Showing posts with label Cougar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cougar. Show all posts

Monday, 10 October 2022

Cougars in Australia? I think not.

In the news today there is the story of a "giant cat spotted in Western Australia". It was seen near the town of Lancelin, Western Australia. A security camera captured the animal in the distance. The camera appears to be on the property of Wayne and Helen Gardiner. They say that the cat was about 50-60 m away.

Is this a CCTV image of a mountain lion (puma) in Australia?
Is this a CCTV image of a mountain lion (puma) in Australia? No, is my response. Image: Mr and Mrs Gardiner and ABC News.

As usual, the image quality is very poor. In every single photograph of an unusual wild cat sighting the image quality is very poor which makes it impossible to be certain about what we are looking at (but we can almost always guess accurately). This is highly convenient!

It is said that people have occasionally reported sightings of mountain lions in Australia because some believe that the cat was brought over by the US during World War II as a mascot! Sounds plausible? I don't think so.

If and when they are seen it is normally in Western Australia. There has been at least one "compelling report" made annually.

As expected, nobody in Australia has ever captured a mountain lion on a camera in decent quality.

This is a news media story. If you look at the cat carefully and view it in relation to the shrubbery behind it and in front of it, we can see right away that it is not a mountain lion. 

The plants in front of the cat are probably about 15-20 inches high. That is a good way to scale the size of this cat which appears to be around 17 inches tall to the shoulder which would represent the size of a very large feral cat.

We know that there are very large feral cats in Australia. Sometimes they can be unusually large because they are feeding on an abundance of prey animals. Therefore, over a long period of time, the feral cats of Australia have evolved to be much larger than your normal feral cat in other parts of the world. It is said that they are twice the normal size.

The mountain lion is one of the world's biggest cats. They are clearly much smaller than the Bengal tiger for instance but still substantially larger than the cat we see in the image.

And if they genuinely were mountain lions in Western Australia you would think that somebody would have captured the animal on camera at least once since World War II! It is difficult to miss such a large cat and certainly one which is so definitively out of place in Australia.

There are no wild cat species living on the Australian continent. There never has been because the continent drifted away from the mainland before wild cat species on the mainland had a chance to travel to the area of the world that became Australia. In short, there was a water barrier and there still is between what I call the 'mainland' and the Australian continent which is an island.

Saturday, 11 December 2021

Standoff between cougars and coyotes. Pictures.

Standoff between pumas and coyotes. Photos by USFWS Mountain Prairie
Standoff between pumas and coyotes. Photos by USFWS Mountain Prairie.

These are three of a series of photographs of two young mountain lions seeking refuge on a large wooden fence from five coyotes. You can gauge the balance of power between these species of animal from the photographs. Five coyotes trump two juvenile pumas. I guess 5 coyotes might not trump 2 adult pumas. It is all about power and authority, one over the other. Sounds like human stuff and it is.

The obvious has happened. The young cougars have used their jumping and climbing skills to distance themselves from coyotes and to seek a sanctuary.

I don't know how it was resolved. I suspect the coyotes disappeared eventually and the cougars came down.

These photographs were, in fact, published some time ago. However, I noticed this short post was languishing as a draft on the main website for some time so I think it is worthy enough to publish on this subdomain site.

Puma kills are often scavenged by other animals including: bears, pigs, wolves, bobcats, foxes and coyotes. This is despite the fact that the mountain lion can sometimes rest near their cached prey. Therefore, a scavenger risks being attacked by the mountain lion. Clearly a mountain lion can kill a coyote but in the numbers that you see in the photograph and when the mountain lion is a subadult, it is a different kettle of fish.

Wednesday, 28 July 2021

You can't keep a cougar or a tiger as a pet in Marysville, Michigan, USA

I think it's great that a city (I think we can call it a city) with about 9,600 residents can make a law (an ordinance in the USA) which bans cougars and tigers as pets. They've also banned chickens and coyotes as pets but it is the cougars and tigers which interest me more. 

Marysville
Marysville. Photo in public domain.

It's hard to imagine a cougar or a tiger being a good pet but some Americans do like to live with very exotic pets. They are not that uncommon. Perhaps the best-known celebrity to have a big cat pet is Tippi Hedren, the mother of Melanie Griffith (Hedren is still alive at the date of this post - she is 91). They kept a lion called Neil in the home. He looks truly domesticated in the photographs. But I believe that wild cats never make the same sort of pet as a domestic cat.

Back to Marysville. This town is about 65 miles north-east of Detroit. The new ordinance comes into effect in mid-August. It comes after some residents complained about neighbours owning chickens and roosters who crowed. I guess they went a bit further than banning roosters and chickens. The current ordinance bans "animals or domestic fowl within the city except dogs, cats, birds, fowl, or animals commonly classified as pets".

So, they've tightened up what is and what isn't allowed to be kept as a pet. And they have decided that chickens should be regarded as livestock and they do not belong in the city but on farms in the countryside.

Comment: I'm not sure about banning chickens as pets because I've seen some very nice relationships between kids and chickens. However, I'm certain that banning tigers and mountain lions as pets is an excellent idea. Although I would doubt that there were many tigers in their community! In fact, there must be none but it's nice to take proactive steps to prevent any possibility of that happening in the future.

Friday, 4 April 2014

Lack of Proper Oversight Of Cougar Hunting In America

Big cat rescue make a point that had occurred to me for long time which is that the state governmental agencies who regulate the hunting of the cougar are funded through the license fees that permit people to hunt. This must be an incorrect and ill-thought out process.

