This should stop all cougar arguments

That's always been my argument/opinion, there are likely cougars in Ontario, but they would be in the huge vastness away from civilization so they go unseen. I would expect to see a 'wild' sighting closer to LongLac long before I would in Huntsville.

GW11 makes a good point, if they had moved into our populated areas, you'd see more signs of breeding pairs and you'd be having more of them picked up on trail cams. As you point out JBen....there are lots of trail cams in the bush concentrated closer to 'civilization', not to mention everyone has a camera attached to there hip nowadays, so if the wild ones were hanging around there were be more evidence of them being here.

Mathematically, statistically speaking its pretty easy to see they can be here and not ever seen/found. They are just W, SW, S and E of Ontario…..

Heres in numbers?
Highly unlikely.

There could be one in APP and no one would ever know. Now think about all the crown between Lake of the Woods and Temagami

Cougars are photo shy, unless the shading is just right or they can have their images airbrushed later.

Bubbles had Steve French at Sunnyvale, how could they also not live in the wilds of southern ontario, there's a lot of strange species in that region particularly the closer you get to the GTA and suburbia !

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by johny

Show me a picture.
NOT blurry
NOT with redwood cedar or lodge pole pines in the background.


I'll say it again:
There are bazillions of trail cams all over Ontario.
They are almost all positioned to find deer.
Deer are the preferred food of the cougar.
So why has NO ONE brought forward a single CLEARLY FOCUSED pic of a cougar with trees that GROW in Ontario in the background?
Because there are NO wild cougars in Ontario!!!

---

And you base this on what proof?

Why do you think all are reported and every picture taken is brought forth?As for cougars I saw one once and three other people that I know.Various places and years apart.And exactly zero of them were reported.Why bother.So everyone can say it was another escaped pet.Since it must be pretty common in Ontario for people to have them as pets it seems.
Guess the Ontario Puma Association that knows of den sites is following all escaped pets.Check them out on the net.
Met three people in my life who said they saw a Bigfoot to.And zero of them reported that.Why bother.Just to be called crazy.
My dad's uncle shot the first recorded coyote in Flamborough in the 50's.Decided to call the Spectator and they put a big article and picture in the next day.So the town closed all the schools the next day because all the parents were worried that the "wolves would eat all the kids"......Because now suddenly that the "paper said it was true"....I guess we have a real problem or animal here....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by GW11

I would start to believe in "wild" cougars if there was any evidence of a breeding population. Reliable pictures of juveniles for example. Until then, I will remain a skeptic.

Oh, I've seen a cougar too by the way. Jumped it while deer hunting just north of Bobcaygeon. I almost got laughed out of deer camp for telling the guys the story when I got back in. Still don't believe it was part of a wild, breeding population though.

The MNR released cougars to control the deer population? Don't think so. If you were trying to hide a "conspiracy", would you actually refer to a cage as a "cougar cage"? Wouldn't it be smarter to just budget for a "mid-sized cage"? I heard they've also released rattlesnakes to reduce the number of turkey eggs...

---

You have met some Gov Employees right?......Oh I am sure they only posted it as that...once.
I will go with the person I know that read it/was there at the meeting/audit.And if most disagree so be it.Doesn't matter to me in the least if they are tame or wild.Have been hearing this stuff for 40 years and at least now they admit it's a real cougar that people are seeing.Not a mistaken identity or crazy person.And some may still think that which is fine to.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by johny

Show me a picture.
NOT blurry
NOT with redwood cedar or lodge pole pines in the background.


I'll say it again:
There are bazillions of trail cams all over Ontario.
They are almost all positioned to find deer.
Deer are the preferred food of the cougar.
So why has NO ONE brought forward a single CLEARLY FOCUSED pic of a cougar with trees that GROW in Ontario in the background?
Because there are NO wild cougars in Ontario!!!

---

You are sure that the recent one on Manitoulin Island was fake or a pet?Lots of deer there.Certainly was a cougar in the picture/video.

Off topic a little but are there cougars in Manitoba?

Manitoba: Yes
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/loc...263130391.html

Quebec: yes
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/...8-6c83363e3975

Michigan: Yes
http://www.dnr.state.mn.us/mammals/cougar/index.html

Eastern Seaboard/Eastern US: yes
Whats at question and what the DNR says, is that they believe the Eastern Puma is extinct and those being seen, reported and found are subspecies and transients.

http://www.fws.gov/northeast/ECougar...easefinal.html

So if pretty much every area around us with a land link is saying, yep we have "some"...Are there walls around Ontario we don't know about. Cougars have huge ranges.

So Basically what guys are saying is that....

If a bear, coyote, moose, deer, wolf ect ect ect is seen near civilization / residential areas, chances are those animals are escaped pets?!?!

LOL

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MikePal

Anytime one is sighted in and around civilization I lean towards an escapee..a wild cat would not be that close to a populated area, it would have had some exposure to humans to walk amongst us..my opinion.

.

---

There was a pair of cougars that were in south Calgary, in fact one was shot in South Center Hospital. So wild cougar does come into populated.