Another summer is upon us and the Ontario cougar sightings continue to pour-in.
As many of you know, I’ve always taken a special interest in Ontario cougars a fascination if you will, which is odd since I’m really not a huge (domestic) cat lover.
The intrigue with these big cats I suppose might have to do with the rarity of the occurrence, although more cougars are being spotted across the province than ever before, so that can’t be it. Heck, we even saw a local horse owner last winter who had a brush with a cougar when one attacked one of her animals.
Yes, cougars in Ontario are contentious issue regardless of where you stand and of interest to many. People see them regularly in different regions yet our wildlife agencies tend to discount any and all reported sightings. Out of fear? Lack of funding? Whatever the case, the MNRF has typically shied away from the Ontario cougar issue even though I receive a handful of cougars reports each and every month.
The letter I got today may change all that!
I received a cougar sighting report earlier this am from the Peterborough-area, which isn’t that strange as several big cats have been spotted in the Kawartha’s in recent years.
This sighting was special indeed and almost ground-breaking I would say…as the eye-witness report came to me from a Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) employee!
Alex Broks, a Land and Resources Data Support Officer with the Mapping & Information Resources Branch of the MNRF in Peterborough, was driving on Mervin Road south of Hwy 115 yesterday at approximately 4:00 PM, when noticed a doe and a fawn cross the road 40 yards away.
Following on their footsteps at a close distance was a large cat with a long tail, it was unmistakably a cougar but not an adult in Broks’s estimation – a man who is an avid sportsman with 35 years’ experience.
“I do know that there has been other sighting in the past few years in the Peterborough- area” Broks explained, but the MNRF always seems to contradict the sightings; too far, to foggy, maybe a slim coyote, no one else has reported anything and so on.”
This MNRF employee and former Taxidermist went online shortly after the sighting to see if any other cougars have been reported in the Peterborough area. Alex quickly discovered one of my articles on the subject and contacted me and here we are…
This first-hand cougar sighting is important, not only to further the documented evidence of big cats in the Province, but for an MNRF employee to come forward with an eye-witness account lends great credibility to the existence of these big cats in Ontario.
A tip of the hat to Alex Broks for allowing me to share this crucial information with us, without fear of reprisal. Alex told me he plans to speak with the only home-owner along that stretch of road to see if they too have seen any cougar activity in the area.
Stay tuned…
Outdoorsguy
P.S. For more information on Cougars in Ontario, the Province’s authority on big cats Rick Rosatte has published several papers on the subject: http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CB0QFjAAahUKEwiQ4snx0KHHAhWXEpIKHVJnDDA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcanadianfieldnaturalist.ca%2Findex.php%2Fcfn%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F11942F1187&ei=OTvKVdDhH5elyATSzrGAAw&usg=AFQjCNFgjoCbDQ63RjepRoROXo1xXk4fqg&sig2=1uDoN8zDxms6zMkta_Jqng
Interesting, especially since the deer and antlerless deer tags were released this week. Our camp isn’t all that far from Peterborough as the crow flies, however I don’t think cougars have learned to fly hehe
Interesting news and the grizzly break-in in BC
Iggs, I’m sorry…meant to read-up on the BC Bear Invasion this am!
Outdoorsguy
I was reading the readers comments on the Sun site and there are actually idiots that are not only criticizing the guy for shooting the grizzlie for ransacking his kitchen, some of these tree huggers are blaming them for leaving the window open and inviting the bear in. It’s kind of scary how some of these clowns think.
Ok Iggy that’s ridiculous..according to what I read, the home owners had done nothing specific to lure the bear into the house.
Outdoorsguy
No but they left the window open in the home of a bear
Lots of cougar sightings but still no pictures.
The dude in BC should have called a tree hugger over and tried to coax the giant meat eating grizzly out of his kitchen rather than killing it..
Apparently leaving his screen open he was asking for trouble..
Ah Johan, still need photo proof do ya? I’ll make it my mission in life to capture a trailcam image of a cougar. Had a couple of cams set-up late last summer following a big cat report near my place..but really, its like capturing a needle in a haystack!
Outdoorsguy