Cougar film shot on Mount Seymour

Jan-Christian Sorensen

‘THE cougar, felis concolor, is
“known by a number of names .
= puma, mountain lion, cata--
mount and panther among
‘them.
at don’t worry ‘too much about.
formalities — “Roxy” and “Kaos” will -
-do just fine for these two cubs. : Q
: , young. sister-brother cougar ~
‘combo are ‘the stars of the documen- -
tary film “Cougar. Crossings that‘ was:
he Mount Seymour. this spring. .
"Billed: as aicoming-of-age story:
bout a pair of cou gars 2 abandoned by
the mother, the: film - is. punctuated

“with several vi Marry which ‘give the ©

film an in-depth, 60 Afiszstes-type feel.
One follows « coroner investigating a_

possible death by “cougar - attack;
prother focuses on the California State’
Senate’s ..anti-cougar : kill “legislation; °
another follows a crew of scientists as
they. track, tranquilize and tag one of -
the felines in order to gain more infor-—
mation about the species.

Maple « Ridge aker Matthew |
‘Todd Paproski — who wrote, directed.
anid produced the ‘project — and a

crew of 20 mostly North Shore grips, :

lectricians and camerapeople shot the ..
(45-minute: film over ‘a: seven-week ©
period, using both 16 mm and Beta.
5P SP filmy and eo formats...”
Among the local. talent lending a °
hand © was: ‘new-to-the-North-Shore -
‘cameraman and director of photogra-'
phy Glenn Taylor, Papraski tnd Taylor
envisioned the project years ago when
both were on a shoot together. i:

- connection,”.

_ (the cubs) have to survive

The film gave Paproski a chance to
highlight the devastating impact that
the Feline Immunodeficiency virus
(FIV) is having on the big cat popula-
tion. It’s the animal equivalent of
-HIV, the disease that causes AIDS in
humans, and it’s just as deadly.

“It gives {humans and cougars) a
said Paproski. “It
became a real personal thing to us. It -
Was a.testament to not only friends
lost to AIDS but I’ve lost several rela-
tives to cancer and I feel this film just

‘is a real wibute to life. And we have to

_ Protect all life.”

To' keep costs manageable, 1 they
chose Mount Seymour .to double for -:

Mount Washington, on. Northern

.. Vancouver Island.

“We had to create the setting of a
mountain in Northern Vancouver

Island. We needed to show extreme -*

amplify what...

snow and weather to

rough.”
* Abandoned by their mother when

‘only cubs, Roxy and Kaos were hand-

raised in captivity. Mount Seymour

was the site of their first encounter.

- with snow. “What you see of them on :

film — their. render and nervous

experience of going down an ice cliff.
_ bya waterfall, By

r example — was true.
We were very lucky to capture that,”
said Paproski.

“Vancouver Island is home to the

“most ‘dense cougar population in the
“entire world. It’s believed that over -

1,000 of the big cats have homes in
the mountains there. Traditional

cougar breeding grounds — once
stretched from Argentina to Alaska.

* However, victimized by overhunting, -
logging and ~
. poaching, cougars are now restricted

loss of habitat throu;

to” small - pockets
are currently believed to live in B. Cc.
and Alberta.

Paproski’s initial plan was to centre
the film around Kaos,. making it a
story of a solitary-orphan on his own

in the wild. When Paproski saw. the ~

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in . the © Pacific
Northwest. About 7,000 of the felines

DINING GUIDE: 16

two cubs together, however, he quick:
ly decided to shift gears. Soke
“We brought them out ‘and we

decided it was so cute watching them ..

interact with each other that we filmed

both of them..And it became their.
story —— of their, relationship as they”
try to depend on each other and try to «

MATTHEW Todd Paproski takes a breather with ‘cubs Roxy; left; and Koos, auring the trang of the:
documentary Cougar Crossings, atop Mount Seymour last ‘Spring. : ;

get ‘through life.”

- Cougar Crosings is the “fret i inva.
series of planned documentary ‘films *
on different animals in danger that will :
be. © produced .- by... Paproski’s’.
TVnewmedia.com company. Paproski
is currently hard at work. writing and.
: planning the next segment, on wolves,