Post by Woody Williams on Oct 23, 2005 13:52:58 GMT -5
Cougars are showing up in Midwest
By JIM SUHR Associated Press writer
October 23, 2005
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Out deer hunting with some pals last December, Kenny Tharp couldn't believe what he found dead, curled beneath a pine tree. It was a 98-pound cougar - a rarity in Illinois.
Tharp's find near New Boston was the state's second confirmed cougar sighting in more than a century.
Both of the Illinois cases came in the past five years and reports of cougar spottings recently have increased elsewhere in the Midwest. Now, a nationwide effort is scratching for hard evidence to see if there are more big cats in middle America, where they thrived many generations ago.
The Concord, Mass.-based Cougar Network is sleuthing for proof - carcasses, cougar DNA from scat and hair samples, and verifiable photographs - to measure the number of cougars east of the Rocky Mountains. Some scientists believe the cougars are migrating from the West or South Dakota's Black Hills mountain range.
Wildlife officials say it's unclear how many may be in the Midwest, where they are not federally protected and, in some states, are subject to being hunted. Midwest sightings of the big, long-tailed cats, also called mountain lions, are legion and notoriously unreliable.
"We constantly get pictures of things people think are mountain lions, and they turn out to be domestic cats and retrievers," said Mark Dowling, who helped found the Cougar Network. Others confuse bobcats - far more common in the Midwest - as being mountain lions.
"There are so many unknowns, important questions about what's going on" in terms of how many cougars are in the Midwest and to what extent Illinois and Missouri can provide a habit for the animals, said Clay Nielsen, a Southern Illinois University wildlife ecologist who heads the Cougar Network's scientific research.
The generally reclusive animals were hunted to near extinction in most of the Midwest by the early 1900s. Populations of mountain lions survived over the years in remote, mountainous areas out West, but there's nothing verifiable to suggest they lived in the Midwest besides in South Dakota's Black Hills, said Dave Hamilton, a Missouri Department of Conservation research biologist.
Cougar Network officials believe that may be changing.
In Illinois, Nielsen said, only two documented cases of wild cougars have turned up over the past 140 years - the cat Tharp found, and a cougar killed by a train in 2000 near Chester, about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis.
In Missouri, a young male cougar with no signs of having been in captivity was killed by a vehicle in August 2003 near Fulton. That marked at least the eighth confirmed case of such an animal in the Show-Me State since 1994.
Missouri is taking the cougar issue seriously. Since 1996 the state has deployed a specially trained, evidence-collecting "Mountain Lion Response Team" whenever there's a credible sighting of cougars, Hamilton said. The 10-person group includes wildlife experts, law enforcement and biologists.
APPEARANCE: A mountain lion has a tan-colored coat. The most recognizable feature of the cougar is its long and heavy tail, measuring almost two-thirds the length of the head and body. Its cousin, the bobcat, is smaller and recognizable by its spotted coat, pointed ears and short tail.
SIZE: Male lions typically weigh 110 to 180 pounds, females generally 80 to 130 pounds.
HABITS: Generally reclusive and shy, cougars tend to be active at dawn, dusk and at night, when they roam their home area in search of prey, generally deer but known to include livestock and pets.
SKILL: Mountain lions have extraordinary vision, are remarkably fast and able to jump up to 15 feet vertically and 40 feet horizontally.
THREAT TO HUMANS: Attacks on humans are rare but have occurred in some western states. In January 2003, a lion killed a cyclist in an Orange County, Calif.
Sources: Mountain Lion Foundation, Missouri Department of Conservation
www.courierpress.com/ecp/local_news/article/0,1626,ECP_745_4180148,00.html
By JIM SUHR Associated Press writer
October 23, 2005
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Out deer hunting with some pals last December, Kenny Tharp couldn't believe what he found dead, curled beneath a pine tree. It was a 98-pound cougar - a rarity in Illinois.
Tharp's find near New Boston was the state's second confirmed cougar sighting in more than a century.
Both of the Illinois cases came in the past five years and reports of cougar spottings recently have increased elsewhere in the Midwest. Now, a nationwide effort is scratching for hard evidence to see if there are more big cats in middle America, where they thrived many generations ago.
The Concord, Mass.-based Cougar Network is sleuthing for proof - carcasses, cougar DNA from scat and hair samples, and verifiable photographs - to measure the number of cougars east of the Rocky Mountains. Some scientists believe the cougars are migrating from the West or South Dakota's Black Hills mountain range.
Wildlife officials say it's unclear how many may be in the Midwest, where they are not federally protected and, in some states, are subject to being hunted. Midwest sightings of the big, long-tailed cats, also called mountain lions, are legion and notoriously unreliable.
"We constantly get pictures of things people think are mountain lions, and they turn out to be domestic cats and retrievers," said Mark Dowling, who helped found the Cougar Network. Others confuse bobcats - far more common in the Midwest - as being mountain lions.
"There are so many unknowns, important questions about what's going on" in terms of how many cougars are in the Midwest and to what extent Illinois and Missouri can provide a habit for the animals, said Clay Nielsen, a Southern Illinois University wildlife ecologist who heads the Cougar Network's scientific research.
The generally reclusive animals were hunted to near extinction in most of the Midwest by the early 1900s. Populations of mountain lions survived over the years in remote, mountainous areas out West, but there's nothing verifiable to suggest they lived in the Midwest besides in South Dakota's Black Hills, said Dave Hamilton, a Missouri Department of Conservation research biologist.
Cougar Network officials believe that may be changing.
In Illinois, Nielsen said, only two documented cases of wild cougars have turned up over the past 140 years - the cat Tharp found, and a cougar killed by a train in 2000 near Chester, about 60 miles southeast of St. Louis.
In Missouri, a young male cougar with no signs of having been in captivity was killed by a vehicle in August 2003 near Fulton. That marked at least the eighth confirmed case of such an animal in the Show-Me State since 1994.
Missouri is taking the cougar issue seriously. Since 1996 the state has deployed a specially trained, evidence-collecting "Mountain Lion Response Team" whenever there's a credible sighting of cougars, Hamilton said. The 10-person group includes wildlife experts, law enforcement and biologists.
APPEARANCE: A mountain lion has a tan-colored coat. The most recognizable feature of the cougar is its long and heavy tail, measuring almost two-thirds the length of the head and body. Its cousin, the bobcat, is smaller and recognizable by its spotted coat, pointed ears and short tail.
SIZE: Male lions typically weigh 110 to 180 pounds, females generally 80 to 130 pounds.
HABITS: Generally reclusive and shy, cougars tend to be active at dawn, dusk and at night, when they roam their home area in search of prey, generally deer but known to include livestock and pets.
SKILL: Mountain lions have extraordinary vision, are remarkably fast and able to jump up to 15 feet vertically and 40 feet horizontally.
THREAT TO HUMANS: Attacks on humans are rare but have occurred in some western states. In January 2003, a lion killed a cyclist in an Orange County, Calif.
Sources: Mountain Lion Foundation, Missouri Department of Conservation
www.courierpress.com/ecp/local_news/article/0,1626,ECP_745_4180148,00.html
