Kelowna cougar now on death row
2003 wildfire survivor needs new enclosure within next three months
Helena the cougar will be euthanized if a new habitat cannot be built for her in time.

Ethan Baron, The Province
Published: Thursday, April 27, 2006

An orphaned cougar that survived the devastating 2003 Kelowna wildfire now has a date with death.

Only donations totalling $22,000 can save Helena from the fatal needle.

And the money must come in -- and an enclosure for the cat must be built -- within three months.

The three-year-old cougar awaits her fate at the Northern Lights Rehabilitation Centre in Smithers.

"She would still be an ideal candidate to go out in the wild. But, unfortunately, we don't have that option," said Angelika Langen, who runs the centre with her husband.

Helena was first spotted as a kitten, singed and bony, wandering around a Kelowna neighbourhood in the fall of 2003, after the summer's massive Okanagan Mountain fire.

"People just felt sorry for her," said Langen who, like her husband, Peter, is a former zookeeper from Germany.

"Over the winter, as the natural food became scarce with the snow, she got into the cats and dogs in the neighbourhood."

Residents weren't happy to have the predator feeding on their pets, but they sympathized with the young cougar's need to survive, Langen said.

The cat was caught and she was flown to the Smithers centre in April 2004.

"She was very dehydrated. She had a double eye infection. She was very skinny, very lethargic. There was not much life to her," Langen said.

Good food and medical care brought the animal around quickly, she said.

"Within two weeks, she was feisty."

Helena has retained her wild nature, hissing and growling at humans.

"She's certainly not a friendly cat. But we didn't want her to be. We were under the impression that we could release her and she could go back into the wild like all the other animals we take care of," Langen said.

The centre routinely rehabilitates and releases wild animals such as bears, deer and moose. But wildlife authorities rejected the centre's application to release Helena.

Cougars can only be released in the area they originated from, and officials deemed it too risky to release the 50- to 60-kilogram cat near Kelowna, Langen said.

"They don't want anybody hurt, which is understandable," Langen said.

Now the couple have received approval to keep Helena at the centre if they can build an eight-by-eight-metre covered enclosure.

The "mini-habitat" would feature trees for Helena to climb, a water pond and dens surrounded by a steel fence 3 1/2 metres high, dug more than a metre into the ground.

Suppliers have offered free or discounted materials, but the cost will still total $22,000, Langen said.

Wildlife authorities have given the centre three months to raise the money and build the enclosure, or Helena must be euthanized, Langen said.

School groups will be able to visit to learn about cougars, she said.

Tax-deductible donations can be made through the centre's website at www.wildlifeshelter.com or by calling 250-847-5101. Large corporate donations would be recognized on banners, smaller individual ones on a plaque, she said.