If the regulatory agencies are funded by license fees then they will naturally wish to hand out as many licenses as they possibly can which will lead to a tendency to issue too many licenses for the sake of increased income. If too many licences are issued then too many cougars are shot and in addition the regulatory agency is no longer doing its job in protecting wildlife and ensuring that there is a balance between people and cat.

Because too many cougars are shot, the agency then have to sell the idea to the public that there are plenty of cougars about. Do they concoct sightings and are the sightings of escaped pet cougars?

The fees earned through licences should go to the state treasury and the regulatory agencies should receive a fixed budget from the state government. There should be no motivation or bias created through income. Their role is not to be a business but to be a totally unbiased regulator whose underlying goal is to protect wildlife and maintain a balance between wildlife and people. Even that goal is impossible because the population of people is consistently growing and therefore the balance between people and wildlife is consistently changing in the direction of less wildlife and more people. So where is the balance between the two?

I can remember the shell oil spill. Do you remember that? It was a massive ecological disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The way I see it is that the regulatory authorities dishing out licenses to oil companies were getting backhanders to allow unsafe practices which in this instance led to this massive ecological disaster.

I have no evidence to support my allegation but that's the way it seems to me and it is very similar to what is going on with respect to the wildlife and fishery agencies. They simply are not doing their job.

I also reminded of the Florida panther. The population of the Florida panther is fixed and about 100 and they live in a fixed island (meaning enclosed and a fixed size) habitat. Commercial development continues to take place in Florida placing ever more pressure on the habitat of the Florida panther. There are more buildings, more roads and more people in the same space. What is the wildlife agency doing in Florida to protect their precious cougar? Is someone getting backhanders? And I'm cynical but that is the way it seems to me.

Wednesday, 25 January 2012

Declawed Cougar

This is a heartbreaking video of a declawed cougar. His name is Kona. He is crippled by the declawing. I can't watch it except for the first seconds. What can you say? To think a person did this to this beautiful animal. Cougars are one of the world's greatest jumpers. Kona can barely walk!



It is a simple case of what I call "the human condition": ignorance compounded by arrogance. It is this that results in what you see in this tragic video.

And, you know, there are an estimated 2,000 or more captive cougars in Florida and most are declawed. Because people like to keep a cougar as a "pet". Cougars are not meant to be pets. I guess they see a nice cougar cub that has been stolen from their mother in the wild and the new owner's first thought is "let's declaw". Horrendous isn't it?. Then the cub becomes an adult and their second thought is, "let's get rid of it".

These people don't think.

Wednesday, 9 November 2011

Can a cougar kill a human?

Yes, a cougar can kill a human. But it is exceedingly rare for a cougar to attack a human and most often when it does happen the cougar attacks a child that is unsupervised. The cougar or mountain lion is not a small cat but neither is the cougar that big. The weight of the cougar varies between 55 and 176 pounds taking into account females and males. It is the 4th largest wildcat after the jaguar, lion and tiger.

It is a relatively shy and retiring wildcat. I write about the cougar attack on this page. The page includes ways to avoid an attack. There have been very few mountain lion attacks especially considering the fact that cougar and human occupy the same territory. In California there have been 14 attacks in 117 years and most led to injuries not death. On occasion cougars suffer from rabies that causes the attack. In which case it is not a malicious, unprovoked attack.

I am sure that there are many people (sport hunters?) who think differently. Too many cougars are shot needlessly through our unjustified fear.

Monday, 31 October 2011

Is the cougar endangered?

Puma in forest. Camera trap photo.
The formal answer is provided by the IUCN Red List™. They should know as they are a bunch of experts who have taken it upon themselves to report to the world their assessment as to the the survivability of all the world's species, flora and fauna.

As at 2011, they say that the cougar (Puma or mountain lion) is of "Least Concern". This means that the cougar is not endangered according to them.

These are the categories:
IUCN catergories


IUCN Red List for Cats -- The symbols mean the following:

Symbol Meaning
EX Extinct
EW Extinct in the Wild
CR Critically Endangered
EN Endangered
VU Vulnerable
NT Near Threatened
LC Least Concern

You can see that "LC" is the best assessment meaning not endangered. Is this correct? They say that there are about 15,000 cougars in North America. I don't think it is correct. If you take a long term view you will come up with a different answer. It depends on how far into the future you are basing your assessment. In 300 years time there will be no cougars in the wild, probably. On that basis and on current trends the risk is high.

It seems to me that assessments follow the event. That is OK but they should also make long term predictions as a proactive measure. Reporting after the event does nothing for conservation and the purpose of the Red List™ is to aid in conservation, isn't it?

Associated page: IUCN Red List for Cats

Saturday, 22 October 2011

Cougar Picture

I like camera trap wildcat pictures because the cat is where it should be, in the wild. The quality of the image is invariably less good when taken with a camera trap camera but this is counteracted by the reality of the image.

Here is a cougar picture taken in the Saguaro National Park. The photographer was SaguaroNPS (a Flickr username).

Cougar Picture
The camera was a G6.1 CUDDEBACK.

The map shows you where the Saguaro NP is:


View Larger Map

Wednesday, 19 October 2011

What does the cougar eat?

