Do cougars still roam in the East?

Over the years, there have been numerous accounts of people seeing cougars throughout our region. So numerous, in fact, that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a study in 2007 to determine cougar numbers in the East.

By the 1900s, the cougar was believed to be extirpated from most of the Eastern U.S., the exception being southern Florida, where the Florida puma still survives to this day. Populations of other large animals, such as bear, wolf, elk and white-tailed deer, also declined during this period.

The conservation movement of the 1900s helped bring back much of the forest to the East; and deer and bear populations rebounded. But what about the cougar?

Cougars are the second-largest cat in North America, the jaguar being the largest. Adult cougars can weigh 80 to 250 pounds, stand about 3 feet tall on all fours, and span a 5- to 9-foot length from its head to the tip of its tail. Cougars are solitary animals that only pair up during mating season and to rear their young.

Mountain lions are fairly plentiful throughout the West, with some areas having a limited hunting season. These large cats are considered to be endangered species in the East and are protected by federal law.

The remarkable return of white-tailed deer to the East and the regrowth of forests provided the habitat and main food source that mountain lions require. So, it seems reasonable to assume that these animals could live here.

‘I saw a cougar’

Over the years, there have been numerous accounts of people seeing cougars throughout our region. So numerous, in fact, that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began a study in 2007 to determine cougar numbers in the East.

As part of this program, a Web site was developed www.fws.gov/northeast/ECougar to provide information and to record credible cougar sighting accounts. This Web page provides much useful information on the cats and posts some of these sighting reports on a blog.

The Cougar Network Web site www.cougarnet.org has much of the same information plus a map of North America that indicates where known cougar populations exist, and confirmed sightings — dead or alive — by wildlife officials. Looking at this map, it appears that the only significant Eastern populations exist in southern Florida, although a small population may be present in northern Maine, Quebec and the Canadian Maritime Provinces. There have been a number of credible sightings in the Midwest adjacent to established populations, so these cats may be moving eastward. A confirmed cougar sighting was made by a wildlife official in New Hampshire not long ago and a mountain lion was killed by a Georgia hunter.

Numerous local accounts of cougar sightings have been made in the mountains of Western Maryland. Despite these reports, no credible evidence has been produced.

Do cougars roam the mountains of Western Maryland?

Who knows.

But as one posting by a wildlife official explained, cougars are very secretive, so they are not easy to spot. But, the official continues, if they were present in significant numbers there would be evidence such as footprints in mud or snow, droppings, carcasses of deer killed by cougars, roadkills or more videos from game cameras.

Roadkill deaths of panthers in Florida average 15 to 20 per year out of a total population of about 100 cats. This is a significant percentage of the total population. The large home range and mobility of cougars, and abundant and heavily traveled roads of Maryland present an imposing obstacle for the large cats to ever become established in significant numbers in our region.

Article by FCFCDB

Nature Notes for 1/29/2012