The Service prioritized its limited resources to protect at-risk species with known populations. Why did the Service write a recovery plan for the eastern cougar in when biologists believed the subspecies was extinct? Although no breeding population of eastern cougar was known in , Service biologists at that time believed it was possible that the eastern cougar still survived in a few remote areas of its historical range. What would the Service consider proof of the existence of an eastern cougar population?
Even small populations of cougars, such as those in Florida and North and South Dakota, leave substantial physical evidence tracks, photographs, scat, hair, genetic samples, road mortalities, cougars shot or caught in traps. Service biologists assembled records dating from to with a high level of confirmation that the described animals were cougars.
After careful examination, the biologists concluded all reported cougars were animals that escaped or were released from captivity or that dispersed from the western United States. There is no evidence that a breeding population of cougars occurs in the eastern United States or eastern Canada other than those in Florida Florida panther.
What would the Service consider a viable population of eastern cougars? Why are cougars occurring with increasing frequency in the Midwest? Cougar populations in most western states have been increasing in recent decades.
These are a different subspecies than the extinct eastern cougar. Cougars have reoccupied their historic breeding range in North and South Dakota and possibly elsewhere. While individual animals dispersing from western populations have been documented in a number of Midwest states, some of these animals could be released or escaped pets.
Although young males may sometimes disperse hundreds of miles, female cougars normally do not move far from where they are born. Thus, cougars are slow to colonize new areas and establish breeding populations. The Cougar Network documents cougar confirmations, many of them east of established cougar populations. According to The Cougar Network, cougars of wild origin have been confirmed from Minnesota and Wisconsin south to Louisiana.
Will the range of cougars continue to expand into eastern North America? Cougars once had the greatest distribution of any land mammal in North and South America.
They are adaptable and can live in grasslands, forest, desert, mountainous regions and swamps. They require large contiguous areas with adequate large prey to meet their social, reproductive and energy needs.
There are likely many places in eastern North America with adequate habitat to support populations of cougars.
It is unknown at this time whether cougars will continue to expand their range eastward. Given human densities in eastern North America, the return of a top-level predator such as the cougar will depend on public awareness and acceptance.
Will the Service consider reintroducing other cougar subspecies to the eastern states? The Service does not have the authority under the ESA to replace the extinct eastern cougar subspecies by introducing another cougar subspecies. Deer carry ticks, and the growing threat of lyme disease has been a possible concern.
Additionally, Robinson adds, he would like to see the species protected for its own sake. He lives in the mountains of New Mexico and says it's thrilling to see one in the wild. All rights reserved. To see one in the northeastern U. Who's What and Since When? Not on the List Beginning in the s, European settlers began rounding up and killing off cougars in the northeast.
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Individual Florida panthers and midwestern cougars that have traveled long distances have been hit by cars, shot by hunters or killed by authorities in recent years throughout the Midwest and East, but there is no breeding population in the historic range of the eastern puma.
It should also be a clarion call to recover pumas and all of our apex predators to sustainable levels to help rebalance a world that is out of kilter. A web site sponsored by The Mary T. Hoffman Family Foundation and all-creatures. Hoffman Family Foundation. All rights reserved. May be copied only for personal use or by not-for-profit organizations to promote compassionate and responsible living.
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