What does the cougar eat? It eats a wide range of prey from mice to moose! The prey size varies depending on where they are. Cougars have a very wide distribution covering North, Central and South America.

In temperate areas the cougar usually preys on animals that are as large or larger than itself. In tropical areas the cougar preys on animals that are half its size. The smaller prey in the tropics is due to the presence of the larger jaguar. The tropics in this instance refers to Central America and South America where the jaguar is found.

Cougar attacking goats in Montana, USA.

In North America deer makes up 60% - 80% of prey items. The average weight of this prey is 39 to 48 kilograms.

In Florida the cougar feeds on feral pigs, raccoons and armadillos. The average (mean) weight of this prey is 17 kilograms. In Nevada and Mexico the cougar has killed horses. They sometimes kill sheep without the need to feed on the carcass.

In the Everglades National Park deer make up 78% of prey. In Central and South America the cougar feeds on a variety of small and medium sized mammals such as brocket deer, agoutis, viscachas (a rabbit like rodent), paca and pudu. They also kill deer (marsh and pampas deer).

Tuesday, 18 October 2011

Are cougars and panthers the same?

The word "panthers" is usually used in the phrase "black panthers", meaning large black wild cats. The word "panther" is a generic word and not a scientific term meaning large wild cat. Whereas "cougar" is one of the many words describing the puma, which is the technically more correct word for the mountain lion. There are other names for this large wild cat.

Cougars can be black panthers. Black cougars will be melanistic cougars which are cougars that have turned black or very dark charcoal grey due to the presence of a recessive gene.

The word panther is also used to describe the jaguar or leopard especially black coated jaguars and leopards when as mentioned they are referred to as black panthers.

The generic word "panther" is never used to describe the lion or tiger.

Saturday, 30 July 2011

Connecticut Cougar



cougarAlthough the mountain lion (cougar, puma - this cat has many names) was distributed over all of North America at one time, it is now confined to the west, extending to Texas, Colorado and Nebraska. The area is gradually diminishing as human population, and therefore activity, in the USA grows year on year. The cougar generally steers clear of humans and was eradicated from Connecticut in the late 1800s.

But there was one male cougar who trekked towards humans although he didn't realize it. And it cost him his life.

Cougars like all wildcats leave the natal area and seek their own home territory when adult. Females often stay close to their mother's territory while males can travel long distances to find somewhere suitable. This male cougar traveled 1,500 miles to find his home range. The usual distance might be about 100 miles.

His journey is said to have started in the Black Hills of South Dakota . This is on the far east of the current known area of distribution of the mountain lion in the United States.


Blank map by http://www.nationsonline.org - Nations Online Project.

From South Dakota, this 10 stone male mountain lion traveled via Canada to almost the east coast of the United States where it was hit by a 4x4 vehicle while crossing the road. Many mountain lions are run over by traffic, particularly the Florida cougar. Many are also shot. Various sightings of this individual cat confirm that the journey took at least 18 months.


An interesting aspect of this story is that the people at Sessions Woods Wildlife Management Area in Burlington who carried out a postmortem on the cat said that it had to have been a wild cat and not domesticated or captive because it had not been declawed! Proof that it is commonplace to declaw cougars when they are domesticated. It is not uncommon to domesticate large wildcats in the USA. That in itself is questionable but to declaw the cat is horrible, self-indulgent and cruel.

The question people now ask is, "are the experts right?". Is this a rare case of a lone wildcat striking out to find its home range and going too far or is there a colony of mountain lions in the eastern states of the USA?

Michael signature

Monday, 6 July 2009

Chihuahuas vs Cougar Story is Pathetic

This is a story of small dogs frightening off a cougar in Los Angeles. The video is below.

The shame of the Chihuahuas vs Cougar story, though. People are pathetic! This story has thrown up a ton of idiotic comment. First, however, I do not see anyone other than one website mention the fact that this cougar was shot after this event, which has caused laughter and hilarity! First, they shot three tranquillisers into the cat then they shot it.

“Authorities confirm officers with the Department of Fish and Game were forced to shoot and kill the animal. They had hoped to return it to the wild.” (src: http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-garage-cougar,0,224308.story) new page – link provided in thanks for verbatim quote.

Shot, after this poor cat was frightened off by three tiny dogs! What the hell are Americans doing? Why are people we so frightened of this cat! Americans are far too trigger happy. Is it because they thought the cat was rabid (had caught rabies)? There is no evidence of that as far as I can tell.

The event took place in Los Angeles, California, I believe. It is the only state where cougar hunting is banned. And to compound the sorry state of this story there is a horrible hunting website (fieldandstream.com) that makes gross misrepresentations about the cougar. They would do this because they are into killing this animal. They like killing beautiful animals, I guess.

First they refer to “California's cougar troubles”. What the heck are those? It is you who are the trouble and people like you. They then make a gross misrepresentation and say that the “California's mountain lion population immediately began dining on said voters.” (meaning that the people who voted for a ban on hunting the cougar are now being attacked and killed by the cougar after the ban).

There have been 14 attacks (few resulting in death) on people (mainly unsupervised children) in 117 years in California! - see Mountain Lion Attacks in California for full details). The car kills many thousands of times more (people are 2,000 times more likely to be killed by a car). The domestic dog kills many many more (10 times more likely). The deer kills many more. And yet this idiotic web site author says this. Total bias and totally wrong morally and ethically. I suppose, though, it is to be expected of the hunting and shooting lobby. If you like to shoot innocent animals for pleasure you have got to be the type who behaves like this.

