Eastern Cougar - Views From Canada

Views From Canada

A 1998 study for Canada's national Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada concluded "that there is no objective evidence (actual cougar specimens or other unequivocal confirmation) for the continuous presence of cougars since the last century anywhere in eastern Canada or the eastern United States outside of Florida.". Based on this, in 1999, the magazine Canadian Geographic reported that for the previous half century, a debate over whether or not Canada's eastern woods host a cougar species all its own has raged. "Now the answer appears to be 'no.' Experts say past sightings were cases of mistaken identification."

However, the Canadian committee's Web site as of 2011 says that data is "insufficient" to draw conclusions regarding the subspecies’continued existence, or even whether it ever existed at all.

In March 2011, an official with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources stated that cougars are present in the province. This official said individual cougars in Ontario may be escaped zoo animals or pets or may have migrated from the western parts of North America.

As in the eastern U.S., there have been numerous cougar sightings reported by Canadians in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia

The privately run Ontario Puma Foundation estimates that there are 550 Pumas in the province and their numbers are increasing steadily to a sustainable population.