Animals go where they are designed to go — to habitat where they can eat, shelter and reproduce.
They will travel thousands of miles if they have to. A now-famous cougar killed in Connecticut in June was tracked by its DNA to have journeyed from South Dakota over a two-year period, apparently in search of a mate. He came through the Adirondacks on that journey.
This week at a program sponsored by the Northeast Wilderness Trust, Christopher Spatz of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation (CRF) spoke at the Whallonsburg Grange about cougars and their search for what they need.
Although reliable residents throughout the Adirondacks say they have seen cougars, experts have always explained the reports as hoaxes, mistakes or sometimes as individuals that escaped or were released from captivity. The cougar killed in Connecticut changed previous explanations. DNA from that cougar confirmed it was a male juvenile dispersing from a wild population.
Susan Morse, a cougar expert in Vermont, says, "The Connecticut cat tells us that these animals are a whole lot more flexible, able and determined to find habitats in the East."Since cougars are indigenous to the Adirondacks, and at least one individual got this far, and the Adirondacks have conditions better than many places where they live out west, it's remarkable they haven't come back sooner.
Spatz says there is good reason to help them get back, even to bring them back. He explained that a piece missing from the array of wildlife in an ecosystem causes dysfunction that amplifies over time and space. Cougars keep deer herds moving through the landscape and keep the population in check. They cull weak ones and keep the gene pool vigorous. With a deer herd of 1 million in New York, it seems there would be enough white-tails for cougars, other animal predators and sportsmen.
The Cougar Re-wilding Foundation argues that in many states big cats still live in significant and stable populations in close proximity to human populations. They cause far less death and injury than other animals — even deer. According to Spatz, 200 people are killed and 20,000 are injured in deer-vehicle collisions each year in the United States. Cougars have been involved in only 115 total incidents with humans and caused only 22 deaths in the United States and Canada in almost 120 years.
So what will happen to the next wild cougar that comes to New York, innocently looking for a mate? Even though it may have some of the strongest survival attributes and be highly desirable genetically speaking, it is at risk.
Morse comments that, "What's unfortunate is that because of the recent Fish and Wildlife Service determination that the so-called 'Eastern cougar' is officially extinct, we now are left with considerable ambiguity as to what will happen when cougars do in fact re-colonize the east. What this proclamation does in effect is to put protection of the cougar into each separate state department's hands. … Some states may decide that the so-called 'Western cougar' doesn't belong here and should be destroyed."
Why destroy an animal before it's done any damage? Is it possible that allowing cougars to resume their role in the ecosystem might make our wilderness healthier, more authentic and wilder? Is it possible we need them to re-teach us knowledge about our forests that we've lost, knowledge that we might need in light of threats we didn't have in the past.
When I asked another guide and veteran sportsman what he thought of cougars in the woods he quoted Aldo Leopold: "You can't love game and hate predators. The land is one organism."
They will travel thousands of miles if they have to. A now-famous cougar killed in Connecticut in June was tracked by its DNA to have journeyed from South Dakota over a two-year period, apparently in search of a mate. He came through the Adirondacks on that journey.
This week at a program sponsored by the Northeast Wilderness Trust, Christopher Spatz of the Cougar Rewilding Foundation (CRF) spoke at the Whallonsburg Grange about cougars and their search for what they need.
Although reliable residents throughout the Adirondacks say they have seen cougars, experts have always explained the reports as hoaxes, mistakes or sometimes as individuals that escaped or were released from captivity. The cougar killed in Connecticut changed previous explanations. DNA from that cougar confirmed it was a male juvenile dispersing from a wild population.
Susan Morse, a cougar expert in Vermont, says, "The Connecticut cat tells us that these animals are a whole lot more flexible, able and determined to find habitats in the East."Since cougars are indigenous to the Adirondacks, and at least one individual got this far, and the Adirondacks have conditions better than many places where they live out west, it's remarkable they haven't come back sooner.
Spatz says there is good reason to help them get back, even to bring them back. He explained that a piece missing from the array of wildlife in an ecosystem causes dysfunction that amplifies over time and space. Cougars keep deer herds moving through the landscape and keep the population in check. They cull weak ones and keep the gene pool vigorous. With a deer herd of 1 million in New York, it seems there would be enough white-tails for cougars, other animal predators and sportsmen.
The Cougar Re-wilding Foundation argues that in many states big cats still live in significant and stable populations in close proximity to human populations. They cause far less death and injury than other animals — even deer. According to Spatz, 200 people are killed and 20,000 are injured in deer-vehicle collisions each year in the United States. Cougars have been involved in only 115 total incidents with humans and caused only 22 deaths in the United States and Canada in almost 120 years.
So what will happen to the next wild cougar that comes to New York, innocently looking for a mate? Even though it may have some of the strongest survival attributes and be highly desirable genetically speaking, it is at risk.
Morse comments that, "What's unfortunate is that because of the recent Fish and Wildlife Service determination that the so-called 'Eastern cougar' is officially extinct, we now are left with considerable ambiguity as to what will happen when cougars do in fact re-colonize the east. What this proclamation does in effect is to put protection of the cougar into each separate state department's hands. … Some states may decide that the so-called 'Western cougar' doesn't belong here and should be destroyed."
Why destroy an animal before it's done any damage? Is it possible that allowing cougars to resume their role in the ecosystem might make our wilderness healthier, more authentic and wilder? Is it possible we need them to re-teach us knowledge about our forests that we've lost, knowledge that we might need in light of threats we didn't have in the past.
When I asked another guide and veteran sportsman what he thought of cougars in the woods he quoted Aldo Leopold: "You can't love game and hate predators. The land is one organism."
Elizabeth Lee is a licensed guide who lives in Westport. She leads recreational and educational programs focused in the Champlain Valley throughout the year. Contact her at lakeside5047@gmail.com.
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