And you might know, a lot of people in America (not all, please note) are far more interested in the older women called a “cougar” than the cat called a cougar. On researching this I would say that out of 100 people searching for information about the cougar on the internet, 85 are searching for the cougar women, 17 are searching for the cougar car and the remainder are searching for the cougar cat (src: keyword search using SBI).

This pretty much explains all of the cougar “problems” from the cougar’s standpoint. A lot of people in America (not all, of course but it seems the majority) generally just don’t care and are more interested in sex, consumerism and food. They are chasing pleasure and getting into debt and missing the real things.


Saturday, 4 July 2009

Conspiracy to Eradicate the Florida Panther

florida panther This is fanciful, maybe. Extreme and ridiculous possibly, but could there be a conspiracy to eradicate the Florida panther to make way for that holy grail of business profit, property development?

The Florida panther AKA Florida cougar or just plain old mountain lion (as it is not a sub species) stands firmly in the path of economic progress and has done so throughout its entire existence. And there is circumstantial evidence that supports the supposition that there is a conspiracy to eradicate the Florida panther.

Take the recent killing of a young breeding female, for instance. The story was released in about 11th June 2009 but the shooting took place in April 2009. The female was about to breed precious new cougars. There are less than one hundred so each one counts and this one loss represents 2% of all Florida panther females. The police seem to be taking it seriously but have made little progress. The shooting happened in Hendry County, very close to the Big Cypress National Preserve –see below:

Map picture


The Florida panther is Florida’s official state animal and shooting it has been illegal since 1958. Despite that people still shoot it (8 have been shot, 6 fatally). But there have been only two prosecutions and of those two the most severe sentence was probation!
As development pressure grows the pressure to get rid of the cougar grows too. There is circumstantial evidence that points to the fact that this latest killing may be a “contract killing”. Circumstantial evidence of the hidden war against the cougar is:
  1. the massively flawed reports on conservation that were produced over a long period of time and which skewed decisions by the authorities to allow development on cougar habitat
  2. the appointment, recently, of Sam Hamilton as the head of the South-eastern Region of the FWS. He has a relatively poor track record of enforcing the Endangered Species Act 1973 and seems to make decisions that favour commercial development
  3. a large percentage of scientists at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) claimed to be pressured into modifying reports to favour business development.
  4. the continued development of protected habitat in Florida (see more on the above here: Florida Panther)
  5. in respect of this last shooting the cat did not wear a radio collar so tracking the last steps is impossible (comment: with under 1oo to care for I would have thought each one would wear a collar or was it wearing one and was it was removed?)
  6. wildlife officials (managed ultimately by Sam Hamilton, the head) won’t release any details – I thought they are a public body serving the public under which transparency would or should be obligatory.
chart showing Florida panthers killed in 2009

If it is not the bullet it is the car – see chart above (src: Tampabay.com). Probably the biggest threat is traffic, which has expanded significantly with rampant road building. Lets not forget that Florida is one of the most desirable places to live on the planet. And we know people cannot live in harmony with the mountain lion. Something has to give and it won't be us. I allege that there could be a conspiracy to eradicate the Florida panther that is behind this latest shooting.



From Conspiracy to Eradicate the Florida Panther to Florida Panther

More on the Puma:


Photo of Florida panther at Flamingo Gardens in Fort Lauderdale, Florida : published under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs creative commons License -- this site is for charitable purposes in funding cat rescue and conservation.

Thursday, 19 March 2009

Big Cat Rescue

I am a great admirer of Big Cat Rescue. And of the founder Carole Baskin. I have never met her. I only know of her from what she says on her website. And it seems to me she is a person of energy, courage, intelligence and great tenderness, a real women to be admired! You have got to have these qualities to achieve what she has and I am sure her late husband played his part in starting and her current husband devotes all his time on the project. No doubt he has played a massive role in making Big Cat Rescue what it is. But am I being naive?

Big Cat Rescue Cougar
Big Cat Rescue - Cougar a USA big cat - see Wild Cougar. Photo by CrackleCaracal

She seems to have simply started by accident, almost. She and her late husband went to a business selling Bobcats and found a fur farm. That moment changed the direction of her life. She and her husband bought the entire Bobcat kitten population (56, yes, 56 cats) of that Minnesota Fur Farm and took them home! That was the start. She wouldn't do it again she says knowing what she does now. But she and her husband keep going and keep rescuing. She receives heartbreaking correspondence from people with requests for help. Heavens she must go through a lot of agonies what with the management, the funding and the heartbreak of trying to stem the flood of cats that need rescuing. {Comment: I personally would not approve of her going to buy a Bobcat as a companion animal for her then husband. It would seem that the original motivation to go to that Minnesota fur farm was the wrong one. On that basis was the motive to rescue all 56 kittens as pure as she says? I think it was by the way}

As she so correctly says, the bigger picture is stopping the production line of cats that need rescuing. Carole mops up the mess it seems to me. She obviously does more and acts on a wider scale but essentially that is what Big Cat Rescue seems to be about. She makes the point that it is hard to manage the bigger picture because of a lack of accurate information. It is all ad hoc and insufficiently controlled it seems. The lack of regulation and control by the authorities has resulted in there being, for example, 4,000 tigers alone in Texas, just one State in America. There are about 7,000+ tigers in the wild worldwide. The comparison is stark and shows the madness.

