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 ...
They make great bait trolled behind a fast boat
and the rhinestone collars give quite a flash.
Yes, I think they look like yearlings, plus the fact that they are running together.
This will come as a huge surprise the the pair roaming the forests of the southern Albemarle peninsula in eastern North Carolina.
I think we have pretty well exploded the notion that the big cats do not inhabit the East. They may have wandered here from out West, but they are here.
Comparing this to the WV cats, I can’t see any difference. They have the same markings on the face, the same extra long tail, smaller head. I’m saying the Eastern Cougar is alive and breeding.
I don’t get how you can imply that each person like the picture is worth less just because there are ~800 million of them. That’s just not how I view the world.
HA Very good.
John Kerry walks into a bar, and the bartender says “hey John why the long face” ?
When we got to western SD in 1979, the only thing seen of cougars was the occasional footprint. Now they are prolific, with a hunting season and a bag limit that has risen steadily as the true numbers become more evident.
After the hunting season three more were killed due to predatory behavior. Killing geese goat and pets.
This topic eases into another being pushed by a senator from SD who as an adult ought to know better but does not, and that is wilderness designation. My forefathers spent untold money and effort ridding the country of wilderness, and just like bad pennies, and early in life mistakes, it and wolfs are coming home to roost.
I didn’t. You perhaps wanted me to imply that. I never did.
OK cool! I misunderstood this post then:
“...and 6+ billion strong.”
I thought the only thing that could mean is that the number reduces the value? If I misunderstood I apologise. What did you mean?
After reading the thread, I am pleased that there is really only a very minor (if any) difference between the eastern and western cats - less than the difference between an Indian and a Pakistani if you ask me! I thought for a moment it was a distinct type of cat.
Your post seemed to imply to me that the two were mutually exclusive; that it was us or them. My point was that we’re doing just fine.
Well, it is group mentality, because ‘we’ are a species. We’re not big cats. To make any meaningful statements, you necessarily have to generalize...just as you might into other groups such as ‘Christians’ or ‘Engineers,’ or ‘misanthropes.’
“it is group mentality”
What is a group mentality? Do you mean to say that a group mentality is justified?
Referring to humans as "we're."
Maybe we should feed YOU to the cougars, you dog hater.
blah blah blah
I own a lab.
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