Cougardaville

United States Department of the Interior

FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
Maine Field Office – Ecological Services
1168 Main Street
Old Town, ME 04468
(207) 827-5938 Fax: (207) 827-6099



February 20, 2007
January 29, 2007, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published a notice in the Federal Register announcing its intent to conduct a 5-year review of the endangered eastern cougar (Puma concolor couguar) (http://www.fws.gov/policy/library/E7-1315.html) under section 4(c)(2)(A) of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This section requires that a review of each listed species be conducted at least once every five years On
. A 5-year review is a status assessment based on scientific and commercial data that have become available since the species’ original listing or previous 5-year review. The eastern cougar was one of the first species listed under the ESA in 1973, and there has been no review of its status since a recovery plan was completed in 1982.

Our review of the eastern cougar will assess: (a) whether new information suggests that the species’ population is extinct, increasing, declining, or stable; (b) whether existing threats are increasing, the same, or abated; (c) if there are any new threats; and (d) if new information or analysis calls into question any of the conclusions in the original listing determination as to the species’ status.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service considers the eastern cougar presumed extinct in the wild. However, the information obtained in this review will be evaluated to determine if a change in the listing status of the eastern cougar may be warranted based on the five factors described in the ESA:

1) The present or threatened destruction, modification, or curtailment of its habitat or range;
2) Overutilization for commercial, recreational, scientific, or educational purposes;
3) Disease or predation;
4) The inadequacy of existing regulatory mechanisms; or
5) Other natural or manmade factors affecting its continued existence.

The eastern cougar is listed as endangered, and the Service presumes that this subspecies is extinct from its range in the East (CT, DC, DE, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, SC, TN, VA, VT, and WV). We acknowledge there have been a small number of confirmed records of cougars within these states in recent years and many unconfirmed sightings. Biologists have hypothesized these animals may be released or escaped pets; dispersing animals from breeding populations in the western U.S., Florida, or Canada; remnants of a residual population(s) that have persisted in the East; or a combination of the above.

We request your assistance in this effort by providing any information that you may have on the eastern cougar. Specifically, we request any new information, analyses, or reports from your state or tribe that summarize and interpret cougar sightings; accounts of the historic status of cougar; laws and regulations pertaining to captive cougars in your jurisdiction; estimates of cougars in captivity; information concerning white-tailed deer populations and density; and landscape analyses that may document the potential for cougar habitat. A questionnaire is attached to help focus our information request.

The information submitted should be supported by documentation such as maps, bibliographic references, methods used to gather and analyze the data, and/or copies of any pertinent publications, reports, or letters by knowledgeable sources. We will consider all information we receive; however, raw data that have not been analyzed or summarized may have limited utility in the review process. We request that, if appropriate, you provide a contact name (and phone number or email address) so that we may be able to discuss the information as needed during the review process.

We request that information be submitted by March 30, 2007 to ensure that it contributes to the review. Our Maine Field Office will take the lead in developing the 5-year status review for the eastern cougar. We will coordinate data gathering with Service biologists in Region 3 (Midwest) and 4 (Southeast).

Please send your response to:

Mark McCollough, Ph.D.
Maine Field Office
U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
1168 Main Street
Old Town, Maine 04468
Phone: 207 827-5938 x12
Email: [email protected]

You may contact me if you have any questions about this information request, the 5-year status review, or information needed by the Service. We greatly appreciate your cooperation. The Service will share information collected during this 5-year status review with the states, tribes, organizations, and individuals who have an interest in the eastern cougar.

Sincerely



Mark McCollough, Ph.D.
Endangered Species Specialist

Cougardaville

here's the link.....http://www.fws.gov/northeast/ECougar/

Phil from Maine

I understand that the intent may sound good, but, my concern is what happens after documentation is made ? If in fact solid evidence has come forward in any of the states mentioned. What kind of protection will they have? What would the restrictions placed on hunters and trappers in these states be ?