Her work can be very frustrating in trying to make fundamental changes that solves the problem at root. She does see hope, however. Changes in laws governing ownership of big cats have made an impact as has educating the public on keeping big cats. I think Big Cat Rescue has played a major role in changing things for the better.


Big Cat Rescue - This video shows that some people are against her and some criticize her

There are bound to be opponents to her efforts. These will be the people in the business of dealing in big cats, a lucrative business. These people will try and undermine her operation. I would expect too that Carol Baskin would admit to making mistakes. This is bound to have happened as she started off an untrained big cat rescuer (as I understand the beginnings). If you work and learn at the same time mistakes and bad decisions will get made but is that a reason to criticize? Obviously not. I don't know the operation sufficiently to comment but only if she and the employees are actively, knowingly and intentionally conducting a course of action that is against the professed objectives of Big Cat Rescue can they be criticized and I don't see that. I see a lot of cats being rescued and living a better life.



Big Cat Rescue to Wild Cat Species

Wednesday, 16 July 2008

Florida Cougar

Florida Cougar Puma Panther
Florida Cougar - See credit below

Intro

A report on the Florida Cougar, by well qualified scientists (4) was published in 2003, which is now available for all to see. The report was designed to review all previous reporting on the Florida Cougar (called the Panther in the report). This was required due to complaints about previous reporting, which painted, it was felt, an inaccurate picture. It would seem that there is a lot of pressure from commerce and particularly land developers in Florida, which may have resulted in skewed reports being completed, which allowed (or by implication potentially allowed) development of certain areas within the range occupied by the Cougars.

It is the ever present battle between businesses (who by their nature have a lower than usual concern for nature and the environment) and people who think that quality of life including the lives of fellow creatures is important. It could be argued that quality of life is becoming a more pressing issue as the development of economies in 2008 still by and large takes precedent over the environment. Mankind often makes corrections too late, when if is harder to change course. This appears to the case with the Florida Cougar and many other wild species including the Bengal tiger, White Siberian Tiger and in the no too distant future the Cougar.

This post is an attempt to summarize, in laypersons language, some of the major issues. It is not meant to cover all the issues but simply bring to the notice of some people some of the factors that concern the preservation of this critically endangered wild cat.


Outline on Florida Cougar

Although the Florida Panther is still listed in reports as a sub-species of Cougar it seems that it is now considered to be the same species as the North American Cougar. Click on this link if you'd like to read more about the wild Cougar of North American.

Florida is a peninsula and therefore almost an island. A actually island that has a population of Cougar is Vancouver Island, Canada. The Florida Cougar is the only Cougar as far as is known living east of the Mississippi in America.

Within Florida this animal's s range includes the Everglades National Park, the Big Cypress National Preserve and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.


The report

Having read the meat of the above mentioned report it seems to me that the findings were in broad terms as follows:

1. People do not know enough about the Florida Cougar, which makes decision making difficult. Not enough data has been collected in respect of the Florida Cougar and some that has been collected is based on selective data (perhaps to fit a goal). For example there is inadequate information (not reliable enough) about the numbers and the density of Florida Cougar. This seems like fairly basic stuff and indicates the shortage of information in other areas of research. One problem no doubt is the secretive nature of the Cougar but one would have thought in 2008 a reliable method could be found to measure numbers. The problem no doubt is one of desire and this may be due to pressure from local business. In truth the Cougar has been corralled into a human environment over time and it is going to be extremely difficult to make the relationship between human and Cougar work in Florida. Already the range is far too small for the Florida Cougar, which implies that action to protect this animal in this area is too late.

2. The report recommended a vigorous approach to assess the reintroduction of the Florida Panthers into at least one other area outside of South Florida. I presume (and please correct me if I am wrong) this is due to the range in Florida being too small to sustain the Cougar. When an area is too small for a wild animal you are likely (or certain?) to get inbreeding, which will lessen the chances of survival of the animal.

3. The report concluded that there has been inbreeding in the Florida Panther (the Cheetah is also inbred and captive big cats such as the White Siberian tiger is grossly inbred causing physical and mental abnormalities which are kept away from the public). They concluded that the loss of variability (loss of genetic variability) occurred from 1890-1990 a period of 100 years.

It had been suggested that this was due to the fact that the Florida Cougar lived on a peninsula but the report writers said that the Cougars of Vancouver Island in Canada were far more genetically diverse notwithstanding a poorer environment vis a vis prey.

Due to inbreeding the condition "Cryptorchidism" (the absence of one or both testes from the scrotum) had gone up by a factor of 400% over the period 1970–1992.

They concluded that the reason for "genetic erosion" was because of (a) human activity (recent anthropogenic isolation) before 1995 and (b) reduction in the Cougar (P. c. coryi) population.

4. There was a shortage of data about the Cougar's prey and therefore they could not be sure that sport (recreational) hunting had an impact on "Panther fitness" but it probably had little impact.

5. Earlier reports about the preferred habitat of the Florida Cougar had been misleading despite those reports being carried out objectively (this last point was stressed). The report's authors concluded that an earlier report stating that 96% (almost all) of the Florida Cougar's territory was no more than 90 meters from forest patches was incorrect and there was no information to support that finding. This earlier finding was used as a standard for decision making in respect of building developments and in lessening the impact on the Florida Cougar.


