Posted on 03/02/2011 6:40:18 PM PST by americanophile
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The "ghost cat" is just that.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday declared the eastern cougar to be extinct, confirming a widely held belief among wildlife biologists that native populations of the big cat were wiped out by man a century ago.
After a lengthy review, federal officials concluded there are no breeding populations of cougars — also known as pumas, panthers, mountain lions and catamounts — in the eastern United States. Researchers believe the eastern cougar subspecies has probably been extinct since the 1930s.
Wednesday's declaration paves the way for the eastern cougar to be removed from the endangered species list, where it was placed in 1973. The agency's decision to declare the eastern cougar extinct does not affect the status of the Florida panther, another endangered wildcat.
Some hunters and outdoors enthusiasts have long insisted there's a small breeding population of eastern cougars, saying the secretive cats have simply eluded detection — hence the "ghost cat" moniker. The wildlife service said Wednesday it confirmed 108 sightings between 1900 and 2010, but that these animals either escaped or were released from captivity, or migrated from western states to the Midwest.
"The Fish and Wildlife Service fully believes that some people have seen cougars, and that was an important part of the review that we did," said Mark McCollough, an endangered species biologist who led the agency's eastern cougar study. "We went on to evaluate where these animals would be coming from."
A breeding population of eastern cougars would almost certainly have left evidence of its existence, he said. Cats would have been hit by cars or caught in traps, left tracks in the snow or turned up on any of the hundreds of thousands of trail cameras that dot Eastern forests.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Yes, I’m from California and have had some encounters. You take precaution, but the chance encounter with a Mountain Lion as we call them is half the fun.
Hahaha!
Group mentality? What modern humanity?
They’re not uncommon here in California. Tracking them, listening for them, simply knowing there out there is greatly pleasing to me personally.
There are some in N. Wisconsin, but the DNR denies it. Lots of wolves there now too.
When the SHTF I will most likely feed all the fat people who don’t like my dogs to my dogs, just like the coyotes get made into sausage.
You will most likely not since you are all bark like the pathetic useless little dogs.
Near Sonora Texas a rancher called the Wildlife biologist and said cougars were killing his sheep. The biologists said no cougars existed there. The rancher said, ok I’ll kill one and then show you. The biologist then said fine, show me an endangered species on your ranch and see what happens next.
The rancher killed 7 cougars but decided not to call the biologist back.
What people in Georgia and other states are seeing are Western Cougars, just like they are seeing Western Coyotes. It is the Eastern subspecies they are discussing, not the Florida subspecies or others, just the Eastern. Let me repeat that - people are seeing cougars, just not the Eastern Variant. Why is that good? because if you shoot a cougar on your land you will NOT have shot an endangered species. So this is great news!!!
Why Ethel refuses to go out and start my truck in the morning!
This gives new meaning to the phrase "Honey would you go outside and warm up the Jeep for me." These were taken this past weekend (1/31/2010) outside of Elkins WV. Elkins is just a little west of Buckhannon out Corridore H.
She is Such a fraidycat....
Nice kitty...
Thank you so much. Those pictures just screamed to be on this thread. Now can anyone tell if they are Western or Eastern cats?
Wanna bet?
If they’re in West Virginia they’re Eastern. ;-)
I don’t make bets with fools.
Yuk Yuk, you’re so funny.
Those pictures are awesome and thanks to the freeper that posted them for us....
“There aren’t cougars in Tennessee.”
Same in Illinois, until they had to kill one in Chicago recently, then they claimed it was an illegal cougar from Minnesota.
Nice! Are those fully grown adults? They look small compared to our California big cats.
They look like youngens to me.
If you encounter a democrat check your wallet
I never let my kids run around through the hills like I did as a child. The damn things are thick around here in N. Calif. Just lost my daughters small dog saturday night to a suspected new cat in the area. Haven’t found the remains yet, I’m on buzzard watch. Neighbor dog killed a couple months ago. That one was determined by vet
Calling the local State trapper ( friend) tomorrow. He can help determine what’s going on in the area.
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