What's New in the Lab?
PROFESSOR ROB WIELGUS (right), Director of the Large Carnivore Conservation Lab in the Department of Natural Resource Sciences at WSU, and his Ph.D. student Don Katnik (left), examine two 4-6 week-old cougar kittens in a study to determine population dynamics of cougars in northeast Washington, northern Idaho, and southern British Columbia.
Dr. Wielgus and his crew tracked a radio-collared mother cougar to her den, crawled in, and examined 2 kittens. The mother sat nearby watching the operation. After about 10 minutes, the crew put the kittens back in the den and left the area. Mother and kittens got back to their business of nursing and playing shortly afterwards.
In the next video, investigators Rob Weilgus, Hillary Cooley, technicians Tom and Jesse McArthur, and several undergrad ecology students, examine and mark cougar kittens with PIT tags.