My personal conclusions (I am a complete layperson)

The situation regarding the Florida Cougar is a precursor for what is to come in other parts of the USA with respect to the Cougar and of course endangered wild life generally. It is only a matter of time (perhaps 30 years or more) for the same things to happen in other areas of the USA which are going through a substantial human population growth. To look into the future one only has to look at other countries that are more heavily populated such as Bangladesh (the major home of the Bengal tiger, which is heading towards extinction in the wild).

I am personally pessimistic about the situation for the Cougar in Florida. In truth it seems that this animal is already living in a human world and in, therefore, a kind of extended reserve, compound or zoo and this can only get worse no matter how many enlightened reports are written by experts.

Ultimately it is the politicians who act on the reports and they have to read and understand them. They are invariably pressured by voters and in turn by business. Until now business has always won when it comes to the big decisions.


Florida Cougar to Home Page


Source:

An Analysis of Scientific Literature Related to the Florida Panther 2003, Paul Beier, Michael R.Vaughan, Michael J. Conroy, Howard Quigley, (December 2003)

Photo:
Published under Wikimedia Commons which in turn used this photo as it is in the public domain because it is a work of the United States Federal Government under the terms of Title 17, Chapter 1, Section 105 of the US Code.

Tuesday, 15 July 2008

Wild Cougar


photo by ucumari

Introduction


The most important information about the wild Cougar is how we as humans interact with this largest of the small cats because it is our interaction that has by far the biggest impact on the life of this animal. You can read all the information you want about appearance and diet etc. but this post looks primarily at human interaction and its impact. Human activity that affects the life of the wild Cougar are by necessity (a) sport hunting and (b) human population growth resulting in habitat erosion and prey reduction, and (c) conservation. There is also the general background attitude to the wild Cougar (and wild animals in general) that underpins the above that needs to be touched on.

The cougar has many names. Cougar (also Mountain Lion and Puma ), it seems, are used in the USA, while Mountain Lion is used in Canada and Australia and Puma in the UK. Panther is another name that is used. Although I am sure that these names are used interchangeably across the globe. There are other less frequently used names.

The name Cougar comes originally from the Tupi, native Indian "susuarana". This means “false deer”. This word was used and altered in Brazilian Portugese as "cuguacuarana", which in turn was used and altered to "cuougar" by a French explorer and naturalist. Thence to "Cougar" (src: www.cougarfund.org).

It has been postulated that the cougar became extinct in North America at the same time as the Saber Tooth tiger some 10,000 years ago and that North America was repopulated by a migration of Cougars from South America. It is thought that originally the ancestor to the Cougar came to North America via the Bering Straight (opens to a map), which about 8 million years ago, was a land bridge between Alaska and Russia as they now are.

Scientists now consider there to be 6 subspecies, covering the largest range of any wild land animal. The area on the map left shows the range which extends from the north of North America (Canada) to the southern tip of Chile in South America.

The area extends to almost the whole of South America and the south western third of North America. It would seem that the reason the Cougar is restricted to part of North America is because of a lack of suitable habitat in the other areas, which in turn is due to a more concentrated human occupation of those areas and looking further north, an unsuitable natural habitat for all but specialist animals.

The range includes a small area in Florida, surprisingly. I have posted an article about the Florida Cougar, which tells us a lot about our interaction with large wild animals generally.

This map is published under a Wikimedia creative commons license versions 2.5, 2.0 and 1. The map is by Java13690

The subspecies of the Cougar are:

--Argentine Puma
--Eastern South American Cougar
--Northern South American Cougar
--Southern South American Puma
--North American Cougar
--Costa Rican Cougar

The wild Cougar is like a domestic cat in many ways in respect of its hunting techniques and the sounds she makes (no roar). When the Cougar is ready to attack prey there is the domestic cat tail waggle, focused eyes and hind leg treading. Unlike big cats the Cougar kills prey in the same way as the domestic cat, by breaking the spine of the prey at the nape of the neck by inserting her teeth between vertebra. She is in many ways a big domestic cat. It size the wild Cougar is about the same weight as an adult human or less, so is much less intimidating to us that big cats that can weigh 5 or more times the weight of human. The biggest big cat is the Liger (900 lbs but this is an "artificial cat" having been bred in captivity). The Tiger is the biggest cat.

There have been only 14 fatal wild Cougar attacks in 100 years, 60% being children (presumed unsupervised). In that time 14,000 people have been killed by deer (src: Sierra Club, Arizona). I have just seen a really nice and enlightened article by


Wild Cougar - Hunting

When talking about hunting it is my view that we need to look very deeply into human behavior and history. There is no doubt that hunting did and still does play a major role in the diminishing population of the wild Cougar. It is relatively easy to find stories about Cougar hunting that demonstrates a continuing ignorance and arrogance (sorry to be critical but it is true) about our relationship with other animals. Of course, the amount of hunting is dependent on the amount of people, on two levels.


Legal hunting to remove the cougar as a pest over the period 1907 to 1978, under the Animal Control Program resulted in a minimum of 66,665 being killed! Astonishing. The program still exists and hunting is legal over the USA albeit regulated, except for California, where it is prohibited. See:
Firstly, when there are more people there will be more people who want to hunt the Cougar. Secondly, with increased human population there will be an encroachment by humans onto what was Cougar territory, probably in the form of new ranches and settlements in relatively wild country (sprawling development encouraged by the large amount of space in the US). This leads to a conflict. The Cougar, following wild instincts, will kill livestock and attack the occasional person (extremely rarely and usually children) as they are forced to live in close proximity to people, through no fault of their own. In retaliation, and as justification for killing, people hunt the Cougar.

