The Eastern cougar is extinct. That's official. Well, maybe. We still get sighting reports, and now we have a dead cat to explain. The 140-pound animal was killed by an SUV on a highway only 70 miles from New York City.
It may be this animal was an escaped or released captive (one hesitates to say "pet," although that could have been the case). Expert examination can usually identify the signs of a caged animal that has not been exposed to the stresses of life in the wild. I will look forward to further information on this case.
The sighting reports of Eastern cougars, though, will continue in any case. Most of them are misidentifications, but I don't think all of them are. If I had to bet, I'd bet the government experts got this one wrong.
THANKS TO: eyeofnewt@att.net, who posted this to the Cryptolist email group.
1 comment:
I am a big hmmm... fan??? of cougars. And I keep up with the going ons with them as much as possible. Even have a section on my website dedicated to cougars.
Anyway most of the cougars that turn up were they aren't suppose to be invariably passed off by wildlife agencies as most likely escaped pets, although that is starting to change now as they have been proven wrong so many times in the past.
Well when this one turned up I figured (unlike I normally do) that this one was indeed most probably an escaped pet. That is a logical assumption given this cougars circumstances.
Well apparently no cage wear on feet, no tatoos, wasn't declawed and no collar. So outwardly there is no sign that it has ever been in captivity.
DNA testing and parasite load will likely confirm it one way or the other. But my whole point in all of this is even with this already known data and conclusive data coming the idiots reported that it is most likely an escaped pet.
Why would they say something like that. That's stupid. They may turn out to be right but it is still stupid to come out and say you believe it is an escaped pet even though the only evidence so far suggest that it is not!
Post a Comment