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Cougar migrated from South Dakota
Posted on July 26th, 2011 12 comments Add a comment >>
The mountain lion was killed by a car in Connecticut. Photo courtesy of Connecticut DEEP.
You may have read about the cougar that was killed when struck by a car in Milford, Connecticut, in June. There was a lot of speculation about where it came from. Was it a wild cougar? Was it an escaped or released pet?
The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced today that a genetic analysis revealed that the cat likely came from a wild population in South Dakota. DNA samples also revealed that it was the same animal whose movements were tracked in Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2009 and 2010.
Several years ago, in The Beast in the Garden, David Baron wrote that western mountain lions were becoming more adapted to human landscapes and had begun to migrate eastward. He predicted that it would be only a matter of time before the big cats arrived here in the East. And now we know that one, at least, made it this far.
“This is the first evidence of a mountain making its way to Connecticut from western state,” said Daniel Esty, the commissioner of Connecticut agency, “and there is still no evidence indicating that there is a native population of mountain lions in Connecticut.”
Lori Severino, a spokeswoman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, said it’s possible that the cougar passed through New York, but the department had no confirmed sightings of the cat. She added that this is the first time the department has seen proof that a cougar has migrated this far east.
Cougars once lived in the Adirondacks, but state wildlife biologists say they have been extirpated since the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, cougar sightings are reported fairly frequently. Generally, state biologists write them off as cases of mistaken identity. Any cougar that is sighted for real is thought to be a former pet.
In the July/August issue of the Adirondack Explorer, wildlife biologist Rainer Brocke argues in a Viewpoint that the Adirondacks does not have enough wilderness to support a population of cougars. Look for a rebuttal in the September/October issue, written by John Laundre, a biologist who says recent research indicates that cougars can live in proximity to humans.
That a cougar migrated 1,500 miles from South Dakota to Connecticut is a point in Laundre’s favor. On the other hand, as Brocke would note, it did get hit by a car.
Click here to read the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection news release.
11 responses to “Cougar migrated from South Dakota”
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I love your blog, you should add an RSS feed feature so I can get automatic notifications of new blogs. If you set one up please email me! i will bookmark you for now. Again Excellent Blog!
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Neat video. It is amazing to think that he swam to Canada, but he probably did. The southern rout seems fought with many other dangers (and people). This cat must have a GPS! I assume he also had his passport! It is not like the old days where any old US cat could cross into Canada without one.
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Paul, the Fish and Wildlife Service fact sheet says cougars can swim. I was told this cougar swam the St. Croix River to get from Minn. to Wisc. and that a cougar would be capable of swimming from Upper Peninsula to Canada, perhaps via islands in the river. Of course, it would have to cross the St. Lawrence to get from Canada to U.S. You can see a rare video of a swimming cougar here:
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Need to double check with an expert, but according to Mr. Google these cats can swim but don’t care much for it. It was a tough journey either way. Here is a wild piece of speculation. The one being tracked in Minnesota and Wisconsin (that they “lost”) was another Black Hill’s cat. The one in Connecticut made the whole trip undetected through Canada around the lakes?
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Phil Brown August 3rd, 2011 at 14:40
The crossing from Upper Peninsula to Ontario is pretty narrow. I need to ask a biologist how cougars are at swimming. If it was winter, he may have crossed on ice.
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The DNA analysis is impressive. I was skeptical that they would have had such markers but that shows what I know. If the animal was tracked in Minnesota and Wisconsin and they think it went into the UP pf Michigan I don’t think that it could get back into the rest of Michigan or Canada without crossing a bridge or swimming for it? If they swim well then the Upper Peninsula to Canada is the most likely (and less urban route). Then he had to get to CT through NY or New England. Amazing, what a trip!
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Phil Brown August 3rd, 2011 at 12:20
Thanks for sharing that link, Paul. There’s a good chance that the cat did travel through NYS, but we can’t know for sure.
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If you look at that story, they also speculate that going through NY was probably the route the animal took. Maybe the reason they lost it for a year was because unlike these other states that were tracking the cat NY has been in denial that a cat could ever be in a place like the Adirondacks.
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Here is more info on the id. Sounds pretty accurate. Even the scientist was surprised that they had a match:
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/332992/title/A_cougar_in_Connecticut_
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“The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced today that a genetic analysis revealed that the cat likely came from a wild population in South Dakota. DNA samples also revealed that it was the same animal whose movements were tracked in Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2009 and 2010.”
I wonder how this works? I am surprised that they have accurate genetic markers that can distinguish a South Dakota cougar from say a North Dakota cougar or from a Colorado cougar? They must have also taken scat samples in Minnesota and Wisconsin and saved them for DNA analysis to compare it to this cat. Wild. They are definitely following this carefully if all this is accurate.
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Cars are the number one terrorist of humans and other animals.
Hope some cougars set up shop in the Adirondacks. Wolves too.
Maybe a saber toothed tiger or two just for fun?
How about some car collisions with mastodons and/or mammoths?
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Name: Phil
Bio: Phil Brown has been editing the Adirondack Explorer since 1999. When he isn’t at his desk, he’s usually out hiking, paddling, skiing, or doing something else important. You can follow his adventures and his musings on the Adirondacks in the Explorer and on this blog.
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