Cougar profile
Not a wild Cougar sadly. Photo by Property#1

This same scenario (although in a far more parlous state) is happening with the big cats such as the Cheetah, Bengal Tiger and White Siberian Tiger. Although, the big cats mentioned have another enemy, the biggest enemy of all for the big cats, Chinese Medicine.

Before the European settlers of 1492 and beyond, North America was populated by the indigenous peoples of the Americas. They are called Native Americans or First Nations and "Red Indians" (the last name is wrong and I am sure not liked by Native Americans). Diseases to which the Native Americans had no resistance and which were imported by European settlers killed a high percentage of First Nations people, all but wiping out some tribes.

Before the settlement of the Americas by Europeans the Cougar lived in relative harmony with Native Americans. This, it seems, is because of lower population of people and a natural respect by Native Americans for wildlife and the wild Cougar. The intention being to live more in harmony with nature. Perhaps they were wise enough to realize that this improved the prospect of survival for the Native American.

They believed (and still believe as I understand it) that the Cougar spirit can teach us to assert ourselves to become leaders (src: www.animaltotem.com). The wild Cougar spirit also guides us to understand the environment, which helps us to become leaders and be good leaders. It seems the Cougar, through this animal's grace and power, carries these qualities.

Each individual person has a natural affinity towards a certain animal (represented by a symbol an "animal totem") and by getting in touch with the animal's qualities, the person can use the animal as a guide to better achievement and contentment. You have to decide which is your animal totem and this process shouldn't be rushed. My animal totem is the cat totem. I don't profess to necessarily completely agree with the idea of animal totems but I do thoroughly understand the need and benefit gained from connecting with nature, which includes other animals.

It is a method it seems to me to draw from the animal world some of the strengths found in the animal world that we lack. It also creates a gentle and constructive connection with wild animals. This helps to protect the animal and assist the person - a natural harmony. This philosophy is it seems a way of connecting with nature, which the Native American's were probably obliged to do as they were very much living in it.
cougar
This is in stark contrast to the culture and philosophy that underpins Ancient and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Although the same process is at work; in both cases people are trying to enhance their lives by "using" other animals (usually wild animals and wild animals that have powers greater than our own).

In Native American culture the "use" of animals is mutually beneficial but in Chinese culture it is nothing but destructive. In Chinese Medicine in order to receive the benefit imbued in the animal it is necessary to eat it or the part of the animal that is meant to carry the benefit. That of course means killing the animal. This is a connection with nature in a physical and destructive sense whereas in the former it is a spiritual (mental) and more beneficial connection.

As stated, in both cultures, humans are demonstrating a respect for the animal but the animal does not receive a reward in Chinese culture; the opposite is true in Native American culture.

This difference may arise from a fear of the wild and nature. A wise Native American chief once said that, "what we don't understand we fear and what we fear we destroy" (this is not a quote). This is exaggerated perhaps but has an underlying truth. Native Americans didn't fear the wild Cougar because they connected with this animal via the animal's spirit. They felt that they understood the wild Cougar and in doing so could not fear this fantastic and handsome animal.


Cougar hunting and killing in western USA
This graph shows wild Cougar hunting and killing in Western USA from 1900 to 200o showing the sharp increase despite the vulnerably low population of this animal. This graph is reproduced here courtesy of this website: www.pumaconservation.org I have taken the liberty of reproducing it without asking for the sake of the Cougar and given a link in exchange. The figures for the graph come from research carried out by Torres et al in 2004.

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The European settlers in America hunted voraciously, it seems (but it is worse now - see the graph above). As long ago as 1906 in British Columbia, the Game Commission there at that time declared that the extermination of the Cougar was necessary, even at a high cost, to preserve "game" that the Cougar was hunting. Game had a value to the country as it was (and still is) an animal that was hunted for food. In other words the Cougar was eating food that people would have eaten. What's so bad about that? It wasn't a matter of life and death or survival for the human. And isn't there room for both of us? Yes, if we control our population explosion (see graph below).

Similar behavior takes place in the present in British Colombia. Not much has changed, just the excuse or reason, to kill a fine creature. Over the period 1998-2003, in the Kootenay region of BC near the border with USA, the wild Cougar population took a nose dive because of hunting. The Cougar population dropped from 1.47 to .85 animals (about half) per 100 sq.kms. 92% of the dead Cougars had been shot.

Bizarrely, the reason for the hunting and killing was that people in the region had thought that the Cougar population had increased substantially because a lot more Cougars were seen and were coming into conflict with people. The opposite has happening. Cougar population in the area had, in fact, declined to half that of other similar areas due to hunting. The wild Cougars remaining were young and it is the young and less experienced Cougars who approached people and got shot. This demonstrates the lack of knowledge and regrettably ignorance of some people.

Update: 1st September 2008: the problem of deciding wild cougar populations mentioned above is still happening. In an article in the Oregonian the journalist stated that Cougars killed in "encounters with humans" has risen substantially to 532 last year (presume 2007). It is not clear if this is because there are more Cougars. Some people think that this is the case stating that the conservation process is succeeding. Some disagree saying encounters are more likely to happen because of more roads and people etc. One person said that the wild Cougars are less fearful of humans and should be more fearful (agree with that). This seems to be a repeat of the above. Young Cougars are less experienced and therefore less fearful. An increase in young animals means a lower population as described above. This was not mentioned in the report. People don't know the true wild Cougar population so guess it and in doing so guess a figure that suites their interests, which usually means hunting and killing - a barbaric act in a modern world.


