(from Canada's Outdoor Sportsman magazine, March/April 2000)
Typos are mine.
The eastern cougar was once believed to be extirpated from eastern Canada but, with the flood of evidence over the past 10 years, biologists believe a remnant population may still exist. Since 1985, there have been 125 reported cougar sightings in the province of Quebec, with the majority of these coming out of the Abitibi-Temiscamingue region.
One of the more recent cougar sightings was in 1993 by an American bear hunter south of Temiscamingue. While the hunter waited patiently in his tree stand for a bear to visit his bait site, he watched as a long brown cat-like figure moved through the brush past his stand. By all accounts of what he described, there was little doubt the animal was a cougar. Many such reports have filtered into the Ministry of the Environment and Wildlife office over the past few years. More often the reports were of tracks and glimpses of phantom cougars, while others were closer encounters.
In 1992, a resident of St.Lambert-de-Desmeloizes in the Abitibi region, actually shot an animal that was believed to be an eastern cougar and it was subsequently mounted and placed in a museum. Preserved tissue samples were later examined by biologists for DNA composition. Sadly, it was discovered that the cougar had the genetic makeup of the sub-specie from South America. Speculation began to grow that the cougar that was shot was simply an escapee from a zoo or exotic wildlife park.
Could this explain the dozens of cougar sightings each year? Biologists are skeptical that all of the cougars seen in the province could have been captive, but that a hybrid animal is a possibility. They also feel so strongly about the possibility of the eastern cougar still existing, that they have begun a project to hopefully lure in, live-trap, and radio-collar a cougar.
The Abitibi region is a perfect area for the cougar to flourish considering the number of game available. All Quebec outdoorsmen are urged to use extreme caution if confronted by a cougar, but to report any sign or sightings to the nearest ministry office.
Jeffrey Morrison.