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      You are here: Home / Nature / We Should Welcome Cougars Back

      We Should Welcome Cougars Back

      March 13, 2014 By John Davis 2 Comments

      Cougar by Larry Master
      Cougar by Larry Master (www.masterimages.org)

      Many local residents insist the “big cats” – Cougars, Pumas, Panthers, Mountain Lions (multiple names for the same animal) – are already here, or were never fully eradicated.

      From my readings and observations, it seems the many reported sightings of Cougars usually fall into several confusing categories:

      1. people excitedly thinking they’re seeing Cougars when actually they are seeing the great cat’s smaller cousin, the Bobcat, or even a golden retriever or deer or another big tawny mammal;
      2. released or escaped pet Cougars, for some people don’t care what the laws say about holding wild animals captive;
      3. widely dispersing Cougars, usually young males, leaving areas westward where they are being shot and trapped and following forested connections eastward, but not finding mates, and eventually being shot or hit by cars in their search for new territories.

      The Cougar Rewilding Foundation has concluded that we do not now have, but would greatly benefit from, a functioning population of Cougars in our forests.

      Resident Cougars Absent But Welcome

      Trophic Cascades: Predators, Prey, and the Changing Dynamics of Nature (by John Terborgh and Dr. James A Estes)
      Trophic Cascades: Predators, Prey, and the Changing Dynamics of Nature (by John Terborgh and Dr. James A Estes)

      Our woods and our lives will be safer if we allow Cougars and other missing predators to return. While the likelihood of being eaten by a big wild toothy animal is vanishingly remote (vending machines and rotten fruit, for a couple more examples, kill more people than do native carnivores), the likelihood of being sickened by Lyme disease or another emerging public health threat associated with fragmented ecosystems is significant. Cougars and other predators hold in check numbers of the smaller animals that carry such pathogens as the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.

      Intact, connected forests, extensive enough to house full suites of native predators, are healthier not just for wildlife but also for people in nearby towns. For evidence, take a long walk in the woods, starting in a badly logged woodlot then making your way to a big piece of Forest Preserve, resting occasionally along the way to read from Richard Ostfelt’s book Lyme Disease: The Ecology of a Complex System or Cristina Eisenberg’s The Wolf’s Tooth: Keystone Predators, Trophic Cascades, and Biodiversity or Jim Estes and John Terborgh’s Trophic Cascades: Predators, Prey, and the Changing Dynamics of Nature. Or follow Keeping Track founder Sue Morse on the paths of our area’s four-legged wanderers.

      From my ramblings and readings, then, I fear we do not now have breeding populations of Cougars in the East north of the remnant population in South Florida. We have many reasons to help them return home safely. Not least of these is the sheer thrill of glimpsing a big wild cat disappearing into a big wild forest.

      Previous: Misplaced Fear of Cougars (and Other Predators)

      Note: The content in this blog post was repurposed and a revised version is included in John Davis’s book Split Rock Wildway: Scouting the Adirondack Park’s Most Diverse Wildlife Corridor published by Essex Editions on Nov. 21, 2017. Learn more about the book and where to buy it at essexeditions.com. Watch the book trailer below. 

      Related articles
      • Catfight: How mountain lions are struggling to survive (salon.com)
      • Cougar Predation Key To Ecosystem Health (4thenaturesake.wordpress.com)
      • Misplaced Fear of Cougars (and Other Predators) (www.essexonlakechamplain.com)
      • Apex Predators: ‘mother natures antibody cures biodiversity, and health’ (b3hollan.wordpress.com)

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      Filed Under: Nature Tagged With: Cougar, Cristina Eisenberg, Jim Estes, John Davis, John Terborgh, Larry Master, Lyme disease, Predation, Richard Ostfelt, Sue Morse, Trophic cascade

      About John Davis

      John Davis is a wildways scout, editor, and writer. He lives with his family in Split Rock Wildway, where he care-takes Hemlock Rock Wildlife Sanctuary when not roaming farther afield. He is a volunteer land steward for Eddy Foundation, which has secured and opened to the public about 3,000 acres in the eastern Adirondacks; a board member of Champlain Area Trails and other outdoor/wildlife organizations; a co-founder of Wildlands Network; and is the Executive Director of The Rewilding Institute. He is the editor of many conservation publications and author of Big, Wild, and Connected: Scouting an Eastern Wildway from Florida to Quebec—about his 7,600-mile traverse of the proposed Eastern Wildway in 2011. His 5,000-mile traverse of the Rocky Mountains from Sonora, Mexico, to British Columbia, Canada, is featured in the film Born to Rewild. His second book, Split Rock Wildway: Scouting the Adirondack Park’s Most Diverse Wildlife Corridor is a rambling look at some of the charismatic and enigmatic wildlife thriving in the wooded hills and adjacent waterways linking Lake Champlain with the High Peaks.

      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. Barbara Irish Smith says

        February 6, 2015 at 11:27 am

        Back in the 40’s and 50’s we used to see Bobcats walking home through the Crater Club……….scary!

        Reply
        • Katie Shepard says

          February 6, 2015 at 4:21 pm

          Oh, wow. I’ve heard there are bobcats around, but I’ve never seen one.

          Reply

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