Pennsylvania Housecat Mis-ID

A large well-muscled orange tabby housecat (farmcat?) was photographed and thought a cougar by a Landenberg, PA, man. (Story and photos here.) Brandywine Zoo took a look and immediately recognized it as a domestic cat. The man isn't so certain, and now his neighbor says he's seen the feline and also thinks it's a cougar. (That story here.) The problem is that it is obviously not a cougar. It's nowhere big enough, it's the wrong profile, and it's a tabby. (Stripes are obvious on the tail, somewhat apparent on the body, and they aren't the same as what you might see on a juvenile cougar.) But, people see what they want to see...

More Cougar News

The Chicago cougar came from Wisconsin. (News source.)

Frankford, Ontario, has a cougar roaming the area. (News source.)

More Chicago Cougar News

More sightings, by an Abbott Labs guard, and by some joggers.

And a note in the aftermath of the shooting.

So Where'd It Come From?

That's the next question. Though Illinois state officials are eager to get their hands on the Chicago cougar carcase, they're not sure who actually has it. (News source.)

"Cook County Animal and Rabies Control administrator Donna Alexander said Tuesday the cougar was a male with no identifying marks showing it was privately owned. An examination found it weighed 122 pounds and was 3½ feet long."

Chicago Police Kill Cougar

The recent sightings of a big tawny cat in Chicago's North Side proved true. Police shot and killed a 150-lb cougar in the Roscoe Village neighborhood. They were attempting to contain it when it turned on officers, forcing them to shoot. (News source.)

Black Panther

Interesting report from California of an alleged black mountain lion: (News source.)

The Bay Area's ultimate wildlife mystery, the mythic black panther, may have been solved by a local wildlife expert who said he and a friend sighted an anomalous black mountain lion at Point Reyes National Seashore.
"'This lion was not darkish, not a brownish-tawny like some I've seen since, but jet black,' said John Balawejder, a longtime reader and avid hiker and wildlife watcher whose daughter, Alani, has written an academic paper about the sighting." ...
"Balawejder has seen more than 10 mountain lions (that beats my six in 25,000 trail miles), so he knows what he's looking at. Like many landmark wildlife encounters, his episode came by complete surprise. On a spring day, he was hiking with a pal, Burke Richardson, out at Pierce Ranch, located at the north end of Point Reyes, on an adventure to see elk, wildflowers and views of the ocean and Tomales Bay.
"'We came up a short rise through a grassy swale, and then, looking up, saw a large, jet-black mountain lion calmly sitting, eyes half asleep looking out at us from about 30 yards away,' Balawejder said. 'My friend and I stood there, stunned. It then started to slink away from us in a large semi-circle, attempting to hide in the grass.'"

Tennessee Cougar?

Here's a column on cougar sightings on the grounds at the Oak Ridge reservation.

Historic Illinois Cougar Sightings

The recent cougar sightings in Chicago brought to mind (to one journalist) sightings from Des Plaines in the 1950s. (News source.)

More from Illinois

A paw print from North Chicago that was cast turned out to be from a large dog, but a police officer over in Round Lake Park thinks he saw a large feline. (News source.)

Illinois Cougar Sightings

More reports coming from North Chicago. (News source.)

Cougar Reported in North Chicago

A large tan animal, either feline or canine, was reported seen in North Chicago. (News source.)

"Coleman was in her car around 8:30 a.m. at the southeast corner of Argonne Drive and Seymour Avenue when she looked across the street and spotted what appeared to be a very large cat.
"The tan-colored, 30-inch tall animal was slowly walking between two houses in the 1400 block of Argonne. Its long, thick tail dangling behind."

Kansas Cougar Killed

A mountain lion pelt, from one shot late last year, was confiscated from a Kansas resident, and genetic testing should determine if it comes from a wild population. (News source.)

Ontario Cougar Sightings

Cougar sightings continue in the Brantford region.

Not a Cougar

A reported cougar struck by a car and put down by police in Ontario was actually a coyote. (News source.)

A professor who investigates cougar sightings was uncertain how people could confuse a canine with a cougar; but as an article in Cryptozoology years ago pointed out, there is a significant percentage of mistaken identities in cougar reports, including both live and dead dogs mistaken for cougar.

