Three of the over 20 subspecies of the cougar are endangered: the Florida panther (Puma concolor coryi), the Costa Rican Puma (Puma concolor costaricensis), and the Eastern Puma (Puma concolor couguar). When most people come across one in the wild, it's usually by accident. But the USFWS says that animal is extinct. A different subspecies, the Florida panther, is endangered due to habitat loss and fragmentation. Fish and Wildlife Service. The subspecies has now been removed from the Endangered Species Act, 80 years after its last sighting Due to the lack of evidence in the past, biologists are now wondering if there … Eastern cougar is declared extinct nearly 80 years after last one was trapped and killed in Maine. The agency conducted an … I’ve received a lot of worried messages and comments on social media about the recent U.S. The evidence eastern pumas were pretty much the same animal as cougars alive today in the West provides a biological basis for reintroducing cougars from the West. Cade Libby Provincial Furbearer Biologist DNRE Novembre 2000 . Fish and Wildlife Service has announced the animal no longer warrants Endangered … In the old days, phylogeny was proposed based upon morphology (the shape, color, and external characteristics of an animal and its skeleton). Conservationists Urge States Like New York to Consider Reintroductions . The eastern cougars were unofficially deemed extinct by a U.S. Beginning in the 1800s, European settlers began rounding up and killing off cougars in the northeast. The species, also known as pumas, are the genetic cousins of mountain lions in the Western United States and of Florida panthers, which are now found only in the Everglades. In Alberta, caribou populations were once abundant. The eastern cougar at one time lived over the entire United States and Canada. Text and images © Mark Elbroch unless otherwise noted, Natural History, Animal Tracking, And Mountain Lions. It’s hard to imagine a state deciding to reintroduce a big scary cat that has been known to attack humans. ", Photograph by Charlie Hamilton James, Nat Geo Image Collection, Eastern Cougars Declared Extinct—But That Might Not be Bad, Watch: Cougar Comes Face to Face With Hikers, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/news/2018/01/north-american-eastern-cougar-mountain-lion-extinct-spd.html, first began investigating the population in 2011, Western cougar populations are heading east. A cougar trapped in Somerset County, Maine in 1938 may have been the last one to roam the northeast. Tags: Eastern cougar, endangered species act, extinction, federal ruling, mountain lion, puma. Fish and Wildlife Service says the eastern cougar used to be found in Michigan, parts of Canada and Maine and farther south. Since the 1930’s however, eastern cougar numbers had been rapidly dwindling, so their extinction came as no real surprise. or decades, the presence of eastern cougar (Felis concolor couguar) in New Brunswick has been debated among biologists and the public. Fish and Wildlife declaration that the “eastern cougar” (or mountain lion, Puma concolor couguar) is extinct, and was therefore being removed from federal endangered species protections. info@markelbroch.com, Two Washington Talks on Mountain Lion Social Behaviors in February, A Perfect Storm: How Multi-Jurisdictional Management Affects Mountain Lions, Eastern Cougar “Extinction” — Some Key Points, International Union for Conservation of Nature, Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in 1995 and 1996, Mammal Tracks, 2nd ed. It was declared extinct in 2011. If you live in an eastern state that is deliberating reintroduction, or if you would like then to consider it as an option, get involved, reach out and contribute your thoughts. And since it doesn’t exist, the eastern cougar was removed from the federal list of endangered and threatened species. The U.S. In other words, the eastern cougar was never a separate subspecies, and mountain lions that historically inhabited the northeast of North America were the same subspecies as the mountain lions in Idaho—which are still very much alive. The 80-100 wild Florida panthers remain protected wherever they are found, even if they disperse out of Florida into neighboring states. There are also cougars out west and there’s the Florida panther. The eastern cougar was placed on the provincial endangered species list, but its status is unknown. The eastern puma (=cougar) was originally listed as an endangered species on June 4, 1973 (38 FR 14678). The new document concludes that the eastern cougar should be removed from the endangered species list. He's referencing the fact that cougars often travel alone, often at night, and they're hard to track. However, in recent years, populations have begun to expand into where humans are living, mostly in the western United States. "There was never any real justification for giving it that status in the first place," says Mark Elbroch, the lead scientist for the puma program at the big cats