Cougars???

[singingdog]

Yep, there is some DNA confirmation of cougar presence in Ontario. That same DNA evidence confirmed that it was an escapee (it was genetically related to Latin american populations). There seem to be a few around, but no proof whatsoever that they are wild animals instead of escapees.

 

Here is an interesting excerpt from the Easter Cougar foundation. The bolding at the end is mine.

 

"Sightings are the great conundrum in eastern cougar research. As reliable as sightings may appear to be, our experience – and the experience of wildlife agencies – is that the vast majority of cougar reports are misidentifications of other animals. Although the ECF has fielded hundreds of first-hand accounts and evaluated countless pieces of evidence, and while there remains always the possibility of a released or escaped cougar turning up, our sighting hotline has never produced a confirmation. The evidence we receive as photographs and videos, by and large, are of the cougar’s smaller wild cousin, the bobcat, housecats, and less often, dogs and deer. Large tracks consistently turn out to be coyote, dog, or black bear.

 

As much as we’d love to believe cougar sightings – and many of us at the ECF first joined the search inspired by so many reports – we can only conclude that there is a profound misapprehension inherent in these reports. Where cougars are well established, any knowledgeable individual can find evidence in a few days. Yet, our own field searches, sometimes within hours or a day of a sighting, have failed to produce evidence, and years pass between confirmations."

[Whitespinnerbait]

Remember...

 

Their have also been many sightings of a Lochness Monster

 

Abominable Snowman

 

Sasquatch .........

 

 

[Anderson]

There have been many sightings up here in the ThunderBay District My wife seen one cross the road in Thunder Bayalso a friend of mine seen one in his field stalking a bunch of grouse that were strutting their spring plumage acouple of years back and numerous other sightings

We have the habitat that they prefer, high rocky ranges that rarely see people and an over population of deer

Sometime when i"m out prospecting around areas like this I get that feeling that something is watching

Hmmmm Myself.....never seen one. I did see a timber wolf though and I couldn't believe how big it was

friggin huge Sorta happy their are lots of deer here

Maybe their are UFO"s Sandsquanches and Nessies Hmmmm Chuck

[dave524]

Curiously almost all sightings seem to occur during the warmer months when visibility is obscured by foliage and tracking a soft padded animal is difficult. You would think that like other animals, sightings and tracks would spike during the winter months with better visibility and snow to hold tracks. If there is a sighting in winter I can't see why its tracks have not be followed and the animal confirmed, cats are not a long winded animal that could outdistance a determined tracker or hounds.

[troutologist]

i've yet to have the privelege but several friends have had sightings... there's only one animal with a tail like that...

 

 

I'm still 99.9% sure me and the wing observed one heading up icefishing a couple winters ago. It was up around that moose kill we were always seeing the wolves at a couple curves before the parking spot for that one lake.

 

Nothing else could have a blunted head and long thin tail like that. Also it covered ground like no animal I have ever seen. From 1 side of the road to the other and over the big banks...2 jumps.

[danbouck]

[Brettiop]

Always a sighting or two in and around the native reserve near Bothwell ontario, along with pictures of tracks in the local newspaper.

 

My parents sat in there house and watched a large cat walk across the laneway from the forest to the field one day, two days later while fishing i was startled as another large cat jumped out of some bushes while on my way down to the river. We assume it was the same one both similar descriptions....but it wasn't in as large as a cougar....but way to large to be a house cat of any kind. in the 60+ lbs range 3 feet high and 4 feet long.

I did not continue to fish that day lol.

 

Also had a wolf stare me down while fishing just three weeks ago...he was curious but ran off after a few minutes, must have thought my rod was a gun.

[Fishnwire]

I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if they are around. As far as scientific proof goes, I remember seeing a story about a biologist who was studying native badgers. He had been doing so for over seven years and said that in that time spent actually looking for badgers, he saw three. I know they are entirely different species, but I would think a big cat would be as good as anything else in the bush at keeping itself hid.

 

I don't know about effecting the deer population. Wolves and coyotes would almost certainly kill more, and a friend I know who retired from the CN says engineers generally believe more moose are killed by trains each year than all other causes, natural and otherwise, put together. I imagine the numbers are somewhat simular with deer.

 

The main reason that makes me think that there are very few if any out there though is because if they were around in any numbers, some yahoo would have shot one by now and bragged to the whole world about it.

[Anderson]

A few years back some yahoo shot a white moose not far from Nipigon I don"t think he lives here anymore Chuck

[Guest ThisPlaceSucks]

I'm still 99.9% sure me and the wing observed one heading up icefishing a couple winters ago. It was up around that moose kill we were always seeing the wolves at a couple curves before the parking spot for that one lake.

 

Nothing else could have a blunted head and long thin tail like that. Also it covered ground like no animal I have ever seen. From 1 side of the road to the other and over the big banks...2 jumps.

 

many sightings on ranger lake road. thiffault saw one about ten years back. he's a well trained resources technician and trust his sighting as well as yours.