Re(1): The Fishy CT Cougar Story IP: 184.13.224.56 Posted on December 17, 2013 at 12:31:45 PM by Grasshoppeer
The Connecticut cougar was confirmed by DNA analysis of scats and hair in three states before it was killed in Milford, CT on June 11, 2001. – in Champlin, a suburb north of Minneapolis, Minnesota on December 5, 2009; at Willow Lake Preserve, between St. Paul and the Wisconsin border on December 11, 2009; on February 15, 2010 in southern Bayfield County in north-central Wisconsin; and at Lake George, New York on December 17, 2010.
It was not confirmed in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. There is a photo of a cat taken at night by a remote camera on the Upper Peninsula near the Wisconsin border, but it was never ground truthed. Even if it had been, it so blurry that it could just well have been a housecat.
I wrote an article about the Connecticut cougar here - http://www.easterncougar.org/newltr_pdf/crfnew_sept11.pdf
We can’t say for sure that the CT cougar came from the Black Hills because the Hills were recolonized from western Wyoming and Montana, and today young males disperse back and back between WY, MT and South Dakota.
Some speculate that people transported the cougar from Wisconsin to New York. We know wildlife professionals move animals long distances within their states, including trouble making bears. But why would someone transport a single male cougar to New York? If they wanted to reintroduce cougars to the East, why not bring in a pair, or at least a female?