NWS - Eastern Cougar Extinct

another link on this

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/ecougar/newsreleasefinal.html

 

I gotta tell you guys, I'm kinda suprised . . . [edit]off topic comment removed- Burley[/edit]

 

I'm not
http://www.ktog.org/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1280646158

 

We can argue the value of these cats in the wild versus their predation on farm animals and pets till the cows come home, but nobody wants to see a species become extinct. Last month there was a picture of a mt. lion submitted by a man not 40 miles from me on the front page of a local paper. The cat was just outside his window in the yard. It seems that some of the eastern cougar's cousins are still around. Heck, my old high school's mascot was a cougar and we had the full body mount of the original mascot in our gym. Back in the 70's it wasn't uncommon for raccoon hunters to lose dogs to them on a regular basis from what I've been told.

 

Last winter there was a picture circulating where a hunter (after dark) set up his camera on a tripod with a timer, moved back to pose with his deer...*FLASH*...the camera takes the picure. He gets it developed, and sees there was a cougar behind him.

I saw the photo, but I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the story.




Note: If you want a cougar, you can have the one that's been visiting my grandmother's place. She's found pawprints across the snow on her back porch more than once this year.

 

When I lived in a rural area in Pennsylvania in my army days in the 80's, there were two mythical creatures the locals discussed: 1) rattlesnakes and 2) mountain lions.

The interesting thing was that when discussing 1) rattlesnakes, it was always a third hand account as in "my second cousin's friend's parole officer saw this rattlesnake," but when discussing 2) mountain lions it was always a first hand account as in "when I was driving home from second shift I saw a mountain lion."

Certainly not definitive, but intriguing.

I spent a whole lot of time in the woods and never saw 1) a rattlesnake or 2) a mountain lion myself.

 

I know plenty of people in the NC/TN Blue Ridge that would argue the painter ain't extinct. And I have personally encountered rattlesnakes in NC and in PA.

 

Rattlesnakes are common in NC.

So are panthers. If you've ever been around a campfire at night and hear one of them scream, you won't forget it. It'll put chills down your spine.

 

Big rattlesnakes are common in GA. So are every other kind of poisonous snake.

 

I don't buy it, I've heard many stories about mountain lions being spotted. I've never seen one myself, spend quite a bit of time in PA growing up, but just because some lab coat dorks haven't seen one? All over people who actually spend time outdoors report seeing them all the time..

Don't forget the coelacanth, extinct for 65millon years untill 1938..those lists are a joke

 

I have seen a VERY large cat in Kershaw SC as well as near the Kings Mountian/Crowders Mountian area. NO doubt in my mind at all.

 

I'm not so sure it is actually extinct. I live along the Blue Ridge Mountains and sightings, although rare, have been reported. A friend with a farm at the base of the mountains has a neighbor with some interesting evidence of the large cat. One of their horses was attacked by something large. The claw marks on the haunches indicate a cougar. A vet looked at the horse and claims the damage is not that of a black bear, the only other animal in the area large enough to make those marks. The claw marks are spread like those a very large cat would make. It probably took a strong kick from the horse and may have been mortally wounded though. These animals are very elusive, and many sightings go unreported to DGIF. Other than man, disease, and old age, these animals have no natural predation. In FL, there is controversy as to whether they are still around out in the Everglades. I wouldn't write them off yet.

On another note, Canadian timber wolves have crossbred with coyotes. They have moved down the NE states. This article claims the wild breeding happened in the US; but stories about these animals were present in Canada long before the US. One of these animals has taken human prey. To my recollection, a female jogger was attacked in Canada by one. I'm not sure if she survived or not. I read the article many months back.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3297665...nce-science/t/coyote-wolf-new-breed-predator/

 

All you need to do to see a big eastern diamond back rattler is come to eastern NC.

 

My dad and I killed 2 rattlesnakes on my dad's farm in Columbia County Pa back in the early 60s. I kept the rattles from one for a few years. They were there at one time. We also took out several copperheads

I can't say for sure what it was that "screamed" in the woods near the home I had in northern Maine back in the 90's but I was told it was it would have been a rare eastern Cougar. We would hear occasional reports of similar occurrences through out the area. They had another local name for the cat but I can't remember what it was now.

 

Catamount ?

 

Yea I don't understand the rattlesnakes not in Penn thing. They are common all over the entire east coast how did they manage to skip Penn>?

 

While fishing a tournament last year, in Va, on lake philpot we spotted a big cat leaving its sun bathing spot on a bluff over looking the lake. So they may be rare but I know there's atleast one in southern va

 

Bobcats scream as well.

 

Maybe a cougar but not an eastern subspecies