US scientists celebrate return of the cougar to the American midwest

The Guardian ^ | Thursday 14 June 2012 | Karen McVeigh

[MinorityRepublican]

Cougar in Montana: conservation strategies helped avoid extinction. Cougars are recolonising the mid-western United States, according to scientists, reversing 100 years of decline. The population of big cats, also known as American mountain lions, has rocketed in these states, from less than a hundred in 1990 to about 30,000 today.

Michelle LaRue from the University of Minnesota said that the midwest population of cougars had been "effectively zero" two decades ago. "That's why this is so exciting," she said. "We have hard evidence that the western population has spread."

The population of cougars declined substantially from about 1900, victims of hunting and a lack of suitable prey. Once considered a "bounty predator" and hunted to near extinction locally, cougars are now protected by law.

Three established breeding populations now exist in the upper midwest, in North Dakota, the Black Hills in South Dakota, and Nebraska, said LaRue, but cougars have been venturing far outside this range.

[knarf]

Buff boys are sort’a lookin’ forward to the return, also.

[ops33]

Last year one was photographed on a deer hunter’s camera in eastern Oklahoma.

[tnlibertarian]

I thought Ford did away with the Mercury line.

[Abathar]

I have no problems with cougars wanting to spread more, none at all!

[Da Coyote]

I saw quite a nice cougar at the Texas Roadhouse yesterday.

She was friendly, too.

[JRios1968]

[massgopguy]

I remember that photo. It was behind him.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

Brings to mind an old Smothers Brothers routine!

[b4its2late]

Wait till they start eatin’ people. The people will be blamed.

[cripplecreek]

They’re breeding here in southern Michigan as well.

[mountainlion]

Mountainlions are elusive animals. I see tracks in the yard form them but have never seen one here. Some would say there were none here because they never saw them. But then again there are those that hallucinate spotted owls where timber companies have leases.

[madison10]

Bobcats have been sighted, too. Near the Ohio/Michigan border near Toledo.

[LibWhacker]

When I think of myself as a young boy exploring the rivers and woods out in the country in Kansas back in the 50s, unarmed and absolutely certain of my safety when it came to the wildlife, it makes me sad to think kids nowadays won’t have that same experience.

[LOC1]

There is a breeding population of mountain lions in west Texas. I have seen them on our property.

In Texas, there is a year around open season on mountain lions, but many hunters choose not to shoot them.

One really good thing about mountain lions, they eliminate some of the feral hogs, of which we have too many.

[OldMissileer]

They’re breeding here in southern Michigan as well.

There are said to be sightings up in the Cadillac area. The last time I was visiting up there I swear I saw a HUGE (HUGH) cat in the yard across the street (small village near the Manistee Nat'l Forrest). Black bear come into the yards quite often too.

As a child I used to play in the woods all day long now I will not go in unless I am armed with my 44 Mag. Small game is almost gone too. Darned predators.

[mosaicwolf]

They may be protected by law but when I am in a remote area with the potential danger of predetors of ay kind I am protected by a S&W Mod 29 in 44 Mag.

[cripplecreek]

Black bears (with cubs) are turning up all the way down here around Jackson and Ann Arbor.

[Dr. Sivana]

The population of cougars declined substantially from about 1900, victims of hunting and a lack of suitable prey.

Well, pardon the prey for avoiding being hunted and eaten for lunch, making the poor hungry cougar a victim. I really hate passive-aggressive prey.

When my in-laws in northern Alberta saw evidence of a cougar in the back yard (6 acres), they had to change much of how they lived their lives until it was caught a couple of months later.

I dislike the idea that species seem to be in part defined by "where" they lived. Decades ago, I remember hearing the fear that rattlesnakes might be extinct in Connecticut.

[tcrlaf]

At least a few in Southern Indiana, too. The HUGE deer population is probably why.

A buddy who lives near Hoosier National Forest says either them, or Puma’s, have forced the local rabbits in to the town proper, to get away from them.