conservation group Panthera. Highway crossings and underpasses are also required to save Cougar living in heavily populated areas such as California and Florida. This was done with the authority of 1973’s Endangered Species Act. Unofficially,in 2011, this long-tailed puma subspecies was considered to be extinct by an evaluationconducted by the U.S. WASHINGTON— The U.S. Surprisingly, some scientists say, this removal could be a good thing. But the big cats weren't always so scarce. As a whole, cougars across the U.S. are managed on a state-by-state basis. The last records of eastern cougars are believed to be in Maine (1938) … New England has numerous people skilled in interpreting animal tracks and sign, and mountain lions leave considerable sign where they move and kill prey. To see one in the northeastern U.S. is even more rare, almost certainly a fluke. It will now be up to each state to decide whether that is a course they would like to pursue, however, the debates between pro-predator and anti-predator constituents are unlikely to be any easier. Fish and Wildlife Service today declared the eastern puma extinct and removed it from the list of protected wildlife and plants under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Great article, and I have a couple questions: 1. Eastern cougars — also known as “ghost cats,” catamounts, panthers and, of course, mountain lions — disappeared after decades of overhunting on multiple fronts. In the past 100 years, they haven't been regularly spotted since, and Fish and Wildlife officials say there's no evidence of a sustained, breeding population in the area. The wild cat was remarkably light on the feet and would bring down large prey q However, on January 22, the Eastern cougar subspecies was officially declared extinct in the U.S. and removed from the endangered species list by the U.S. Thanks for keen questions. It is uncertain whether there are any Eastern Cougars left in Canada. Other subspecies of cougar … Consider the amazing adventure of the dispersing male mountain lion that was killed on a Connecticut highway in 2011—and subsequently became national news and was written up in the book Heart of a Lion. The eastern cougar is no longer endangered. And last, some funny wording in the ESA regarding DPS status–is that it “must be used sparingly.” Given the current trend of the current administration with regards to wildlife issues, this might be a tough sell for awhile. These are migrants from the west, not local mountain lions that survived undetected for the last 70 years. This classification is a key point for those who support future efforts to re-establish extinct populations of cougars in the Eastern United States. Endangered to extinct. And the agency wants to take it off the endangered species list. These are the North American subspecies of mountain lions returning to where they were extirpated some 70 years ago when wide-scale predator control was commonplace. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) currently recognizes six subspecies of mountain lions, of which only one—Puma concolor cougar—inhabits North America. Some hunters and outdoors enthusiasts have long insisted there's a small breeding population of eastern cougars , saying the secretive cats have simply eluded detection – hence the "ghost cat" moniker. Here's how the USFWS explains it: The Service completed the formal review of the eastern cougar in 2011. Overall the Endangered Species Act has been 99 percent successful at saving species from extinction. Eastern cougars, Western mountain lions, the North American cougar, and the Florida panther, for example, were uniquely labelled. Why are cougars endangered? A cougar living in the desert, for example, might look slightly different than one more adapted to a forest in Canada. Only the eastern cougar, which includes the Florida panther, is endangered or extirpated through much of its former range. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) has completed a review of all available information about the eastern cougar, which has been on the endangered species list since 1973. In most places, cougars can legally be hunted with a permit. The cougar has several subspecies, one of which was the eastern cougar. Western cougars appear secure; the relatively vast amount of wilderness available to them will assure their continued survival. Cougar are increasingly found in habitat patches that have been fragmented by human activities such as highways, ranches and farms. I really admire your work and wish you continued success. The Eastern Cougar eats only fresh meat. Industry and Caribou. Deer carry ticks, and the growing threat of lyme disease has been a possible concern. Documenting this lone male was akin to looking for a needle in a haystack when you consider the massive geographic range he traversed, in which he unlikely ever encountered another mountain lion east of the Mississippi (if not east of Kansas). 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