Manitoba trapper accidentally catches 134-pound cougar in snare

Ever since he was a kid, Herb Leslie heard about cougars roaming around the Swan River, Man., area but it wasn't until this week that the 66-year-old saw one up close and personal.

It was dead in a snare he set out to catch a timber wolf.

"Me and my father have trapped here for years and we've never saw any tracks or anything like that," the lifelong trapper said Friday. "You're always thinking there might be one around but anyway, here it is in my snare."

The trapper made the discovery Wednesday on a trail frequented by timber wolves off Highway 10 in Porcupine Mountain, about five kilometres west of the community of Novra, where Leslie had left a snare.

"I guess he come into the area and followed that trail up because likely he's picking up the scraps left from the timber wolves, I'd assume," Leslie said.

He brought the animal home to weigh and measure it, recording it at 134 pounds and seven feet long with feet the size of a two-year-old black bear.

Last cougar caught in 2015

A spokesperson for Manitoba Sustainable Development said catching a cougar in the province is a rare occurrence.

The last time a trapper caught a cougar was in December 2015 in the Duck Mountain area — about 55 kilometres south of Swan River — and this latest catch is only the seventh since 2004, the spokesperson said.

Leslie, who will hand over the animal to Manitoba conservation officers Friday morning, knew once he made the discovery he wouldn't be able to keep the animal, which he thinks was probably sitting in his snare for three or four days.

He added he doesn't think the animal was in pain long.

"I don't think he lived very long because those snares choke them off pretty fast," he said.

Leslie is hoping, after conservation officials finish their work with the animal, it can go in the Swan Valley Historical Museum.

"It's a nice looking animal if you like cats," he said.