Frighten don't kill, don't stimulate hunting instinct

In fact wild Cougars can often be chased away by aggressive movement and noise with arm waving. Fighting back by throwing a rock or a stick or making a noise that is unusual to the Cougar should have a good chance of seeing off the animal (src: www.wemjournal.org). Other things that could be done to avoid a cougar are (a) don't approach (b) avoid triggering the cat's hunting instinct by not running past the cat or away from the cat (c) don't bend or crouch in the presence of this cat (d) back away slowly and (e) cats are crepuscular, they hunt at dawn and dusk, so avoid these times to go near an area where the wild cougar might be.

I am afraid that humans like to deceive themselves into thinking that they need to kill. The truth is that sometimes there is the urge to kill and the justification follows. Update July 21st 2008: ABC News reported an attack on a 5 year old boy by a Mountain Lion (wild Cougar) in the New Mexico's Cibola National Forest. He was with his family on a trail. All very normal. The Cougar dragged the boy away by the back of the boy's head (his scalp). The father chased and when close jumped at the Cougar. This single act scared the Mountain Lion away. The boy recovered well (fully) and is frightened of cats and dogs.

I wish him well and that he learns to like cats and dogs one day. This is not the Cougar's "fault". Fault is not in the language of wild animals. It shows how relatively easy it is to frighten Cougars away. They are not that big, no bigger than a man so the fight is even and most wild animals only fight when they have a high chance of success for the sake of survival. If they get injured they die in the wild. There is no need to hunt and kill wild Cougars other than for pleasure and that is immoral.

Cougar
photo by ucumari

Many centuries ago hunting was a way to survive; it isn't anymore. It is now done to satisfy the deeply ingrained need that remains in some people. It is therefore done for pleasure (sport hunting). It cannot therefore be justified as it is at the expense of a living creature that will suffer pain. We cannot base our pleasure on another animal's pain and the loss of their life. This is immoral.

It also surprises me that hunting is still allowed. The World Conservation Union considers the wild Cougar as "near threatened". I will presume that the position is deteriorating for the Cougar. The animal is regulated by CITES but so is the tiger and that cat is near extinction as CITES regulations go unenforced. In many countries of South America hunting is prohibited but in North America it is "regulated hunting" i.e. allowed. How can that be justified?

Further in the USA the wild Cougar is hunted with dogs to exhaust the animal and then the "brave" and "skilled" hunter shoots and kills (this is an ego trip). In California the wild Cougar can only be killed under strictly controlled circumstances. Yet this regulation seems to go unheeded or perhaps abused and unenforced as this chart indicates. It is relatively easy to create a situation which justifies the killing of the Cougar and in any case it will be a fait accompli (an act done) (src for data for chart: Wikipedia - US Department of Fish and Game):



This shows the increase in wild Cougar killed in California over the period 1970 to 2006. For each year in the period 2000-2006 the figure is per 2006. The Californian authorities say that the wild Cougar population is at 4-6,000 in California at 2006. I don't know if this is good or bad or less or more than before.


Wild Cougar - Habitat

As usual humans (the top primate) is rapidly eroding the habitat of all other animals including that of the top predators (the big cats). In eastern countries the situation is more pressing as population growth is quicker. In countries like India large families are an asset for the parents as offspring can provide a source of income. In Namibia, the last stronghold, almost, of the Cheetah, the human population increase is ruining the chances of preserving the Cheetah. Bangladesh, the most densely populated country in the world is the major home of the Bengal tiger - what chance the Bengal tiger for survival?

But the West in not that much better. In the eastern countries there is little in the way of really reliable data on Tiger populations and the same seems to be true about the USA in respect of the Cougar. One reason is that this animal is very secretive (it has to be to survive). But when people see more Cougars they think the population is increasing when what is happening is they (the people) are populating areas that were once the exclusive habitat of the Cougar and her prey.

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources says that the total breeding population at 50,000 (worldwide) and declining, while individual US States provide more optimistic figures (I guess they would).


graph showing USA population growth
USA people population growth 1790 to 2000. Projected for 2010 of 308,000,000. What hope the wild Cougar habitat? Published here under a Wikimedia commons license. Graph and Image by Crotalus horridus.


Not only does increased human population mean more Cougars hunted it also means more Cougar prey hunted. The Cougar then has to find alternative habitats which are becoming harder to find.


Conclusion

---We must learn to respect and live with the wild Cougar and other wild animals.
---We must control human population growth. This has been an ongoing issue for decades and nothing happens. Some economists probably encourage population growth to fuel economic growth. This is a reflection of how our world and the world of wild animals is run by commerce and few greedy people.
---Hunting must be banned generally and certainly in respect of this animal.


Photos published under a creative commons license:
  • Top, heading photograph - by ucumari. This persom makes fine photographs of wildcats including the wild Cougar. This is no exception.
  • 2nd down on RHS - by Airstream Life
  • 3rd down on RHS - by ucumari

Sources:
  • Wikipedia
  • www.kats-korner.com
  • www.wemjournal.org
  • www.pumaconservation.org
  • www.whats-your-sign.com

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