Eastern Cougar Sightings in Maine?

Intro:

Return of the Catamount?

The Cougar, also known as the Eastern Cougar, Western Cougar, Puma, Catamount, Panther, or Mountain Lion, represents regional populations of a single species of feline, Puma concolor, found across a broad range in the Americas. Specifically, the Eastern Cougar was a population that formerly inhabited the eastern United States, including present-day Maine.

The forests of New England including those of Maine are ever changing, and the animal's relationship with them is ever changing as well. The Eastern Cougar once inhabited the entirety of the State of Maine, taking advantage of the abundance the old growth forests had to offer. Colonial life in New England, however, was wrought with difficulties and the mismanagement of natural resources unfortunately claimed the majority of the cougars once pristine range. What land had not been clear cut in the pursuit of Eastern White Pine first by England then by colonialists, was being cleared as agricultural land and pastures for Merino wool production.  ² 

The classic New England stone walls were born in this period. These fences, once made of wood were now born out of stone out of necessity as wood across colonial America was in short supply due to rampant deforestation, ²    the Eastern Cougar's home was rapidly changing.

The Eastern Cougar, beyond habitat loss, was also falling victim to direct hunting and poaching. The final Eastern Cougar was killed on the Maine/ Quebec border in Somerset County in 1938 west of Moosehead lake.  ³  

The story of the New England forests, though wrought with tragedy is also one of hope. In recent years much of the forest once clear cut has rebounded in the form of secondary growth forests and with it much of the wildlife has also returned. From turkeys to coyotes many species have rebounded and other animal’s ranges have expanded. For example the Canadian lynx was only recognized around 35 years ago as a species with a breeding population in Maine, and Moose have greatly expanded their southern range in recent years. Turkeys and coyotes were once a rare sight in southern New England but are now a all too common occurrence.

Although the Eastern Cougar is extinct, sightings of cougars have continued in Maine till the present day. Photographic evidence has been presented and some cougars have been confirmed by hair and DNA analysis. ¹⁰  Are these remnants from a once thriving Eastern Cougar population that has been hiding for decades, or are they Western Cougars that have wandered from their range via corridors to find themselves in new and unexplored core habitats. There is a small but established population of cougars in Quebec and there are also known cases of cougars having traveled over 1000 miles. The question that looms is, "Could it be possible cougars from another location have expanded their territory into Maine?" ¹  

In Connecticut in 2011 a cougar was struck and killed by a vehicle which was later found to have roamed to the area from South Dakota.  ¹   There was also a cougar attack on a horse farm in 2016 in Massachusetts.  ¹¹  Could this be another cougar that had wandered or a released exotic pet looking for a meal?

Mark Pantermoller of Fairfield Maine captured a photo from a game camera he set up near his property in 2020 and it is considered strong evidence of a cougar in the area.  ⁶  

Other photographs submitted are less clear, such as the one below which was submitted from a Maine resident on a Facebook Thread from the Greenville area covering cougar sightings. ⁸ 

Purpose of this Application:

The purpose of this project is to find, classify and analyze cougar sightings in the state of Maine by searching for alleged sightings and creating a database table which can be imported into ArcGIS and used to create point features with geospatial references. The x and y coordinates for the point features and the table can then be exported and incorporate into the corresponding Jupyter Lab code found in the GitHub repository, ( https://github.com/ecorey/Eastern_Cougar_Arcpy_Code ) which plots and displays the sighting points according to their various classifications. In the Story maps the sightings as a whole are further analyzed in relationship to proximity to potential cougar prey habitats and water sources to see if any patterns can be established.

Finding a means to gather and classify cougar sightings in Maine is the first step. The sightings were primarily gathered from local news sources which had published articles, but many supplemental encounters were added from a social media thread as well. The following classification system was used for any alleged sighting:

Class 1: Physical Evidence 1a: Hair samples with DNA confirmation 1b: Footprints or tracks with clear, distinct features 1c: Feces samples with DNA confirmation 1d: Other physical evidence (scratch marks, etc.) Class 2: High-quality Media Evidence 2a: Clear, unambiguous photographs or videos with identifiable features 2b: Audio recordings with distinct, recognizable sounds Class 3: Direct Eyewitness Accounts 3a: Credible witnesses with expertise in the field (e.g., biologists, park rangers, etc.) 3b: Multiple, independent witnesses reporting similar sightings 3c: Single witness report with detailed descriptions and published report.

Class 4: Indirect Evidence 4a: anecdotal accounts and social media post 4b: unconfirmed tracks

After the sightings have been classified and plotted it is then possible to look at them as a group to see if there are any patterns.

A look at the conceptual model demonstrates how the cougar sighting are the main object which is associated with the various other layers in analysis to search for any patterns.

The data for the analysis performed in this application was sourced from various locations. The point data where the sighting data is represented by a point was sourced primarily from news sources and social media.

There were three main polygon layers that were used in the application, one for deer wintering grounds, another for waterfowl and inland wading bird habitat, and finally a layer for lakes and ponds. The deer wintering grounds and the waterfowl and wading bird habitat were both sourced from the Maine GeoLibrary, and the lakes and ponds polygon layer was sourced from arcGis Online layers.

Finally a rater land cover layer was used to confirm the populated areas and various land cover across the state. The data set for the rater land cover was sourced form the National Land Cover Database.

