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Wildlife cam captures bear eating cougar’s stashed kill

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UTAH — A wildlife camera shows a bear eating a cougar’s stashed food the night after a kill.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources states they are working with Utah State University to study the interactions cougars have at kill sites with other animals.

The agency posted a video with captions showing one such interaction involving a bear, which is embedded in the tweet above.

A cougar wearing a tracking collar killed a deer, so officials set up a camera in the area afterward to monitor the site.  A few hours later the cougar returned to the stashed deer carcass to feed again.

The next night a bear came into the same area, found the carcass, and fed on it for about two hours before leaving.

A few hours later the cougar arrived to inspect the area, and about 15 minutes after that the bear returned. Wildlife officials said it’s unclear if the two animals had a direct encounter, but they said it’s likely the cougar gave up control of the deer to the bear.

Wild Aware Utah offers tips for avoiding animal encounters as well as what do should you encounter an animal like a cougar or a bear.