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By Siobhan Darlington, PhD student & Project Coordinator
June 23 2021 After approximately 16 months of data collection investigating cougar kill sites across the southern interior of British Columbia, we are getting into the nitty gritty of sample analysis. What kind of biological samples are we collecting at cougar kill sites, and why? The most important part of our investigation is determining the prey species at a kill site, and if a cougar was indeed the culprit. Whenever possible, we collect the following from the prey that we find: lower jaw, femur, hair, and photographs of the remains. We also collect any cougar hair or scat that we find.
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By Matt Jones, Cougar Technician
March 28th, 2021 My name is Matt Jones and I started working with the Southern BC Cougar Project team part-time in January 2021. I have a background in commercial salmon fishing, working as a co-op student with the Provincial Government’s Fish, Wildlife, and Ecosystems branches and as a field biologist for consulting companies in British Columbia and Alberta. I am a passionate conservationist and volunteer with the BC Wildlife Federation and the Wild Sheep Society of BC. I am fortunate to work with my long-time friend Kieran Braid on this project. We are both originally from Summerland, BC, and he and I have been friends since high school. We have lived as neighbors and roommates for the past few years in our pursuit of wildlife jobs, often working on similar projects, but this is our first time working together! By Siobhan Darlington, PhD student & Project Coordinator
November 15th 2020 The global pandemic has resulted in mass lay-offs to seasonal employees in the environmental sector and the cancellation of many field-based wildlife projects in 2020. So what is it like doing field work during a global pandemic? Have cougars changed their behaviour with less people around? What do cougars eat in the summer? You have questions, and I have some preliminary answers. By Kieran Braid, Cougar Technician
September 14th 2020 I'm a recent graduate from the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) Fish Wildlife and Recreation diploma and Ecological Restoration degree programs and was lucky enough to land a position as a summer field technician on the Southern BC Cougar Project. This summer was by far one of the most interesting of my life. The experiences offered by the job are second to none for students trying to build a career within the realm of wildlife biology. From learning how to identify predator sign to radio-tracking cougars, there was certainly no shortage of excitement and learning opportunity. |
Authors
The authors are Southern BC Cougar Project team members & volunteers. Past Blog Entries
September 2023
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