Feline Sightings Worldwide

A UK fisherman reported seeing "a dark grey animal the size of a fox, with a long thick tail," on the other side of a Snodland lake. (News source.)

A Crawton (UK) woman saw a 3-foot-long dark colored feline about to attack a neighbor's cat. The locals call the creature "The Beast of the Mearns." (News source.)

The Chicago Tribune has an article on cougar sightings in the US.

Washington County, IL, may be home to a cougar, according to some residents. (News source.)

More "black cat" sightings from Australia. (News source.)

Cougar in Wisconsin?

A cougar sighting in Rock County, WI, has the DNR investigating. Tracks were found consistent with a cougar, and other trace tests are pending. (News source.)

Cougar Rumor Resurfaces

The (idiotic) notion that wildlife officials are secretly releasing predators has popped up again. This time, it's in Ontario, where rumors of released cougars are spreading. (News source.) For a discussion of this predator-release folklore, see Cryptozoology: Science & Speculation.

Iowa Cougar Photo Debate

Offhand, I don't recall if I've seen the pic, but there's some debate between the photographer/witnesses and the Iowa DNR over whether a photographed feline was a housecat or a cougar. I've seen a number of photos of domestic cats or bobcats that the photographers were convinced were cougars, so that's certainly a possibility. But, without seeing the photo, can't personally say it's one way or the other. (News source.)

WV Cougar

A couple of opinion articles here and here by the same writer on West Virginia cougar sightings.

Misc. Feline News

A Clemson University employee reported seeing a "panther or cougar" this past weekend. (News source.)

Vermont confirmed their first lynx in 40 years, when a Derby farmer shot it to protect his farm animals. (News source.)

Despite numerous sightings, Iowa DNR says cougar are rare there. (News source.)

Cougar in South Carolina?

Big feline sightings coming from South Carolina:

"When Dee Field read in the newspaper that at least two Clemson University security officers saw an animal on campus that was described as a panther or cougar she thought that it could have been the same animal she saw bound across her back yard." ...
"Ms. Field said before she and her husband David left for Maine in late May, they were sitting on their deck, which overlooks a gentle sloping back yard leading to a large wooded area in Heritage Oaks.
"'It was huge,' Ms. Field said. 'It weighed at least 70 pounds and came across our property. I know what I saw. I had such a great look at it. It was right beneath me. I saw the full length. It had the longest tail. It was as long as its body.'"

Ontario Cougar Sightings

A London, ONT, farmer believes he has seen two cougars roaming his cattle farm. (News source.)

Big Cat Roundup

Mountain lion sighting in Missouri. (News source.)

Mountain lion (or coyote) sighting in Indiana. (News source.)

Big cat spotted at St. Leonards (UK). (News source.)

Missouri Mountain Lions

The Missourian reports on four separate mountain lion sightings in and around Franklin County. The most recent:

"Amanda Gildehaus, 22, New Haven, said she thinks she saw a mountain lion Sept. 19 on Highway YY near Clover Bottom.
"Gildehaus said she was driving home around 2 a.m. when she saw a large cat coming out of the woods.
"'It was light in color and was being cautious as it was coming out of the woods, with its ears pointing up,' she said."

MN Mountain Lion

A Floodwood, MN, man has a trail camera pic of a mountain lion, easily identifiable, from about 20 miles north of that town. (News source.)

Michigan Cougar Photo?

A cougar may have been photographed with a Trail-Cam at Gogomain Swamp, Michigan. (No photograph is attached to the news posting online, so I can't comment on the identification's validity.) (News source.)

Cougar Tales

A Shelton, CT, woman and son were waiting for the school bus when they spotted a large golden-brown feline that ran off into the woods. (News source.)

An Algoma, WI, high school biology teacher and others have reported seeing a mountain lion in that area. (News source.)

Kansas Cougar Debate

An Audubon official in Kansas is offering journalists what he claims is evidence for cougar in that state, while other wildlife biologists are criticizing his method of going to the press rather than "peer review." (News source.)

Even Out West...

