Trail near Garibaldi Lake closed after hikers have scary cougar encounter
Rubble Creek trail near Garibaldi Lake, in Sea-to-Sky region, closed until June 17 after cougar sightings
B.C. Parks has shut down a popular hiking trail in the Sea-to-Sky region after two hikers' video of a cougar encounter went viral.
Margaux Cohen and her hiking partner Max Stobbe were walking along the Rubble Creek trail on Sunday morning, near the popular Garibaldi Lake about 70 kilometres north of Vancouver, when Cohen realized she was only two or three feet from a large cat.
"I screamed a little bit and I told Max, 'Oh my God, there's a cougar right in front of me. Back away,'" she told CBC News.
"So we started to back away. I got pretty scared, so I gave my bear spray to Max."
Stobbe then captured video of the cougar standing quite close to the couple, and said the cat wouldn't back away for a long time.
"We're stuck on the trail there for about 45 minutes because he wouldn't let us pass," he said.
"We just waited until there's about 15 more people that came up behind us and there's enough people to finally spook them," he added.
Now, B.C. Parks has shut down the trail until at least June 17 to ensure public safety, saying they responded to multiple cougar sightings on Sunday and Monday.
"Campers and hikers were safely escorted out of the area by [conservation officers] due to the aggressive behaviour of these cougars," a spokesperson for the Environment Ministry said on Tuesday. "COs remain in the area today to monitor and assess cougar activity."
The spokesperson said any other aggressive cougar behaviour should be reported to their hotline.
'I've always heard horror stories'
Jesse Zeman from the B.C. Wildlife Federation said that the cougar's behaviour in Stobbe's video is highly unusual, and the large cats normally try and avoid people.
"What everybody hopes is the animals just move on," he said. "And that's the end of this.
"But I think if that behaviour continues, then you know, there's something's going to have to be done in that area."
Zeman encourages hikers to travel in large groups, carry bear spray and make loud noises to encourage cougars to move on.
Cohen and Stobbe say they yelled at the cougar, but the animal continued to keep its eye on them during the encounter.
"It was, like, too close for my liking. And I had never seen a cougar before," Cohen said.
"We've seen a lot of bears together because we hike a lot and like, I'm not really scared of bears — but I've always heard horror stories about cougars' attack."
But the hikers say the encounter won't deter them from hiking the backcountry again this weekend.
"It's the mountains, right? You never know. There's always going to be wildlife," Cohen said. "I guess you just have to, you know, be careful."
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With files from Maryam Gamar