Forest venturers in the Baptiste Lake area beware: there are large cats prowling in the trees.
Warren Zyla, Baptiste Lake area resident, has put up trail cameras in the Baptiste and Narrow Lake area for 10 years,. He said this is the second year in a row has spotted cougars in the camera feed.
“I thought it was awesome – cool. That’s when you’re sitting in the house looking at the cards,” he said. “If I had saw them out there, I would’ve kicked it into high gear.”
Zyla removes the SD cards out of his cameras about every four days, and spotted a single cougar Oct. 14, again on Oct. 17. He said he also caught footage of two prowling together at night Aug. 19.
“I look over my shoulder a bit more. It hasn’t stopped me from running around in the woods. I just make more noise,” he said. “I never would’ve known they were there unless I had cameras out.”
Zyla said posting his videos on Facebook and YouTube has garnered response that shows he is not the only one to have spotted the large felines in the area.
“It’s just kind of neat, because everybody doesn’t see them when you actually put a picture (up), you hear of new people that have seen them,” he said. “All a sudden its no big deal, they’re just everywhere.”
Zyla said he has not come face-to-face with any cougars, but a couple of years ago he spotted one in the ditch of the highway while on his way to work.
He added people should make lots of noise while out in the woods, and take some bear spray along to be safe.
To see the big cats for yourself, check out “Warren Zyla” on YouTube.
