Proceedings of the Seventh Mountain Lion Workshop

awareness of the puma in the state (Lynn
Robbins, Southwest Missouri State
University, personal communication). As
noted above, recent credible reports of
females with kittens have also originated
from both Vermont and Maine. Many other
instances of apparent puma breeding in the
East were discussed by Wright (1972). Such
isolated incidents are certainly not
unequivocal proof of a puma population or
breeding, but in the big picture they do tend
to support the belief that at least a few
pumas are present and sporadic reproduction
is occurring.
Predator Parallels - Bobcat, Black Bear,
Jaguar, and Coyote
Many of those skeptical of puma
presence in eastern North America cite the
vast suburbanization and urbanization of the
region as an effective limiting factor. Yet, if
populations of the versatile puma can exist
in human dense areas of California,
Colorado, and Florida, the species could
surely inhabit portions of the East and
Midwest, especially given the high
populations of deer, feral hogs, and other,
mid-sized and smaller game found
throughout the region. Furthermore, other
eastern carnivores including bobcats, black
bears, and wolves are apparently acclimating
to evolving habitats and human presence and
expanding their populations and/or ranges
(Stoll 1996). Benchmarking with these
species supports the contention that the even
more elastic puma can do the same. A
similar comparison can be made with the
jaguar (Panthera onca) in the West, which,
while noted in the region only rarely for
decades, has been probing borderland
Mexico-Arizona-New Mexico habitat with
increasing frequency in recent years (Brown
and Lopez-Gonzalez 2000).
The coyote provides an additional case
study in relation to the possible existence of
the puma east of the Rocky Mountains
(Tischendorf 1994b). This adaptable, mid-
PROCEEDINGS OF THE SEVENTH MOUNTAIN LION WORKSHOP
CRYPTIC COUGARS · Tischendorf 79
sized, quintessentially western carnivore
arrived on the midwestern and eastern
landscape as a veritable newcomer in
approximately the 1960s and 70s (Gerry
Parker, Canadian Wildlife Service, retired,
personal communication). Similar to what
transpires today with many puma reports,
coyote presence was initially refuted or
attributed to feral individuals or
hybridization with dogs. In retrospect, these
assessments were not entirely correct. It is a
convincing reflection of the regional habitat
quality and prey base that so successfully
has the species colonized the eastern half of
the continent it is today a thriving, legally
trapped, hunted, and pursued game animal.
If the puma is as adaptable as its history
suggests, then intuitively it is simply a
matter of time before it follows the coyote’s
lead.
Biolegal Issues
While current theories support the
contention that North American pumas are
genetically panmictic, the Endangered
Species Act (ESA) specifically identifies
only the subspecies P. c. couguar (the
supposed true “eastern puma”) and P. c.
coryi (the “Florida panther” or more
correctly “southern puma” [Greenwell
1996:18, 36]) as endangered (Florida
Panther Interagency Committee 1993,
Greenwell 1996, Culver et al 2000).
Florida, with its mongrel mix of native,
Texan, “Piper”, and illicitly released
animals, has overcome this issue by working
with the federal government to enact
similarity of appearance protection laws for
all of its pumas. Thus, Florida’s pumas,
regardless of origin, now all fall under the
convenient, albeit taxonomically outdated
umbrella moniker of “Florida panther”
(Alvarez 1993).
Elsewhere in the East and the Midwest
there exists much confusion and feline
filibustering about what constitutes a puma
meriting ESA protection versus one that can