This dog-killing cougar was the first killed in Ontario since 1884.
Police in Ontario have killed the first cougar in the province since 1884. The cat was killed in near the town of Utterson, which is in the District of Muskoka.
The Ottawa Sun reports:
Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources have confirmed that an animal killed by police on the weekend is a cougar, long believed extinct in the province.
Police were called after the large cat killed a family dog in the Muskoka area.
There have been thousands of believed sightings of cougars in Ontario over the past few years, but this marks the first confirmed cougar killed in the province since 1884.
North of the Rio Grande, Puma concolor is doing fine.
It’s starting to work its way back into its former territory in the eastern half the continent.
Once they start to recolonize the Great Lakes region– as they clearly are– it will not be very long before they are able to set up shop in the St. Lawrence Valley and then work their way south and east into New England. And from there, it’s not very long before they are in the Middle Atlantic states, especially the more remote mountainous parts of those states (which is where I am.)
Western cougars may be using the same paths to colonize the East that coyotes used.
The terrain is fairly flat from Lakes Superior and Michigan the eastern shore of Lake Eire and into Lake Ontario. And the St. Lawrence also cuts a nice pathway to the east beyond the lakes.
It would make sense that lots of animals would use roughly the same path to travel from the Midwest into the Northeast.
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Update: It looks like this cat is an escapee from a big cat collection just across the road.
A mountain lion that had travelled from the Dakotas was hit and killed by a car in southeastern CT last year, confirming eastern migration
Sorry, I meant southwestern CT (Milford)
We have quite a few cougars here (Santa Cruz Mountains, California), though they call em ‘mountain lions’. The local livestock keepers hate them and will shoot them, despite the protected status. I have friends who had a heard of 44 pygmy goats. They’ve lost half their herd. Expect controversy as they expand.
I cannot call them mountain lions.
My understanding of felid phylogeny won’t let my mouth utter the words.
I’m in PA – so I’ll call it a Nittany Lion.
Like that name has no other connotations…
Huh. This is just an hour and a half from me and this is the first I’m hearing of it!
A few years back, some local farmers claimed a cougar was killing their calves (and breaking down fences in the process – or the calf could have panicked and jumped into the fence, who knows), but MNR chalked it up to coyotes, mainly based on the fact that cougars were considered extinct in the province.
Hi Scottie;
They may already be here in small numbers. Many years ago, I can recall a local radio talk show, where they were discussing the potential for recolonization by large carnivores into the east. One caller said that he had observed denning Catamounts (yet another name for ’em) in the Appalachians. He wouldn’t get more specific but indicated that it was in the MD/VA/WV area, and he was adamant that they were definitely Pumas not Bobcats. He seemed to be a knowledgeable naturalist and was very concerned that they might be discovered by others and destroyed or captured.
No open season on cougars “mountain lions [sic]” in WV:
http://www.wvdnr.gov/Regulations/hunting_hrSDL.shtm
I know, but its still a possibility that I wanted to cite–Pumas can be very secretive. The (fill in the species)-a-boo in me can’t help but hope that they are here.
Interesting bit of information: the attack reportedly happened across the street from an exotic cat menagerie, and it’s front claws had been removed.
http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/article/1223871–cougar-shot-dead-in-muskokas-after-it-mauls-dog
That doesn’t surprise me!
There was a cougar killed in West Virginia a long time ago that had parasites from the Western United States.
And everyone got excited until they saw it was too overweight to have ever been wild.
How long till they are able to share DNA with the population in Florida?
One of the reasons they are called “mountain lions” in the west is that at least in CA, they mostly did live in the more mountanous areas. The flatlands are desert and not especially suited for a puma, whereas the foothills have better hiding areas for a stalk and a higher deer (and originally, bighorn sheep) population. Almost all the animals that show up in my area come from the Sierra Nevada and are young animals being pushed out from the better ranges. As a comparison to the “African lion”, the name does make some sense.
as for the “escaped from the zoo”, while it is clear that the puma in question HAD been captive (the article sttes that the animal’s front claws had been removed), it also states that “Investigators have NOT confirmed a link between the attack and Guha’s”. While an “escapee from the zoo” is the most likely answer, it is also possible that someone dumped this animal in the vicinity and it was drawn to other cats (if it’s a male looking for females, this might be a very good reason) or even thought somehow the zoo would take this animal in. I would be a bit cautious about concluding absolutely that “Guha’s” is the guilty party.
In any case, that this puma resorted to attacking dogs (and would have likely gone for anything else domestic) is sadly likely due to the fact that being declawed, it wasn’t likely to be able to take down more difficult prey and having been captive, it was more likely to be less fearful of people and urban sights/sounds.
Apparently, according to the report the cougar was declawed..what does that say? Changes the effective perspective of wild cat killing dog..
If it still had its canines, it could still kill a dog.
Right..no argument there..but a truly wild cat was my point? As far as I am aware the Ministry of Natural Resources have no such program in among their management programs..grin
If the cat was an escape or voluntarily released it would not be conducive to true wild cat behaviour. This is not to say that a natural cat wouldn’t take a dog, they have,will and do but natural cats in Ontario have been very elusive. Yes, conditions and behaviour do change but the point I only make is this may not have been a natural habitat cat which alters all normal behavioral considerations.
They don’t say how big the dogs in question were, either.