Ontario lions

[Emily]

http://www.guelphmercury.com/news/local ... uelph-area


Big cats sighted in the Guelph area


Cougar research A female cougar cub (right) and male cub were among the cougars shown in a recent Canadian TV documentary Cougar Crossings. New research on the big cats adds weight to the theory that their habitat includes the Guelph area. Mercury News Services file photo
ELORA — A recently-released study by a provincial wildlife research scientist Rick Rosatte cites a body of evidence in recent decades confirming cougars are resident in Ontario and eastern North America.

The Rosatte study includes a 2010 trail camera photograph of a melanistic jaguar (black panther) prowling in a Guelph-area field. Kenn suggested it’s an escaped exotic animal. Jaguars are large, spotted-fur cats similar in size to cougars, which sport plain, tawny coats. Cougars, also called pumas or mountain lions, are stalking predators, particularly of deer.

Among the study’s findings is almost 500 pieces of evidence gathered between 1991 and 2010 “that confirms the presence of Cougar in Ontario.” It boasts a 2007 photograph of a cougar in the Orillia-Coldwater area.

Local environmentalist Mike Nagy said cougars have likely always been in Ontario, though government efforts to cull them in the 1800s and 1900s led to a big decline.

But removing top predators like cougars risks ecosystem decline, he warned.

Exact numbers aren’t known. “They’re very difficult to spot because they’re generally frightened of humans.” They’ve stalked people, notably children, in rare instances when hunger overcomes this, like the boy mauled on Vancouver Island last fall, so caution is advised.

‘Going around persecuting them really isn’t the answer,” Nagy said.

Elora resident Ken Musselman said he’s not surprised by the Rosatte study’s findings.

“If somebody told me they saw a cougar in the area, I wouldn’t question it,” said Musselman, recalling an encounter with a large cat several years ago on a family farm just south of Elora that still gives him pause.

A visiting boy gathering sticks for a camp fire in June, 2008 saw a large cat. Musselman said he couldn’t verify the boy’s sighting, but did note something making cat-like sounds moving through a field of wheat.

The provincial Ministry of Natural Resources suggested it could have been a smaller relative of the cougar, Musselman said. “We have nothing to confirm that.” Whatever it was, it was much larger than a pet feline, he stressed.

“I’m convinced it was a wild cat,” Musselman said.

In summer, 2006, a woman jogger reported seeing a small cougar in Nichol Township, with Wellington OPP subsequently advising residents to be cautious when it disappeared into the wild.

An Ontario Puma Foundation compilation of sightings “suggests an increasing presence of Cougars in Ontario.”

President Stuart Kenn, of Beeton, Ont., near Barrie, said several on Guelph’s outskirts are among the purported sightings. They include Niska Road in 2006, Victoria Road South in 2009 and Old Brock Road near Highway 401 in 2010.

He estimated Ontario cougars, an endangered species, number 500 to 600, with his organization working on increasing this through a recovery strategy and management plan to 1,000 or more, similar to Alberta’s population.

“That would be sustainable,” Kenn explained.

[Ker_man]

Thanks for posting Emily. I really like seeing these articles you find.

[Emily]

My pleasure, Ker-man.

Here's a link to the complete academic paper (its on an anti-hunting site), complete with pictures

http://www.easterncougar.org/pdfs/Couga ... osatte.pdf

seems dubious, but who knows?