Proceedings of the Seventh Mountain Lion Workshop

76 CRYPTIC COUGARS · Tischendorf
Alaska as well, have a consistent history of
credible puma reports, suggesting occasional
dispersal, while Manitoba Conservation
continues to recognize a stable and perhaps
growing puma population in that province
(Cahalane 1964; Weddle 1965; Kuyt 1971;
White 1982; Wrigley and Nero 1982; Robert
W. Nero, Manitoba Museum of Man and
Nature, retired, personal communication).
Cougar Comeback
Some researchers believe that pumas, as
wolves did in the northern Rocky Mountains
in the 1980s, are in fact re-colonizing many
areas in the Great Plains and central
mountains eastward (Tischendorf and
Henderson 1994). As is true for the Dakotas
and Minnesota, most of the prairie states,
including Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, and
Iowa acknowledge, if not resident then
transient occurrences of pumas (Tischendorf
and Henderson 1994; Johnson 1998, 2000).
The same is true for the eastern portions of
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Texas,
where, in some cases, sporadic puma
presence has been noted for years but where
documented occurrences of these “prairie
panthers” are clearly on the increase
(Boddicker 1980; Berg et al. 1983; Johnson
1998, 2000; Riley 1991; Roop 1971; Russ
1997).
Deer-rich riparian zones along river
systems such as the Yellowstone, Missouri,
North and South Platte, Arkansas, Canadian,
Red, and Colorado River in Texas, can
undoubtedly serve as effective corridors for
puma immigration all the way to the
southeastern Texas coast, Mississippi River,
and beyond. Additionally, the
documentation of puma deaths along
railroad tracks in Nebraska and Illinois
suggests the possibility that railroad rightof-ways
and associated brush belts may also
be effective pathways for pumas (Frank
Andelt, Nebraska Game and Parks
Commission, personal communication;
Clark et al. 2002).
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH MOUNTAIN LION WORKSHOP
The same pattern of puma recolonization
discussed above could be
occurring from the mid-continent’s northern
reaches south and eastward. For instance,
Manitoba’s puma population may be linked
with Ontario to the east and northern
Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to the
south. Conversely, if low numbers of pumas
have in fact inhabited some of these areas all
along, their acknowledged presence today
may be a function of both immigration and
numerical local growth.
In the Northeast, a similar phenomenon
of range reestablishment may be taking
place. This sentiment was first voiced by
Canadian biologist Bruce Wright, famed
World War II frogman-commando, Leopold
student, early champion for the eastern
cougar, and a strong advocate for eastern
carnivore recovery (Wright 1959, 1972;
Tischendorf 1996a; Allardyce 2001). It was
Wright’s belief that throughout European
man’s settlement of the region panthers
persisted in the central highlands of New
Brunswick and by the mid-1900s were, like
the spokes of a wheel, re-populating and
reclaiming their former range in the East.
This belief, while perennially difficult to
reconcile with the lack of confirmed puma
populations in New Brunswick, or anywhere
else in the East outside of Florida, is
exemplified by growing numbers of not
simply puma reports, but of highly credible
or even verified puma reports (Gerson 1988,
Cumberland and Dempsey 1994, Snow
1994, Stocek 1995, Bolgiano et al. 2000).
These include specimens, scats, tracks, and
videotapes depicting these cats across a wide
geographical zone extending essentially
from Ontario to Newfoundland and
southward to Georgia.
In the northeast USA, Maine and New
York are perhaps the most promising in
terms of numbers of credible puma reports.
One rather compelling report from Maine
involved a shaken hunter who, at extremely