Why will the MNR not respond to the questions regarding cougars?

[Guest lacman]

Why will the MNR not respond to questions regarding how to deal with cougars?

Can they be treated as nuisance animals and shot if they pose a danger to people, children or pets?

[Guest MNR]

Cougar Sightings;

The Thunder Bay District of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources has been receiving on average six reports of cougar sightings from within the district each year. Some years there may be more, some years less. The reports come from all over, Armstrong, Shebandowan, Pass Lake and recently from the rural area near the City of Thunder Bay.

The closest confirmed populations of wild cougars are in South Dakota, which is about 2,000 kilometers (km) away. However, cougars have been documented moving great distances and there is the possibility of natural migration of cougars into Ontario from adjacent jurisdictions. For example, a cougar recently killed in Chicago was shown (genetically) to have dispersed from South Dakota. Another cougar dispersed (1,500 km) from South Dakota to Minnesota and into Manitoba (verified by radio-telemetry). Recently (November 2008), a cougar was photographed in Manitoba 100 km from the Ontario border.

When a call comes in, the caller is asked to describe what exactly they witnessed in detail. Location, time of day, distance from viewer, animal’s activity, size, colour and length of time the animal was viewed. Some callers are not completely convinced themselves of the possibility that what they saw could have been a cougar. Some callers too cannot provide enough detail to make their call seem credible. However, there are some that describe what could only be a cougar. In Thunder Bay, there has never been a confirmed report (physical evidence) of a cougar.

There have been numerous reported sightings of cougars within Ontario; however, upon investigation the majority of these have been misidentifications of other animals such as cats, coyotes, bobcats, lynx, dogs, juvenile white-tailed deer and fishers.

In March of 1997, Lillian Anderson, a Fish and Wildlife Technician at the Ministry of Natural Resources in Kenora, Ontario, found fresh tracks and scat that looked like those of a cougar. The scat was sent to the Environmental Protection Services, Fish and Wildlife Division, Forensic Lab in Edmonton, Alberta, for identification. The scat was confirmed to be 'consistent with the cougar and inconsistent with the lynx', which indicated the possible presence of cougars in the Kenora.

Cougars (the animal and their tracks) can easily be confused with several other species of animals including, lynx, fisher, house cats, domestic dogs, coyotes, wolf, fox and bear. Confusing any of these animals for a cougar could easily be done under low light conditions, from a distance, only seeing a portion of the animal or for a brief amount of time.

The MNR has set trail cameras out and will continue to do so in areas where credible reports of cougar sightings originate.

Cougars are listed as endangered in Ontario under the Endangered Species Act (2007).

To date, there has not been undisputable evidence of cougars in Ontario. MNR’s role is to collect information on potential sightings.

For more information select the link below:

www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/Species/index.html