SteveBNy

Sounds like they are asking for the same type of documentation that is always asked for here when someone "reports" a sighting. You know, the same documentation that NO ONE HAS EVER POSTED HERE!! And the same type that is non existent on any "cougars are here" website.

Of course the conspiracists will simply say the government is suppressing the "truth".

Steve

NorthPA

Sproulman, you take "facts" and add your own misinterpretation to them!

"I" am not the one who discovered that the tracks were walked in. It was in the newspaper and the fellow who reported the sighting claimed he did not know who did it. Even though it was right out his picture window and he had clear sight of the area????

You also make an erroneous claim about DCNR employees sightings. The "one" single claim by a DCNR employee was proven, EVEN TO HIS SATISFACTION--- that it was a bobcat.

I don't give a hoot if it is a woman or a man or a child. A "sighting" is not proof unlessit can be verified. I mentioned before, I have a neighbor who is now 70 years old. He's lived and hunted in these north mountains all of his life. He knows wildlife better than 95% of people and yet "he" mistook an extremely large bobcat to be a cougar.

You constantly point to the PGC as not giving credibility to people or investigating reported sightings. That simply is not a true representation of the facts. They "do" investigate when they have the manpower available "if" the report has some credibility.
Sometimes they do not even have manpower available to check out poaching or other violations right away but you seem to think there is a team of people setting by the phone waiting for someone to report cougar sightings.
You just do not live in the real world Sproulman.

It was the Feds who came up with this study program. I would say it makes sense for them to do it since there are verifed cougars in some states in the eastern half of the country. The PGC can't conduct a study over such a wide area in different states.

The PGC has recovered cougars in the past.
EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM HAD A LIP TATTOO, A COLLAR, WAS DE-CLAWED, WAS NEUTERED OR IS SOME OTHER WAY WAS VERIFED TO HAVE BEEN A CAPTIVE ANIMAL.

Elkcrazy8

Get your pocket books out!!!! We have been paying for the wolves out of our own pockets to help cover studies that the feds won't do. if stocking programs are done and the populations get out of control, there won't be a thing you can do..... Good luck!!!!!

Ruddyduck

Look ther have been PROVEN Mt. Lion in W.Va. ,De,N.Y., & Me. I've personally along with two other friends saw one in N.J. back in 1976 and seen one that had been shot in Me.
I can say I've never seen one in Pa. ,heck I haven't seen one yet on trips to Tx. Wy, Mt or here in Ok.either but I don't have the arrogance to think because I didn't see it they don't exist.

Phil from Maine

Cougardaville, could you please answer my questions above for us? I am not trying to discourage anything but, rather trying to get to the facts. I know what has happened up here with the Right Whales and lobster fishermen. Also what has happened to this states predator control programs. I also know what is taking place with trappers here, as a result of a chance they may catch a Canadian Lynx or a Bald Eagle in a trap.
Thank You

SteveBNy

I would really like to se the documentation for the "proof" of the proven in NY of wild ML. I am sure you have it available.

Steve

NorthPA

I believe the Delaware sightings were legit, but that was some years ago and they haven't been seen in recent years. Speculation is that they have been killed or died.
Other sightings. like in WV I believe were determined to be released pets, just like the one killed in Potter County 40 years ago.
Elk, there are no stocking programs going on here. It is just the active imagingation of some folks. We've had "ZERO" documentation of "WILD" populations of cougars --- ZIP, NADA, NONE.
But the stories of black helicopters and truckloads of ear-tagged cougars continue, (always seen by a preacher or someone who -- "would never lie), and never a shred of any proof of them is found.
No one ever explained either why, it is a secret program but our conservation agency puts visible "ear tags" in them and the truck drivers park at roadside diners and in the agency's regional office in plain view...........?
It's amazing how hundreds of breeders, trappers, WCO's, truck drivers and all of their friends and families involved in this secret project were drugged and sworn to secrey for all these years.
Hey, we even have some "black" cougars!