Growing up in the Cypress Hills area in the SW corner of Saskatchewan I can remember there being sightings as far back as the early 70s. Sightings started to increase in the latter 90s. Sightings really started to increase in the early 2000s so they started a study. Now we have the highest or one of the highest cougar density in North America at 6 – 8.25 cougars per 100 sq km( 38 sq miles for you folk down there ). Our deer and elk herds have taken a pretty good hit and our #s are way down. They say a full grown cat will consume on average of 43 deer per year. It wasn’t till this year that they finally admitted(Sask Environment) there was an established breeding population. I think from 2004 to 2010 there were 12 cougars that were caught in snares or shot by landowners, from 2011 to present I will guarantee there has been over 50. This spring there was a lot of new born calves that were confirmed cougars kills, dogs and cats on farms and ranches have been taken literally on the front door step, as well in my hometown of Maple Creek. I do believe that they are an incredible animal and do not want to see them go away from my area but they do need to be managed and population kept in check or there is going to be something tragic happen and it is only a matter of time.
Here is the link to study when it first started, and remember when reading this was done by a university student doing her doctorate and I think we should all just get along and there is no problem. She had a meeting with local ranchers on both sides of the border. She stated that there was around 25 cougars in the area and they told her that her #s were wrong cause they had shot or snared 30+ . Anyways sorry for the long rant if you want more info google cypress hills cougars, lots of reads
http://sci-northern.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/CougarsCreateALandscapeOfFearInTheCypressHills_May2010.pdf