As some of you know, the mountain lion used to be found in the Eastern parts of North America as well as the West. They were then shot to near extinction by white settlers, much like the bison, wolf, elk, and countless other species. In recent decades there has been a movement to reintroduce bison to the plains (or what’s left of them), and it is going pretty well. Considering the success of these projects, could the same be done for the Mountain Lions? I know that the public would be harder to convince since cougars are not big fluffy cows but fierce predators, but could it be done? Is someone already doing this? What are your thoughts?
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I think “hard to convince” is an understatement given how Red Wolf reintroductions have gone / are going in the east (and Gray Wolf conservation elsewhere). And I think people are even more fearful of large cats than they are of wolves.
I would be pro reintroductions if the Eastern subspecies was still extant. But I think the hurtles are too great and the benefits too few to reintroduce subspecies that never occurred here. I think efforts are better spent conserving those subspecies where they naturally occur.
The only ecological benefit I see is the potential for deer population control, but I don’t think the cultural carrying capacity will tolerate enough individual pumas to have a meaningful impact on the deer overpopulation.
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What do you mean? I’m pretty sure they still exist in the west.
We humans used to be cat food (in Africa), so people don’t like big cats.
For every iNatter who would love to make big cat observations, there are a hundred people calling the police because they heard a bobcat is loose in their neighbourhood.
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Not sure the various subspecies of cougar in North America are even recognized anymore. As I recall (don’t have my references available) the North Am cougars are now considered all the same including the Florida panther.
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I live in a rural subdivision in Oklahoma where, a few years ago, a Mountain Lion was seen by several people. On our subdivision website, the first question people asked was, “If it’s on my property, can I legally shoot it?”
I would love to have cougars be more common in my area, but I’m afraid they wouldn’t last long.
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They may be reintroducing themselves. I saw a cougar cross CR-14/1 stalking 2 Whitetails on South Fork Mountain in West Virginia about 10 years ago. WV DNR says there are none in WV, they are wrong.
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Yes, there have been several confirmed cougar sightings in Michigan. Between 2019 and 2023, there were 44 confirmed big cat sightings in Michigan
Read More: CONFIRMED COUGAR VIDEO: 43 Photos of Michigan’s Apex Predator | https://99wfmk.com/cougar-sightings-michigan-43-photos/
Moderator Note: I edited the above link to remove tracking info
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https://a-z-animals.com/animals/mountain-lion/mountain-lion-facts/mountain-lions-west-virginia/
"Even though there are no official mountain lion populations in the state, West Virginia residents regularly report sightings. And it is no surprise. The state has an extremely rugged country, one of the ideal habitats for mountain lions.
State officials recognize that the sightings occur and don’t doubt the veracity of many stories. But they assert that in cases of positive mountain lion sightings, the reason is man-made. Often that means the mountain lion was released from or escaped captivity.
For example, in 1976, state officials found two western mountain lions. Since western mountain lions are not native to the region, they had obviously gotten released into the area by someone. Wildlife officials captured those mountain lions and transferred them to their natural habitat.
Other mountain lion sightings are a case of mistaken identity. However, officials do not explain what animals residents may be seeing. And it is unclear whether wildlife officials investigate reported mountain lion sightings."
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Yeah, but it’s slow.
There are currently only two recognized subspecies of Cougar - one in North America and one in South America. So the subspecies that occurred in eastern North America is still extant. (And even if the subspecies reclassification never happened, the eastern subspecies is still extant in Florida).
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The endangered Florida panther population has been augmented with cougars from Texas to compensate for inbreeding, based on the assumption there was formerly gene flow across the southern US before the Florida population became isolated. Which lends support to the idea there never was any real subspecific differentiation in North Am. But the old taxonomy still lives on for some.
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Some say that we shouldn’t reintroduce species because there are new ecosystems without them. But I don’t see any evidence that this is the case.
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Overabundant large prey are their own danger, maybe more than their predators, but I don’t really know because they’re all gone here, though I know 3 people who got into significant car accidents caused by whitetail in the last couple years.
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This has been on my mind quite a bit recently. Habitat-wise, it’s more than possible. Politics-wise, it’s impossible in most places.
There’s headway to be gained with decent economic-based arguments, though. Deer overpopulation causes a lot of economic harm.
Here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Pennsylvania/comments/1ilhoia/comment/mbzkslb/
Also, check out the book Deer Wars by Bob Frye.
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From my experience in eastern Massachusetts, where deer are over-abundant (in the sense of causing harm to humans), neither hunting nor large carnivores (cougars, wolves) will control deer populations, as there are simply too many people for hunting with shotguns to be safe and too many people for large carnivores to maintain self-sustaining populations.
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Depends on recognized by who? The USFWS still recognizes separate subspecies. Eastern Couger (P. c. couguar) and Florida Panthers (P. c. coryi) were/are not considered the same subspecies.
Regardless of whether or not they deserve subspecies status, the eastern population has been extirpated and I don’t see a point to reintroductions unless we were actually able/trying to preserve some unique genetics.
A reintroduction of wild North African Lions to Europe would be amazing too, especially for Portugal and Greece. 
The Barbary lion was a population of the lion subspecies Panthera leo leo. It was also called North African lion, Atlas lion and Egyptian lion. It lived in the mountains and deserts of the Maghreb of North Africa from Morocco to Egypt. The last known wild Barbary lion was killed in Morocco in 1942.
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Yes, there is an overpopulation of deer here in the Northeast US at least.
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This reminds me of the battle for the buffalo back in the 1890’s.