The blog of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation
Jan 25th, 2012 by admin
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/24/can-the-cowman-and-the-panther-co-exist/
The New York Times
Ranchers in south Florida have long been accustomed to losing calves to coyotes, buzzards, even alligators. They may have to steel themselves for another predator: the Florida panther.
Jan 21st, 2012 by admin
U.S.NEWS on msnbc.com
Cougars extinct in East? No way, say those who claim sightings
By Jim Gold, msnbc.com
Cougar sightings persist in the East nearly a year after the big predators were declared extinct in the region, a determination that some don’t believe. Others want to make cougars’ presence a big reality.
Jan 20th, 2012 by admin
“[Rex Martensen of the Response Team] adds that 95 percent of complaints against livestock that come into the office ultimately involve domestic dogs.”
Cougar sightings become more numerous
By Mindy Ward, Missouri Farmer Today Missouri Farmer Today
CENTERVILLE — When Wayne Henson checked his trap in Mark Twain National Forest, he expected to find a restless raccoon or perhaps a boisterous bobcat. Instead, he met a cantankerous cougar.
Jan 20th, 2012 by admin
Environmental & Natural History / American Midwest
Phantoms of the Prairie
The Return of Cougars to the Midwest
John W. Laundré
“The return of the American lion to the Great Plains and Midwest is a riveting tale. With the eye of a detective, the mind of a trained scientist, and the heartfelt passion of a conservationist, cougar biologist John Laundré deftly sets its stage, giving voice to this fascinating—and absolutely necessary—predator. The successful return of this long lost species to Middle America, and hopefully beyond, will be tribute not just to the cat’s remarkable adaptability and resiliency, but to human tolerance and understanding as well.”
—Jay Tischendorf, veterinarian, founder and director of the American Ecological Research Institute
Last seen in the 1880s, cougars (also known as pumas or mountain lions) are making a return to the plains regions of the Midwest. Their comeback, heralded by wildlife enthusiasts, has brought concern and questions to many regarding the possibility of having these large predators in our midst once more. Will the people of the region make room for cougars? Can they survive the highly altered landscape of the Midwest? Is there a future for these intrepid pioneers if they head even farther east?
Using GIS technology, and historical data, among many other methods, Phantoms of the Prairie takes readers on a virtual journey, showing how the cougar might move over the landscape with minimal human contact. Drawing on his years of research on cougars, John W. Laundré offers an overview of what might be regarding the return of cougars to their ancestral prairie homeland.
“Dr. John Laundré has tackled an extremely timely and complicated subject. His assessment of cougar re-expansion into the Midwestern and eastern United States is based on latest research, as well as his own biological expertise and long field experience. Once he spells out the biological basics, however, Laundré boldly speculates regarding the future of and human responses to this amazing current phenomenon. His commentary will alternately please and rankle readers.”—Harley Shaw, author of Soul Among Lions and Stalking the Big Bird
John W. Laundré has studied cougars for more than twenty years in both the United States and Mexico. As vice president of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation, he advocates the return of cougars to their former territorial range. A Wisconsin native, he is currently an adjunct professor of biology at the State University of New York at Oswego.
For more information regarding publicity and reviews contact our publicity manager, Chris Caldwell, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu
Jan 19th, 2012 by admin
greenwichtime.com
Mountain lion fever has some in Conn. calling for answers
Frank MacEachern, Staff Writer
When a possible mountain lion sighting in Greenwich was reported in early June of last year, many in town took the news with trepidation.
Peter Alexander was excited.
Jan 17th, 2012 by admin
http://somd.com/news/headlines/2012/14884.shtml
Southern Maryland Online
Cougars in Eastern Woods Give Many Pause
Commentary by Tim Rowland
In the early 1800s, pioneer Meshach Browning might have been among the most accomplished hunters in all of Western Maryland. At least we know more of him than we do of other great hunters of the era because he wrote of his adventures in great detail.
Jan 16th, 2012 by admin
http://www.newspressnow.com/sports/30211643/detail.html
NewsPressNow.com – St. Joseph, Missouri
Mountain lion spotting continues in Missouri
Jeff Leonard
St. Joseph News-Press
We hadn’t even gotten through the first week of the new year when another mountain lion incident captured the attention of Show-Me State residents. While events dealing with the large cats were once rare, they seem to be occurring more and more frequently in modern times.
Jan 15th, 2012 by admin
THE GHOST OF NORTH AMERICA, published by Bruce Wright in 1959, is the first book devoted to the possibility that cougars survived in the East. Long out of print, it is now a rare book. Wright (1912-1975) was a wildlife biologist in New Brunswick and a student of Aldo Leopold’s. He first became aware of cougar reports in the East in 1938. When he told Leopold, the response was “We must not tell anybody.” In the late 1940s, Wright began to publish reports on assumed evidence of cougars in New Brunswick.
Most of Wright’s reports were sightings without evidence, but he did find tracks in the snow and located physical evidence of two cougars killed in the 1930s in New Brunswick and Maine. The US Fish & Wildlife Service in its recent review of the status of the “eastern cougar” accepts one of these animals, killed at Little St. John Lake on the Maine-Quebec border in 1938, as the last of its kind. (However, it is dubious that there ever was a distinct eastern cougar subspecies.)
When Wright was active, no one had described the characteristics of cougar tracks in comparison to dog & wolf tracks, and no one had provided illustrations. Assumed experts such as Stanley P. Young, co-author of THE PUMA: MYSTERIOUS AMERICAN CAT (1946; then the only authoritative book on cougars), identified some undoubted canid tracks as cougar. It wasn’t until the early 1970s that researchers such as Chris Belden in Florida and Robert Downing showed all of us how to distinguish them. We know now that many, if not most of the snow tracks that Wright photographed, were actually canid. THE GHOST is a product of its time, and Wright’s enthusiasm cannot be denied.
Go to http://www.easterncougar.org/pdfs/The-Ghost-of-North-America.pdf to download the book. Enjoy!