A man in Vancouver filmed his stand-off with a cougar
Adam Bartsch was caught in an hour-long staring contest with a cougar along a popular hiking trail in British Columbia, and he lived to tell the tale.
Vancouver Island is known for its large population of cougars – there are between 600 and 800 of these wild cats in the area. Residents are never surprised to see the wild cats along one of the region’s popular hiking trails. So accustomed are they to seeing these animals, that Adam Bartsch was not afraid to film his hour-long stand-off with the animal.
Adam, who was on the trail setting up camera equipment, noticed the 63kg animal stalking him. Adam tried to scare the animal away, but it kept following him. At one point in the video, Adam says: ‘He's eyeing me up like I'm a black-tailed deer'.
Adam, who was not armed with a gun and did not take to the trail with any intention of hunting the animal, does not seem afraid of the cougar. He tracks the distance of the cougar from the camera, keeping his cool the entire time. The animal, for its part, does not seem to have plans to attack Adam. It keeps its eyes on him throughout the hour.
Adam, who says he did not know whether to trust the animal or whether it was setting up one of its mates to attack him, survived the strange encounter. But with a cat as big as this, anything could have happened!