MorphicOutFielder
11-16-2002, 07:01 PM
Cougar Confirmations
* Florida: For the first time in the history of the Florida Panther Program, 3 panthers have traveled north across the Caloosahatchee River into areas where panthers haven't been seen in many years. It was a great surprise to biologists that the cats could navigate through the intense human development in the area. If the cats had not been collared, biologists probably wouldn't have believed it.
* Missouri: Raccoon hunters treed and killed a cougar in 1994, confirmed by the MO Dept. of Conservation, which fined them. A pelt found along a road in Texas County in 1997 or '98 is believed to be from this cougar, and was determined by DNA analysis to come from a North American cat. Another clue that this may have been a native wild cougar was the fact that eye witnesses remarked on the cougar's long, sharp claws (pets are almost always declawed). Officials with the MO Dept. of Conservation have confirmed another cougar in the state. On New Year's Eve at 1:30pm in Lewis County a fellow was able to video tape a large cougar from his tree stand. This video brings the number of confirmed cougar reports in Missouri in recent years to FIVE!
* Ontario, Canada: Scat found northeast of Kenora in 1999 was analyzed by thin layer chromatography (separating bile salts) by the Alberta Natural Resources Service and determined to be cougar. The last cougar shot in Ontario was in 1884.
* New Brunswick, Canada: Scat collected in the 1990s was analyzed by the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa and found to contain foot and leg hairs of a cougar, presumed to have been ingested during self-grooming.
* Vermont: Scat found near Craftsbury in 1994 after a report of three cougars was called and confirmed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Forensics Lab in Oregon as having cougar foot hair in it. This is a case where cougar reproduction is indicated, because cougars are generally solitary except for mothers with young or during mating.
* Massachusetts: A scat found in 1997 in the Quabbin Resevior was confirmed by DNA testing by the Wildlife Conservation Society. That area has a history of cougar sightings and more scat has been found and sent for testing.
* Maryland: Home video shown many times on MD public TV and at biologist's meetings.
* West Virginia: In 1976, one cougar was killed and a second was captured in Pocahontas County, WV, as pictured in newspaper reports. There is no paper trail as to what happened to the captured cougar, who was reportedly pregnant at the time. Also in 1996, in Wyoming County, WV ECF President Todd Lester made a plaster cast of a track that was confirmed by Dr. Lee Fitzhugh, a cougar specialist in CA.
* North Carolina: A video and a track of a cougar was verified by Dr. Don Linzey, prominent Virginia biologist and a member of the ECF Board of Directors.
* Illinois: On July 15, 2000 near Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site in Randolph County, a 110 pound male cougars carcass was discovered on the railroad tracks. The cougar had been killed by a train. Necropsy results showed that the cougar had all its claws and had been feeding on whitetail deer. DNA results showed that it was a North American Cougar. These results strongly suggests that this was a native wild cougar.
* Kentucky: Sometime in June 1997, a fellow ran over a small female cougar with his truck on KY highway 850 in western Floyd County, which lies in rural eastern Kentucky. He said the kitten he hit, was following a larger cat with another small cat. He picked up the carcass and turned it over to the Kentucky Department of Game & Fish, who kept the carcass in a freezer. It was determined to be an 8 pound female cougar kitten, and had all its claws intact, and no tattoos, tags or collars on it. The other cats, were probably its mother and littermate, and their whereabouts are still unknown. This incident makes a stronger case for cougar reproduction in the East. Click here to see picture of the cougar kitten.
See Kitten
Georgia:
Sometime in April 2000 an adult male cougar was shot and killed in Cisco, GA. After investigating the case, we learned that the cougar had escaped from the Cohutta Springs Wildlife Center in Crandall, GA 4 to 6 weeks earlier. To read more details on this, and see 2 pictures of the dead cougar, click this link:
Cougar Killed in Georgia
Ontario, Canada:
In August 2001 the first confirmed cougar attack east of the Mississippi River took place near Cornwall, right across the river from New York State. David Wood, 19 was bitten on the arm, but managed to kick the cougar off and it ran away. The bite marks were compared to cougar skulls and confirmed by 2 cougar experts from the western US.
Minnesota:
A female cougar was shot and killed near Big Sandy Lake in Aitkin County, in August 2001. The guy shot the cougar because it was fighting with his pet dog. The carcass was picked up by the Dept. Of Natural Resources. The next day, 2 cougar kittens were seen in the same area, and they were trapped. They were the 16 week old kittens of the female that was killed. The kittens were taken to the Minnesota Zoo. It was the first confirmed killing of a cougar in the state in more than 100 years. See this cougar: Minnesota Cougar
April 2002 a cougar was photographed at a deer's carcass in the Minnesota River Valley around Savage. The pictures clearly show, it is an adult cougar. An article with one of the pictures can be seen at at the Pioneer Press website.
Iowa:
A 7 1/2 foot male cougar was killed by a car in Shelby County near Harlan. This was the first confirmed kill of a cougar since 1867 in Iowa. The cougar weighed 130 lbs and had all its claws intact. It was healthy and believed to be a wild one. See this cougar: Iowa Cougar
Michigan:
Cougars have now been confirmed in Michigan's Up & LP by DNA analysis of scat. Read the press release: Cougars in Michigan
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/1318/Confirmations.html
http://www.mosportsmen.com/preditor/bigcats.htm
* Florida: For the first time in the history of the Florida Panther Program, 3 panthers have traveled north across the Caloosahatchee River into areas where panthers haven't been seen in many years. It was a great surprise to biologists that the cats could navigate through the intense human development in the area. If the cats had not been collared, biologists probably wouldn't have believed it.