In the accompanying Jupyter Lab code found in the GitHub repository ( https://github.com/ecorey/Eastern_Cougar_Arcpy_Code)  the Cougar sightings were first gathered from the sources above and then exported to a .csv file where they were used to create a new feature class to hold the point data, and the related attribute data.

The sightings themselves were then classified in terms of their reliability and presumed accuracy. Sightings that were undisputed and confirmed, such as the case in Cape Elizabeth, were given the highest rating of 1a. The lowest score, unconfirmed tracks, received a 4b.

The sightings were then analyzed in terms of their relationship to possible cougar food sources such as deer wintering grounds and waterfowl and wading bird habitats in Maine. Buffer layers were created for the habitats and wintering grounds, and the data was run to see if there was an intersection with any points. The sizes for the buffers were chosen to be a smallest size possible while depicting a correlational with the sightings. A cougar can have a range of up to 100 square miles so theoretically there are few places in the state that would fall outside of a buffer of that size within the state.

The range of a male Western Cougar can rage from 50 to 100 miles and a female can have a range up to 50 square miles. Cougars will eat from mouse to moose calf, but biologists tracking cougars have noted that where deer and beaver go, the cougar follows.  ¹  

As winter sets in, deer will leave higher grounds seeking out lower areas to spend the winter that are less harsh and more abundant in food sources. Cougars in their range know and follow their prey's migratory cycle. Cougars will eat small birds but commonly search out beavers and waterfowl and inland wading birds share their habitat intimately with beavers  ¹   Below is a map of the wintering ground of deer across the state as well as the habitat of waterfowl and wading birds across the state.

In the map below it can be seen that a vast majority of the alleged sightings are within 12 miles of deer wintering grounds which is well within the smallest range for a cougar.

In the map below it is shown that almost all reported sightings occurred within 2.5 miles of a waterfowl or wading bird habitat.

Another feature of sightings is a large percentage occur close to a major body of fresh water.

One issue encountered was that there was no way to have a comprehensive list of alleged or possible cougar sightings. It is difficult to source sightings online and impossible to follow up on many of the sightings posted. However with more time it would be possible to follow up on many of the sightings and create a larger database where people could contribute to easier.

It was also difficult determining the time of year many of the sighting occurred and it would be useful to determine if the sighting occurred in the winter months as they are being compared to the deer wintering grounds. In cases where only the year was know Jan 1 was used as the default date.

When classifying the sightings the largest group of sightings is also the hardest to verify and the most accurate is the smallest group. It would be beneficial to accumulate more sightings and follow up more closely on the sightings that have been obtained.

In looking at the sightings together as a group without classifications it can be seen that the highest chances of a sighting is close to the prey's habitat. Cougars are adaptable and able to easily traverse most any terrain and if they are in the state of Maine they would follow the deer which winter in areas of higher populations throughout the state. This would increase an encounter happening in the winter months in areas just outside some of the more populous parts of the state where the forest quickly claims back the land.

Although it seems reasonable to conclude that cougar populations have already established themselves in Maine, there are reasons biologists are sticking to their premise that the Eastern Cougar has gone extinct and the western cougar has not established breeding populations outside of their known range. One reason is that although sightings are unreliable that is not the case for game trail cams and running camera traps in a cougars range will commonly capture photos of them.

Also in their range, and even in southern Florida where the population is known to be small, they are hit by vehicles. The cougar that wandered from South Dakota to Connecticut was ultimately hit and killed by a vehicle, but there are no reports of such in Maine, even on the back roads in the North Maine Woods where logging trucks are running loads at a quick pace.

Identification errors are all too easy and the layperson is more often than not, not trained to distinguish between a lynx, bobcat, or cougar, let alone a fast moving coyote. That being said the forests of Maine are ever changing and old populations of previously dispersed species have made comebacks, so time will reveal the truth to whether the Eastern Cougar will also make a surprise comeback.

1) Return of the Cougar:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r97hmwXQLoc&t=3864s  Susan Morse giving a talk on cougars in the Northeast

2) Lost Forests of New England – Eastern Old Growth:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi12xaJxA5U  Tom Wessels – New England Forests

3) Unites States Department of Agriculture:     https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprdb5200541.pdf    

4) US Fish and Wildlife Service:  https://www.fws.gov/story/2011-03/us-fish-and-wildlife-service-concludes-eastern-cougar-extinct 

 5) https://quoddytides.com/area-cougar-sightings-reported1-10-2020.html 

  6) https://townline.org/scores-outdoors-reported-sightings-of-mountain-lions-on-the-upswing-in-maine/ 

7)  https://wanderingthroughmaine.com/are-there-mountain-lions-in-maine/ 

 8)  https://www.facebook.com/151612178320584/posts/another-sighting-of-a-mountain-lion-in-the-area-this-one-with-2-older-cubs-not-t/817559731725822/ 

9) https://www.proquest.com/docview/815824051?parentSessionId=Hd6NTTSQTUXiMIBHUaK9KnzAbUkB42MOoUiuRXD8Wa4%3D&pq-origsite=summon&accountid=14583

10)  https://www.sportingjournal.com/cougars-are-they-in-maine/ 

11)  https://www.recorder.com/On-the-Trail-12921649 

Maine Geolibrary:  https://www.maine.gov/geolib/catalog.html 

Maine Lake and Ponds: ArcGis Online Feature Layer by  colleen.metcalf_UMS 

National Land Cover Database: https://www.usgs.gov/centers/eros/science/national-land-cover-database