Cougar/Puma in the Rouge.

[Tyler]

I agree With David.

Is it a legitimate wild Cougar 99.9% not. Is there a cougar in the rouge valley probably 1-2 over the last 20 years. Lots of people keeps cougars unfortunately. However are they wild and will they colonize possible former territories once they are released by the ill informed owners is no. Cougar is a large top level predator that needs ALOT of room per territory and alot of prey. Legitimate wild animals have not been known for a long time. They have to re/colonize from a source wild populations which for eastern canada has not been stated. There is documented fact of grizzlies recolonizing eastward through Nunavut towards Hudson Bay. However it is very slowly. If the is a real wild grizzly in Ontario in my life time roaming the forests I will be quite pleasantly surprised. Cougars on the other hand, have not been legitimately documented. Tooo many animals are in captivity by non zoological owners in Ontario and eastern Canada. And these animals released by owners, even good intentioned owners are not true Cougars in the whole sense.

[Anonymous]

You bring up an interesting point re: domestic cougars.  In this case, however, I really do believe that there are wild cougars somewhere in the province of Ontario and that the ones in question aren't ones which have been released by their owners/handlers.  Also, with regards to cougar sightings in the Rouge Valley, there are way more than 1-2 over the last 20 years.  I don't know the exact numbers, but I know they are greater than that and not all of them correspond to escapes from the zoo, which number I believe 4 during that time period.

With regards to people who mistake another animal for a cougar, I don't know if I agree with that.  In my opinion, there really isn't anything out there that could pass for a cougar, apart from maybe a very large golden retriever.  With that being said, there are still plenty of differences between the two such as coat length, tail length, and musculature.  I'm curious as to what type of animal you believe is being misidentified?

Finally, I do put a lot of faith into what the Ontario Puma Association says for a couple of reasons - they are an organization which is specific to the research of the cat and no other species of animals, and it is clear that they work closely with the MNR to find hopeful evidence of the cougars existence here in Ontario.  It is the same feelings that I harbour for the Canadian Peregrine Foundation, of which I am a member.

Cheers, Attila

[Anonymous]

Funny how when you raise a point it seems to make it into the news in short order....

Jaguar killed after escaping from Ont. reserve

The Canadian Press

BRACEBRIDGE, Ont.

[David Shilman]

What a sickening story.  An "exotic animal reserve"...when will these roadside zoos be regulated?

[David Shilman]

Many of you know David Sibley from his superb field guides.  He is a reputable birder, and writes thoughtfully about bird identification.  If you go to his blog here - http://sibleyguides.blogspot.com/search ... g%20basics - and read the entry for Tuesday October 30, "Certainty in sight records".  He makes some excellent points regarding identification/misidentification of species.

I believe this is a great example of how one's eyes and mind can "play tricks".  What could some of these mistaken cougar sightings actually be?  Almost anything.

[Craig McL]

I have bin reading this string with great interest !! this type of message has come up over the years on this sight !! one I asked Andy to remove after some slanderous remarks wear mead , showing how far things can go .  

But Dave has proven in his last post just how fare the wonderful world of natcher can go with playing tricks on us. If you haven’t tack in the time to reed Sibley,s (as posted by Dave ) pleas do its worth it !

and also lets keep our self’s above slander on this Index !! Pleas….all is going well so far .

Thanks again

Craig

[Faunistic]

What a sickening story.  An "exotic animal reserve"...when will these roadside zoos be regulated?

And to boot, this clown was previously charged by OMNR for keeping 5 or 6 (can't remember exact number) species of native mammalian wildlife even though he had not authorization to do so.

MNR is far too easy on operations like this. I am with you, there is no need whatsoever for this type of operation. If you want to see non-native species, go to a REAL zoo.

If you want to see native wildlife, why not consider hiking, canoeing, camping, snowshoeing....[/list]

[Craig McL]

I agree  that the last post was inapproprite and I have removed the last 2 posts from the threed !! this is the first time I have had to do this and I ask agane for all to play nice so I wont have to remove the hole post !

thanks for your help with this

Craig

[Axeman]

Personally, as a Lurker, I found GStuart's post funny...entertaining...one of the reasons I come to this board...entertainment. Now I can say for sure though, that the budgie was not eaten by the cougar. Budgies carry a gene that manufactures an enhanced gene product protein that is fatally inconsistent with the feline digestive system. All felines are able to detect the presence of the toxic gene product and avoid ingesting it.

We have had rumours of a cougar in Grey county for a few years now...the gentleman who heads up OPF has told me that he believes it is a dispersed male from a female in the Tara area...a local farmer has told me that the belief is that there are now 2, a male and female in the area.

I believe but cannot say for sure that I found tracks near my property that were cougar tracks...and they dwarfed my dog's tracks -- he was a neapolitan mastiff (he passed away on Dec 18). (I did find tracks...but I am not sure if they were in fact cougar tracks...no nails...they looked like cougar tracks but this was a comparison from memory a day later) and I am certain that I have heard a cougar near my home.

Now what gets me though, are the persistent rumours that "The Ministry" is secretly releasing cougars to prey on deer and wild turkeys. So um can anyone tell me why the plural of turkey is turkeys and not turkies?