by Janna Bialek

Audubon Naturalist News, May 2001

"Cats," says Chris Bolgiano of the Eastern Cougar Foundation, "are a pinnacle of creation, both in complexity, and in magnificence." Her tastes, however, run wild—specifically to the larger member of this feline family, the cougar.

As Bolgiano reads to an audience at the Wildlands Conference from her book Mountain Lion, telling of encounters with cougars and her efforts to come to terms with their elusive nature, her respect—even awe—for the animal that frightens many and has a terrible reputation, is evident.

Bolgiano and her organization—The Eastern Cougar Foundation (ECF)—try to fight fear with education. "Sure, cougars kill people," she says. "Since European settlement, there have been about 18 lives taken by cougars. This is a few less than the number of people killed by Rottweilers in a year. We tend to fear what we do not know, what is exotic and wild to us."

Evidence is increasing that large predators like cougars serve as indicators of biological health. For a cougar to survive in the wild, Bolgiano estimates, requires about 25 square miles of land in Southern Appalachia -the specific land requirements, Bolgiano says, are related to topography, good cover, abundance of prey, and whether there are other cougars. But their elusive nature makes it difficult to pinpoint their numbers or exact ecosystem needs. One thing that is for certain—if cougars are present, deer populations are much less likely to reach extreme levels. "Given the size of deer populations in the East, the question is not so much whether cougars can survive, but rather whether humans will allow that to happen. The cougars are there—they will succeed if we let them," Bolgiano asserts.

The Eastern Cougar Foundation is fighting for legal protection for this cat of many names. The largest documented, viable population of cougar in the East—and cougar range—is in Florida, where it is known as the panther. Cougars are also called mountain lions, pumas, painters, and catamounts. Bolgiano’s favorite name for the animal is deer tiger—gained from its reputation as a hunter of its favorite prey, which should significantly improve its popularity in our area.

The Fish and Wildlife Service, which administers the Endangered Species Act, doesn’t do an adequate job of protecting the eastern cougar in our area, and in fact largely denies the presence of cougars, Bolgiano says. She relates how her colleague and cougar foundation co-founder, Todd Lester, saw a cougar in the wilds of West Virginia as a teen while he was hunting, but was laughed at when he tried to report the incident to authorities. "Until very, very recently, that has been the response—either disbelief that the cougar was actually spotted, or dismissal because it is assumed that the cat was an escaped captive, therefore not worthy of protection," Bolgiano asserts. In fact, even field guides do not recognize cougar or mountain lion ranges in the East; if anything, only Florida is mentioned.

"Biological racism"—the bias that a cougar is entitled to recognition as a wild animal only if it is of native gene stock—is one of the biggest problems now facing cougar protectors. To Bolgiano, it doesn’t matter whether a cougar is escaped or of pure native stock, in part because the genetic indicators that identify subspecies are miniscule. In fact, scientific data is turning up to recommend, based on DNA evidence, that the 15 North American subspecies be "collapsed" into one subspecies—the Eastern Cougar— that covers all cougars found in North America unless they are otherwise genetically identified. "If a cat is surviving in the wild, especially if we can prove they are reproducing, then it is a wild cougar, regardless of how it got there. It fills a niche in the ecosystem, and should be protected as endangered. To run around looking for native genetic stock is a distraction, and of no help to those who are working on cougar protection," Bolgiano asserts. Without the infusion of additional gene stock, she adds, it was unlikely that the population of natives would have survived extirpation by hunting anyway.

Which is part of the reason why the ECF is working to build a scientific base of evidence about the animal’s presence. Rather than focusing solely on cougar sightings, the board of scientists and cougar conservationists of the foundation tries to build a case based on solid field evidence—scat, fur, tracks. The evidence is plenty: from video camera film reviewed by a biologist with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to a dead cougar kitten found on a Kentucky roadside.

In the meantime, sales of cougars as pets, both legitimate and on the black market, go on. "The Washington Post is full of classified ads for people selling exotic cats," according to Bolgiano. No doubt cougar spottings are on the rise. But whether escaped captives are the explanation for why cougars have been spotted in such urban areas as Tyson's Corner and a golf course in North Philadelphia is not as important, ultimately, as whether or not the elusive cougars will establish a healthy, wild population in the dark, remote woods of Appalachia.

The website for the Eastern Cougar Foundation is www.easterncougar.com. For those interested in supporting the research of the foundation, membership is $10 per year. Write to: Eastern Cougar Foundation P.O. Box 91 North Springs, WV 24869.