Are Reports of Eastern Cougars Fact or Fiction?

Mountain Lion Sightings in the East Persist Despite Official Stance

May 8, 2009

America's biggest cat has been officially extinct in the eastern wilds for decades. For those who think otherwise, there's now a government Web site to share their story.

The eastern cougar (scientific name: Puma (=Felis) concolor cougar) is one of three subspecies -- genetically distinct groups of the same species -- of North America's largest wild cat, although some scientists argue that all North American cougars are the same.

A Lion with a Long Tail

There's a reason why cougars are sometimes called mountain lions. They are powerful animals about 6-9 feet (1.5 to 2.75 meters) long from nose to tip of tail, with a tail about 2-3 feet (0.6-0.9 meters) long, and can weigh up to 275 pounds (125 kilos). They have light-colored fur, a small head, short ears, heavy legs and large feet. This cat stalks its prey, leaping up to twenty feet (six meters) onto the back of an animal and biting its neck.

Once Lords of the Land

Cougars once ranged from the southernmost part of South America to southern Canada. In North America, they enjoyed a distribution from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. They occupied coastal marshes, mountains and forests. They fed on elk, deer and smaller animals like porcupines. Only humans challenged their dominance.

Cougars and Their Prey Hunted to Near Extinction

To the European settlers of America, cougars were looked upon as threats to humans and livestock and were relentlessly hunted. At the same time, the settlers cleared much of the forest in the east to create farmland and shot the deer for food and hides. By the turn of the 20th century, cougars had all but disappeared from the east, along with the forests and the white-tailed deer, their principal prey.

Evidence of Eastern Cougars in Canada

But eastern accounts of the catamount, or panther, or puma, or painter, as the cougar is sometimes called, continued. Some people think that small breeding populations of wild eastern cougars still exist in remote mountainous areas that have large, undeveloped tracts of land. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, such a population may exist in the Canadian Maritime Provinces and recent evidence of cougars has been found there.

Habitat and Prey are Back but Changed

Many of the eastern forests have grown back, and the recovery of the white-tailed deer is a spectacular success story, so the habitat and the prey to support the eastern cougar are now better than they were at the turn of the last century. But most of their former habitat has been divided up into smaller patches and far more people are now living there, increasing the chances for human-cougar conflicts, should the eastern cougar make a comeback.

Unofficial Sightings on the Increase

Cougars have not been officially documented in the wild in the eastern United States in many years. Nevertheless, rumors of their continued existence persist and a number of news sources have recently reported that sightings are on the increase. In the March 7, 2003 article, "Cougar Reports on the Rise in Eastern U.S." for National Geographic News, Cameron Walker relates how skepticism among officials in Iowa finally began to die when a cougar was killed by a local driver.

Tangible Evidence Needed

Official acceptance can be a slow process and to those who are convinced they have seen the mysterious "ghost cat," a frustrating one. Even though eyewitness accounts are accepted as evidence in a court of law, science requires the kind of proof that allows people other than the witness to experience it for themselves. This is called "hard" evidence and consists of such tangible things as photographs, carcasses or identifiable animal parts. Without such evidence, the existence of the animal cannot be considered a scientific fact.

Wildlife Agency Begins Formal Investigation

In 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the government agency legally responsible for protecting America's wildlife, began a scientific review of all available evidence to determine the status of the eastern cougar. The last review was done several decades ago when the animal was placed on the Endangered Species List and a plan for its recovery was published.

Cougar Spotters Can Tell Their Stories Online

As part of the effort to determine the status of the eastern cougar, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is soliciting information from ordinary citizens who think they have spotted the great American cat. The Service has set up a Web site where people can submit information for Fish and Wildlife staff to review. Reports that pass muster are posted on the site.

Those who want to immerse themselves in the fascinating world of cougar rumors and press releases can search for "eastern cougar" at StrangeArk, a Weblog (strangeark.com), and visit the Cougar Fund Web site (cougarfund.org).

Cougars can be very dangerous, so people who encounter one are cautioned to treat this wild animal with respect and to follow the safety guidelines recommended by official cougar experts.

Unlike western cougars, eastern cougars are protected by the Endangered Species Act.