The
Eastern Puma has been officially declared extinct.
The
majestic large cats historically roamed every state of the US east of the
Mississippi River.
But in
the latest devastating news from the animal kingdom, the US Fish and Wildlife
Service declared the animals extinct on Sunday, removing the Eastern puma from
the list of endangered species for the last time.
The
Eastern puma’s plight has been ongoing for over a century, and by 1900 they had
all but vanished due to systematic hunting and trapping. In fact, Mark Elbroch,
the lead scientist for the puma program at the big cats conservation group
Panthera, said the cats have been ‘long extinct’.
The the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service opened an extensive review into the status of the
eastern cougar back in 2011.
The
forests and coastal marsh predators were only declared endangered in 1973, even
though no sightings of the wild cats had been documented for three decades.
The last
of their kind on record was killed by a hunter in Maine in 1938.
In 2015,
federal wildlife biologists concluded pumas elsewhere in the Eastern United
States were beyond recovery, and thus no longer warranted protection under the
Endangered Species Act.
The cats
are the genetic cousin of mountain lions, which still inhabit much of the
Western United States, and are related to a small, imperilled population of
Florida panthers found only in the Everglades.
They
measure up to 8 feet long from head to tail and can weigh as much as 140 pounds
(63.5 kg). These beautiful creatures were once the most widely distributed land
mammal in the Western Hemisphere.
Then
humans happened, and due to an extermination campaign and systematic habitat
destruction, the cats are now extinct. Some were trapped and killed for their
fur while others were culled to prevent the cats from interfering with
livestock.
But
marking the Eastern puma as extinct might not mean the end, according to some
biologists, and the new status could mean more possibilities for conservation,
with the help of the abundant cousins.
Michael Robinson, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said:
Michael Robinson, a conservation advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity, said:
''We need
large carnivores like cougars, which would curb deer overpopulation and
tick-borne diseases that threaten human health, so we hope Eastern and
Midwestern states will reintroduce them.''
Meanwhile,
the protection of all animals, including livestock, is sparking huge debate
across the globe, with vegan movements and lifestyle choices becoming ever more
popular.
Reintroduce them and put a 20 year prison sentence for shooting one
ReplyDeleteThere have been many sightings and documentation in Massachusetts, Connecticut ,New York, New Hampshire ad Maine. Don't know where the feds are getting there information from.Probably sitting behind a desk somewhere.
ReplyDeletesightings in NC as well.
DeleteHopeless there is a couple cagey creatures hanging out in some remote areas that the gun smoking humans cannot reach
ReplyDeleteThey're probably getting their information from people who know the difference between there, their, and they're
ReplyDeleteThere arr not
DeletePanthers are solely in the Everglades. There small pockets though very sparse in other areas of the US. The Panter use to be native in Oklahoma Arkansas and S. Missouri. I have seen one roam around grand lake area in NE OK.
ReplyDeletelook in Lincoln county around woodville Laurel Fork rd WV and you just might find you one!
ReplyDelete