Check out what the media has to say about eastern cougars!
Google news search shows around 400 results for news stories about the eastern cougar review. We had around 30 press calls yesterday and continue to have calls today.
We have had close to 100 views of this blog, which launched yesterday. Almost 50 readers have already told us their cougar stories. Keep sending them our way!
Here’s a snapshot of stories on the big screen.
Associated Press:
Federal researchers declare eastern cougar extinct, March 2
ALLENTOWN, Pa. – The "ghost cat" is just that. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Wednesday declared the eastern cougar to be extinct, confirming a widely held belief among wildlife biologists that native populations of the big cat were wiped out by man a century ago.
NPR:
Fish And Wildlife Service: Eastern Cougar's Extinct, March 2
The 8-foot-long cat once roamed from Canada to South America. The Eastern Cougar died out as its habitat disappeared.
The New York Times:
Eastern Cougar Is Declared Extinct, With an Asterisk, March 3
Seven decades after the last reported sighting of the eastern cougar, the federal Fish and Wildlife Service declared it extinct Wednesday and recommended that it be removed from the nation’s endangered species list.
CNN blog:
Eastern cougar declared extinct, confirming decades of suspicion, March 2
The eastern cougar has been declared extinct by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, confirming decades of suspicion that the elusive subspecies was no more.
Postmedia news:
U.S. agency declares Eastern cougar extinct, despite sightings, March 3
Did the cat come back? Or has the Eastern cougar -despite hundreds of reported sightings in recent decades -been dead and gone for 73 years? It appears the answer depends on which side of the Canada-U.S. border the question is asked.
Christian Science Monitor:
Eastern cougar declared extinct by US government, March 3
The US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the eastern cougar to be officially extinct, Wednesday. The cougar is also known to many as the catamount, ghost cat, mountain cat, mountain lion, panther, or puma. The eastern cougar has been thought by many to differ from its western counterpart in its tawny color and longer tail.
USA Today:
Eastern cougar officially declared extinct, March 3
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has officially declared the eastern cougar extinct, 79 years after the last one was reported in the wild in the United States.
McClatchy Newspapers:
Eastern cougars no longer exist in eastern part of U.S., report finds, March 2
COLUMBIA, S.C. A study to see if eastern cougars exist in 21 eastern U.S. states has confirmed a long-held belief: The native cats are extinct in this part of the country.
Daily Hampshire Gazette:
Eastern mountain lion declared extinct, but local observers skeptical, March 3
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Wednesday that the agency's wildlife biologists have concluded the eastern mountain lion is extinct, but local believers said the declaration is contradicted by dozens of reported local sightings.
I take issue with your announcement and action. The panther (cougar) is very much alive in Vermont. As you can see below, I have written a letter to the editor of an area newspaper expressing my displeasure. As stated, there have been sightings here in my Town of Weathersfield, Vermont during the past 60 years, and as recently as the past decade. One was seen near the village of Perkinsville, one on a back road at the base of Mount Ascutney, one on a seldom used dirt road in a remote area near my home. If you want to argue that people do not know what they are seeing, then you are more narrow minded than I think you are. A panther (cougar) is something one does NOT forget seeing due to their large size, color, and very long rope like tail curled upward. I was roughly twelve years of age when I saw a panther loping across our farm field in the late 1940's. It then went over the wooded bank down to the brook. My mouth hung open is amazement and awe at what I was seeing.
If you want information about sightings in Vermont, start using your computer search engines instead of motion activated cameras scattered in arbitrarily chosen places. A man named Harold Hitchcock who lived in Middlebury VT documented any and all sightings. You will find numerous websites regarding him. In fact I will do you a favor and email you the "Yahoo Search" I just did. Mr. Hitchcock spoke at one of our Weathersfield Historical Society programs in the 1980's or so about his work.
As you know (or I presume you do) the cougar is a very elusive creature, not given to showing itself. When one is seen, it is by pure chance in being in the right place at the right time. Believe me, your cameras are no excuse to remove this magnificent animal from the Endangered Species List!
Mountsin lion captured on game camera. Video! They are here!!!!!