* Missouri: Raccoon hunters treed and killed a cougar in 1994, confirmed by the MO Dept. of Conservation, which fined them. A pelt found along a road in Texas County in 1997 or '98 is believed to be from this cougar, and was determined by DNA analysis to come from a North American cat. Another clue that this may have been a native wild cougar was the fact that eye witnesses remarked on the cougar's long, sharp claws (pets are almost always declawed). Officials with the MO Dept. of Conservation have confirmed another cougar in the state. On New Year's Eve at 1:30pm in Lewis County a fellow was able to video tape a large cougar from his tree stand. This video brings the number of confirmed cougar reports in Missouri in recent years to FIVE!
* Ontario, Canada: Scat found northeast of Kenora in 1999 was analyzed by thin layer chromatography (separating bile salts) by the Alberta Natural Resources Service and determined to be cougar. The last cougar shot in Ontario was in 1884.
* New Brunswick, Canada: Scat collected in the 1990s was analyzed by the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa and found to contain foot and leg hairs of a cougar, presumed to have been ingested during self-grooming.
* Vermont: Scat found near Craftsbury in 1994 after a report of three cougars was called and confirmed by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Forensics Lab in Oregon as having cougar foot hair in it. This is a case where cougar reproduction is indicated, because cougars are generally solitary except for mothers with young or during mating.
* Massachusetts: A scat found in 1997 in the Quabbin Resevior was confirmed by DNA testing by the Wildlife Conservation Society. That area has a history of cougar sightings and more scat has been found and sent for testing.
* Maryland: Home video shown many times on MD public TV and at biologist's meetings.
* West Virginia: In 1976, one cougar was killed and a second was captured in Pocahontas County, WV, as pictured in newspaper reports. There is no paper trail as to what happened to the captured cougar, who was reportedly pregnant at the time. Also in 1996, in Wyoming County, WV ECF President Todd Lester made a plaster cast of a track that was confirmed by Dr. Lee Fitzhugh, a cougar specialist in CA.
* North Carolina: A video and a track of a cougar was verified by Dr. Don Linzey, prominent Virginia biologist and a member of the ECF Board of Directors.
* Illinois: On July 15, 2000 near Fort Kaskaskia State Historic Site in Randolph County, a 110 pound male cougars carcass was discovered on the railroad tracks. The cougar had been killed by a train. Necropsy results showed that the cougar had all its claws and had been feeding on whitetail deer. DNA results showed that it was a North American Cougar. These results strongly suggests that this was a native wild cougar.
* Kentucky: Sometime in June 1997, a fellow ran over a small female cougar with his truck on KY highway 850 in western Floyd County, which lies in rural eastern Kentucky. He said the kitten he hit, was following a larger cat with another small cat. He picked up the carcass and turned it over to the Kentucky Department of Game & Fish, who kept the carcass in a freezer. It was determined to be an 8 pound female cougar kitten, and had all its claws intact, and no tattoos, tags or collars on it. The other cats, were probably its mother and littermate, and their whereabouts are still unknown. This incident makes a stronger case for cougar reproduction in the East. Click here to see picture of the cougar kitten.
See Kitten
Georgia:
Sometime in April 2000 an adult male cougar was shot and killed in Cisco, GA. After investigating the case, we learned that the cougar had escaped from the Cohutta Springs Wildlife Center in Crandall, GA 4 to 6 weeks earlier. To read more details on this, and see 2 pictures of the dead cougar, click this link:
Cougar Killed in Georgia
Ontario, Canada:
In August 2001 the first confirmed cougar attack east of the Mississippi River took place near Cornwall, right across the river from New York State. David Wood, 19 was bitten on the arm, but managed to kick the cougar off and it ran away. The bite marks were compared to cougar skulls and confirmed by 2 cougar experts from the western US.
Minnesota:
A female cougar was shot and killed near Big Sandy Lake in Aitkin County, in August 2001. The guy shot the cougar because it was fighting with his pet dog. The carcass was picked up by the Dept. Of Natural Resources. The next day, 2 cougar kittens were seen in the same area, and they were trapped. They were the 16 week old kittens of the female that was killed. The kittens were taken to the Minnesota Zoo. It was the first confirmed killing of a cougar in the state in more than 100 years. See this cougar: Minnesota Cougar
April 2002 a cougar was photographed at a deer's carcass in the Minnesota River Valley around Savage. The pictures clearly show, it is an adult cougar. An article with one of the pictures can be seen at at the Pioneer Press website.
Iowa:
A 7 1/2 foot male cougar was killed by a car in Shelby County near Harlan. This was the first confirmed kill of a cougar since 1867 in Iowa. The cougar weighed 130 lbs and had all its claws intact. It was healthy and believed to be a wild one. See this cougar: Iowa Cougar
Michigan:
Cougars have now been confirmed in Michigan's Up & LP by DNA analysis of scat. Read the press release: Cougars in Michigan
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/1318/Confirmations.html
http://www.mosportsmen.com/preditor/bigcats.htm