Re(4): New Female Disperser Evidence Continued IP: 50.241.112.193 Posted on June 3, 2015 at 11:53:24 PM by weather01089
"There is very little actual evidence in Ontario or Quebec."
There is very little evidence except the 500 examples (sic) that they’ve found so far in Ontario. In addition to that body of proof, there are four dead cougars, other data bases, and numerous class I and II confirmations in all four provinces. Your statements are further evidence that you are ignoring current evidence present. Your contentious obstructionism is designed to confuse readers of this blog about what’s going on in the Northeast.
The estimates are based on sightings.
Estimates are based on sighting reports which include those by officials. All the available evidence and numerous confirmations were taken into consideration as well. The sightings are backed up by irrefutable evidence. Should we ignore them? Not a chance.
"We have learned that sightings alone cannot be used to estimate populations.
"
Who is "we"? Thompson, for one, holds the opposite view on sighting reports and he is very in tune with all of this.
This statement expresses your parochial viewpoint but ignores the real purpose of collecting sighting reports. Observation reports were solicited from citizens by the Canadian government to determine where mountain lions are being seen in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. It didn’t pin point their locations or tell them much about diet, breeding status or other factors but it did give officials a sense of where lions were present over a period of years. That’s all we want to do with them as well, not make guesses about total numbers, or determine home ranges size or what prey they are taking.
' In his report published in 2011, Rick Rosette recognized 21 Class 1 pieces of evidence between 1991 and 2010. That's a pitiful tally considering the size of the province.'
It’s not pitiful.... it’s absolutely astounding when you consider how much it conflicts what you and others in your group have been claiming for years about cougars in the East. Just admit you were wrong and make the necessary adjustments in the web site before some other spectacular piece of evidence comes out that will make things even worse.
"We are also hoping and praying that female Florida panthers will start crossing the Caloosahatchee River into central Florida. "
Save your prayers for the cougars presently occupying Connecticut that the DEEP doesn’t decide to shoot them. There already have been rumblings to community officials about this. But wait, I thought they weren't there?
Maybe female Panthers simply don’t need to cross. Florida cougars are not that numerous and a population saturation point hasn’t been reached. The pressures of limited space and resources are not compelling females to disperse like they do in the Black Hills. Until that happens, they may be content to establish home ranges right where they are (phiopatric).
" Even better, that panthers are reintroduced into the Okefenokee ecosystem on the Georgia-Florida border. From there, cougars/panthers could conceivably recolonize the East."
You mean recolonized by motorized dispersal? That seems to be your method of choice. Why stop in Georgia? Send the convoy of trucks to the Quabbin and dump a whole load of them. Panthers are the closest relative of the eastern cougar. As a minimum, it will improve the gene pool of Massachusetts pumas and increase the frequency of natural reproduction. That in turn, would speed up the reoccupation of NE. There are plenty of deer and other prey. MassWildlife said it would be exciting to have them back in the Commonwealth. They would be afforded protection like any indigenous animal. That sounds like an open invitation, if you ask me. Drivers, start your engines (sic).
If trucking Panthers up here is a good method why haven’t you considered reintroducing native cougars into New England by moving them from eastern Canada? You might get lucky and come across a relic eastern cat? That make more sense than bringing in cats from Montana. When cougars were brought into Florida to correct a limited gene pool and birth defects, biologists selected the nearest relative- Texas cougars. Moving eastern cats from Quebec to Maine would make a lot of sense. Some are already here, no doubt, but this would speed up the process of reoccupation. Gauthier’s highest estimate is 100 mountain lions in Quebec. Ontario has many more. Surely, some of these must be females. With an expert tracker, Chris on your team, you should be able to locate one in a relatively short period of time. Have you considered that yet? Why not?
Laruen documented 178 confirmations in Mid-America. A number of cougars have been shot, and road killed there. Michigan as 31 confirmations, including one killed in the UP and will get even more evidence when it gets around to sending teams to the LP.
Canada has confirmations in 3 provinces and among the other researchers, few have no doubt they are present in significant numbers in the 4th. New England and New York have recorded a series of events which include road kills, 3 knockdowns, observations by police, wildlife officers, college professors and other trained observers along with the recovery of irrefutable evidence in almost every state. Do you really think Florida Panthers are going to move north and reoccupy the East? What alternative reality world do you live? By the time Panthers reach Washington, DC-assuming they ever make it that far, 50 years will have gone by. At that point, cougars in the northeast will so numerous sport hunting will be allowed in some states and they’ll be showing up on Long Island and on Martha's Vineyard.
This is a classic example of a red herring. The moment advocates start looking at confirmations and population studies in eastern Canada and realize this region is and continues to be a likely source of mountain lions in New England, you and Chris immediately go on the offensive, trying to convince others that Florida, more than 1300 miles away and not Quebec or Nova Scotia which border the state of Maine, is where mountain lions will likely migrate from. This is right out of the “Twilight Zone”. Its only 225 miles from the last relocated cougar in Canada to the CT border. Lets use some common sense.