Eastern cougar, also known as mountain lion, puma, or catamount, is the big cats that were once common in the Adirondacks. In fact, there are places called Panther Mountain, which overlooks Panther Pond and Panther Marsh, which is a sign that there probably used to be panthers in its mountains. Before the 19th century, the cougar was abundant across America and was the most widely distributed land mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
However, eventually, it was listed as an endangered species under NYS’ Endangered Species Law in 1973 – what was going on then?
During the 1500s, European settlers were first unaware of the cougars in Eastern North America until they saw the cats as a threat to both themselves and their livestock after acknowledging their size and predatory habits. Those settlers soon started to eliminate them with a combination of mass cougar hunting, market deer hunting and deforestation, which had “successfully” led the cougar population to near extinction by 1900.
Fortunately, the cougars did not go extinct, but the number is still critically low today. The Adirondacks haven’t been able to confirm any or any sustainable breeding population after decades since its placement in Endangered Species Act.
To promote the recovery of the cougar population, a project called Cougar Watch has been active to record public sightings of cougars in and around the Adirondack Park. In fact, there have been some regular reports of cougar sightings, however, many federal and state wildlife officials believe those spotted mountain lions are not native in the area – either ones that escaped or released, or perhaps migrated from west to east. Hence, there are more to be done and is a long way to go.
Even though currently, there are no active plans in action to restore the cougars to the Adirondacks, a result from a study, “Predicting support for re-colonization of mountain lions (Puma concolor) in the Adirondack Park” showed that many more than expected Adirondack respondents were supportive of recolonization of mountain lions. It is also interesting how 69.8% of residents supported the hypothetical idea of mountain lions naturally returning to the Park and only 35.7% supported the return but releasing them intentionally. Of course, 41.3% of the residents indicated concerns of lions being back around. This is an inevitable issue regarding the co-existence of wildlife and humans that the park has to combat.
One of the motivations behind their return is an ecological reason, which is to control the white-tailed deer population that has rapidly increased under new regulations and conservation programs after being almost extinct at the beginning of the 20th century. Michaels Robinson, a scientist of the Center for Biological Diversity in Washington, DC, quoted in an article for National Geographic that “it should be a clarion call to recover pumas and all our apex predators to sustainable levels to help rebalance a world that is out-of-killer.”
Another motivation comes from the name “cougar”, which comes from the Amazonian Tupi, meaning “false deer”. It suggests how the lives of predators and their prey depend on each other in the ecosystem and also how this delicate balance of nature has been disturbed by humans (or settlers).
The last motivation could be that the big cats were believed to be noble and powerful among the Native Americans. Many tribes had Panther as a major clan animal and incorporated them into legendary tales, which indicates the importance of the big cats in their cultures and lives. It is also interesting since this might have led to another conflict between the settlers and the indigenous people back then.
The expectation and hope for wildlife managers to seriously consider communications and public outreach strategy about cougars are high and big, but until then, we should keep our eyes wide open for any signs of a cougar when walking in the Adirondacks.
Citations:
- 1. https://www.saranaclake.com/story/2016/10/adirondack-panthers-then-and-now
- 2. https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2019/06/no-evidence-of-native-cougars-in-the-adirondacks.html#comments
- 3. https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2019/10/nys-endangered-list-changes-would-remove-cougars-wolves-more.html#comments
- 4. https://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2015/08/study-adirondackers-support-return-of-cougars.html
- 5. https://www.protectadks.org/programs/cougar-watch/
- 6. https://medium.com/@roccomarinelli/cougars-in-the-adirondacks-of-new-york-83f7fa52ebf
I really enjoyed how you gave the historical context to this topic, Saki. I was unaware of the significance of cougars to the Native American populations that proceeded western settlers. I wonder how the local extinction of cougars had an effect on the Adirondack ecosystem, kind of like wolves and Yellowstone National Park, considering that cougars are a top predator.
This is an awesome topic. I was unaware that mountain lions were so abundant in the Adirondacks or that they could be referred to as panthers, catamounts, and pumas. However, it would make sense that they would be common in this area as the panther is the Middlebury mascot and the catamount is UVM’s. Anyways, it would be interesting to see what the right way to reintroduce these animals into the Adirondack Park. If the animals were introduced in the wrong way or area (not enough food, too clustered, etc.) it could potentially lead to conflicts between mountain lions and humans. How do you balance the importance of the lions in the ecosystem of the Adirondack Park with the safety of its residents?