Both Helen McGinnis(Cougar Rewilding.org) and myself are extremely concerned that the odds are long and steep for Cougars to recolonize Eastern North America on their own................plenty of habitat...............and as Mark McCollough at USFW states, "plenty of deer"................but all of us know that female cougars tend to stay in their natal home range............not far afield dispersers like wolves and coyotes.........................We have to depend on the States to institute a Game Season(like North Dakota) to ensure a sustainable population................But first the individual States would have to feel that there was a large enough population of cougars to insitute the Game Season....................Geez Louise!!!.......This does not sound promising to me................Our Cougars need some transplanting into the Northern Appalachians, the Great Lakes., Mid Atlantic, South East...................We will be waiting forever for F.concolor's return to the Eastern woodlands if our only hope is for a 2nd Florida population to be created............and then a long slow climb Northward???????

From: Mark McCollough


Date: Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 3:12 PM

Subject: Re: Were there really ever two different North American Species of Cougars?

To: Rick Meril


Rick - You are correct. If USFWS delists the eastern cougar, any animals that show up within the former range of the eastern cougar will no longer have ESA protection. It will be up to the states to manage/protect cougars, which they already do. Most states have some kind of laws on the books protecting cougars, but some states do not. I have not done a summary of what state protection might look like after federal delisting.

The USFWS has determined (not necessarily my decision) they want to delist the eastern cougar subspecies based on extinction. Thus, there would be no federal protection for dispersing animals from the west or active involvement in any restoration effort (natural or reintroduction) in the former range of the eastern cougar. Accepting natural recolonization or actively reintroducing cougars would become a state by state decision.

That said, the new federal Florida panther recovery plan calls for establishing two new populations of 200+ cougars each outside of FL. If/when then occurs, it could result in cougars dispersing up the Appalachian chain into the former range of the eastern cougar. However, the USFWS is clear that it has no immediate plans to move forward with this recovery activity. Our status review contains n landscape analyses by Thatcher et al. to identify potential cougar reintroduction sites in the Southeast.

Look at the current amount of dispersal coming out of the Dakotas. Imagine a similar amount of dispersing cougars (or more?) coming out two populations in the Southeast. Perhaps this is how cougars will reoccupy their former historic range? Lots of deer...

Mark
Mark McCollough, Ph.D. Endangered Species Specialist
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Maine Field Office
17 Godfrey Drive, Suite #2
Orono, ME 04473
Phone: (207) 866-3344 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (207) 866-3344 end_of_the_skype_highlighting x115
Cell phone: 207 944-5709 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 207 944-5709 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
Fax: (207) 866-3351
Email: mark_mccollough@fws.gov

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Rick Meril
To Mark McCollough

Mark............I asked this of Helen earlier and want your information on this question:

Now that the Eastern Cougar is officially extinct(even though likely there was never a distinct Eastern Cougar--meaning, all Cougars in North America are the same species) and there is no plan to transplant western cougars west of the mississippi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

lTherefore, lke the coyote coming east, it is up to the big cats to recolonize on their own...............If somehow that occurred, they would have no protections on a Federal basis, correct? They would have to make it on their own accord, unless, like California, they were State protected..........or in other States managaged as a game animal with a hunting season?

Is the decision reached by your study (form a practical matter) making it near impossible for Mountain Lions to live again in our Eastern States?.........As females do not wander far afield from their natal homes, how are we going to get a breeding population in States other than Florida if we do not transplant Cougars(some say Western Cougars, but seemingly this is political biased b.s.so as to make reintroduction near impossible)into the Appalachians, the Great lake States..............and for that matter Ohio, Tennessee, Kentucky, etc, etc, etc?

I know you are swamped with calls.................If you have the time to put forth your opinion, much appreciated.


Rick
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---------- Forwarded message ----------


From: Helen McGinnis
Date: Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 1:29 PM
Subject: Re: one more question for you
To: Rick Meril , Mark McCollough
Cc: Christopher Spatz , John Laundre


See pages 2-7 of the March 2007 issue of the Eastern Cougar Foundation's newsletter - http://www.easterncougar.org/newltr_pdf/ecfnew_mar07w.pdf

I don't know if the US Fish & Wildlife Service plans to hold hearings on the proposal for delist the "eastern cougar," or if it's a done deal. Can you help us, Mark?

As I see it, it will be up to the state wildlife agencies to decide if cougars are protected in the assumed former range of the "eastern cougar." I expect most of them will opt not to protect them. The state agencies are largely funded by excise taxes on guns and ammo and by hunting license fees. The biggest money maker is the white-tailed deer. Cougars eat deer. So even if deer are doing enormous damage to our eastern forests, the agencies may opt to grow deer for their clients, the deer hunters.

Cougars in the East are also burdened by many human generations of folklore and misinformation, most of it negative. Even professionals who should know better have been guilty of promulgating this misinformation. Those of us who promote cougar reintroduction have a huge job ahead of us, dispelling the misinformation and providing scientifically accurate information on why they should be reintroduced--and moral and emotional reasons too.

Cougars are going to have a much difficult time re-colonizing on their own because they are never abundant, and because females rarely disperse long distances. Wolves and coyotes are in a much better position because both sexes are equally likely to disperse long distances. All that is needed is for a male and female disperser to meet up in habitat suitable for recolonization.

Black bears are more like cougars in their social habits and dispersal. Females stay closer to their birthplace "raising the children." Males do not help rear the young and travel much further. But because black bears are omnivores, the land is capable of supporting many more of them--perhaps 10 or 15 times as many as cougars. And bears, even though they probably are as likely to cause damage to crops and livestock as cougars, and even though black bears have killed more people than cougars, they have a better reputation. Have you ever seen a list of what to do when you encounter a predatory black bear--one that views you as prey? I haven't.

____________________________________________________________________________

From: Rick Meril
To: helenmcginnis@frontiernet.net
Sent: Wednesday, March 02, 2011 3:23 PM

Subject: one more question for you

Helen..........so now that the Eastern Cougar is officially extinct(even though likely there was never a distinct Eastern Cougar--meaning, all Cougars in North America are the same species) and there is no plan to transplant western cougars west of the mississippi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,like the coyote coming east, it is up to the big cats to recolonize on their own...............If somehow that occurred, they would have no protections on a Federal basis, correct? They would have to make it on their own accord, unless, like California, they were State protected..........or in other States managaged as a game animal with a hunting season?