Cougars can turn out to be housecats. Pullman, WA, police took photos of an alleged cougar to F&W officers, who identified it as a large housecat. (News source.)

The Puma Field Guide

The Cougar Network has put out a new downloadable field guide to mountain lions.

This short download has a high level of detail on the biology, behavior and history of these felines, and makes for a useful reference tool.

The Puma Field Guide was written by biologists Harley Shaw, Paul Beier, Melanie Culver, and Melissa Grigione.

Down East Magazine - Article on Maine Cougars

The June 2007 magazine Down East includes an article on Maine cougars.

Written by Jeff Clark, the article looks at a brief history of the cougar in Maine, recent sightings, wildlife professional views as well as captive animals.

Read it online at http://www.downeast.com/index.php/page/issues/id/2643 or pick up a copy of the print magazine.

Status of the Eastern Cougar - Maine and Beyond

Maine is a one of those states where population densities are more isolated to the coastal areas, and the central and northern portions have a much smaller per capita population. This makes for beautiful scenery as well as isolation for hikers, hunters and outdoors people. Eagles, moose, deer and more haunt the woods and waterways.

In 2000 the population of Maine was just under 1.3 million spread over some 31,000 square miles. 3500 miles of coastline, 17 million acres of forest. The US census bureau projection is around 1.4 million people by 2025, or 42nd in the nation for population.

The last known cougar in Maine was killed in 1938, yet reports have filtered in over the years of the animals still haunting the woods. Making Maine one of the Eastern Cougar haunts of New England, ranking it in line with Vermont and New Hampshire.

Now, the state of Maine’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, is gathering together the reports from the state as part of a periodic review of the status of the cougar. While not listed on Maine’s endangered or threatened listings, it is protected under the federal endangered species program (since 1969).

Part of the review, which will take data from 21 states east of the Mississippi, will be aimed towards scientific analysis of the data, but also as to whether the Eastern Cougar is actually even a distinct species. This later aspect runs the risk of removing the endangered species classification, as the population entirety would be lumped with the cougars from the west. While this reclassification is still unknown, it is a debatable subject as the actual speciation of cougars is debated in and of itself. We have previously seen multiple sub-species (including the eastern cougar and over 10 others) , to a shortening that lumps various geographic areas together as sub-species.

One stand out account from Maine is from September 2000 in which a Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIF&W) Biologist Keel Kemper identified tracks made in Monmouth, Maine as being larger than existing felines would make. The event was spurred by the sighting by Roddy Glover, in which he claimed seeing a female and cub while scouting the area prior to bow season to start. Glover is a taxidermist and had mounted cougar pelts prior. The investigation by Keel Kemper and Philip Dugus occurred within hours of the reported sighting, and hundred of tracks were found and casts were made.

For anyone who has seen a cougar, be it in the east or west (and I have seen them in the west), remain positive that despite reclassification of species or endangered status, these animals will continue to fight for their survival.

Are they in the New England? Possibly, there is some good evidence from New Brunswick and Massachusetts (the Vermont classification is debatable) in the form of scientific evidence. We have numerous sightings, and the off / on image to see or track to view. Time will tell, and the review of the animal’s status is important regardless of the end results as it will allow the first large scale review from multiple states in years. We hope the data will be made available to us all for review when complete.

The review plan outline is viewable at the US Fish and Wildlife Website at http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/E7-1315.html

Maine is but one state, and should be considered as one of many.

Please see the following links for further information:

http://www.easterncougarnet.org/northeast.html
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/070313mountainlion.html
https://www.state.me.us/ifw/wildlife/etweb/pdfs/easterncougar_24_25.pdf

More Cougar Articles

Two news postings of interest:

Pros and cons of cougar sightings in Massachusetts.

A Michigan sighting near East Lansing.

Misc. Cougar Articles

A cougar that escaped from an Indiana feline rescue center is still on the loose. New box traps have been set up to try and recapture it.

Photos of a cougar are being circulated in hoax emails in Iowa, as DNR officials point out that the pictures were actually taken in South Dakota.

A Pennsylvania man believes he saw a cougar near Montoursville this past weekend.