday, person led to the closures of the Ascent hiking way and each biking trails connected Blackcomb Mountain until further notice.

The Singing Pass way country of Garibaldi Park successful Whistler was besides closed Wednesday evening owed to the assertive cougars.

WATCH | Hikers seizure cougar brushwood connected Rubble Creek trail: 

"The latest study follows aggregate incidents implicit the past respective weeks of 2 cougars acting aggressively successful the Whistler area, including chasing, stalking and being successful adjacent proximity to upland bikers and hikers," the B.C. Conservation Officer Services said Wednesday successful a statement.

"[Conservation officers] are continuing to show and measure cougar enactment and volition respond arsenic indispensable to guarantee nationalist safety."

Adam Mercer, the elder manager of the Ski Patrol astatine Whistler Blackcomb resort, said it wasn't antithetic for tourists to brushwood achromatic bears, marmots and different wildlife portion retired hiking oregon biking connected the trails.

"I've been present for decades, and we bash spot cougars transit the area," helium said. "And truthful I wouldn't accidental it's unusual, but it's not arsenic communal arsenic the carnivore encounters."

Cougars being sighted connected a regular ground is rare, according to Julie Thomas, a PhD pupil astatine the University of Northern B.C. who studies cougar ecology.

"The cougars are surely there, but they're incredibly elusive and shy astir people," she said.

Thomas said she has a fewer theories connected wherefore radical are seeing much cougars successful the Sea-to-Sky region, including quality encroachment into the predators' earthy habitats.

She besides says the cougars whitethorn beryllium young and inactive trying to found caller territory for themselves, and they could inactive beryllium figuring retired what is prey and what isn't.

"They mightiness person these kinds of little altercations with radical ... where they're benignant of conscionable investigating humans," she said.

"The different anticipation is that the cougar... is sick oregon starving oregon injured," she added.

Conservation officers are asking radical to question successful groups portion retired successful the backcountry to beryllium safe, and transportation carnivore spray if possible.

They besides accidental that radical shouldn't marque abrupt movements if they brushwood a cougar, and they should marque themselves large and backmost distant dilatory if they spot one.

In the lawsuit of an attack, radical are advised to combat backmost by focusing connected the cougar's look and eyes.

"Use rocks, sticks, carnivore spray oregon idiosyncratic belongings arsenic weapons," the officers' connection reads. "You are trying to person the cougar that you are a threat and are not prey."