麻豆社

By Sarah Whalley, Director on Seven Worlds, One Planet

One of the most beautiful and majestic places on the planet, Torres del Paine is truly breath taking. Our goal was to film a successful puma hunt, something the 麻豆社 has been trying to capture for 30 years.

Starting out it felt like a daunting task. With a pre dawn departure the first task was to find our subject. Even with a high number of pumas in the park due to conservation efforts, the elusive cat is incredibly tricky to spot. We were heavily reliant on our team of amazing trackers who seemed to have a preternatural ability to spot brown animals in the brown grass. Watching the herds of guanaco, a relative of the camel, is another way - they need to see a puma first because if they don’t they could become a meal!

The first glimpse of our puma mother, Sarmiento and her three cubs is a moment I will never forget. Following her every day on foot we grew close to her and felt her frustration at failed hunt attempts knowing she had hungry mouths to feed.

With cameraman John Shier way ahead in the distance (we called him ‘Robocop’, as he made schlepping across the difficult terrain with an incredibly heavy camera and tripod on his shoulder look easy) I helped our drone pilot, Bertie Gregory, get in the air.

Looking on from above with the drone gave us a unique perspective of the action. As Sarmiento crept towards a guanaco, it raised its head and alarm called - she had been spotted.

She is a skilled hunter but taking down an animal that weighs around 90kg when you are only 40kg yourself is no easy feat - it is difficult and dangerous.

We knew she was struggling. She came out of one failed hunt with a huge cut on her shoulder, which thankfully didn’t stop her hunting, but seeing her being thrown around like a rag doll is emotional to watch. Sometimes she would let her cubs hunt with her and they would look on but not quite know what to do to help.

Sarmiento is such a fearless hunter and attentive mother that it has put pumas in a special place in my heart. They are definitely one of the most endearing animals I have ever got the chance to spend time with despite walking miles to keep up with them.

Finally we filmed the holy grail, a successful puma hunt. It’s a massive achievement. Watching these life and death struggles is always difficult but it felt like the perfect ending to our puma family story seeing Sarmiento finally providing for her cubs.

It’s nice to be able to show some stories where the animals have found a safe haven after years of being so elusive because of human pressures.