Original headline: Federal scientists produce DNA evidence of cougars in Maritime woods
Fredericton (CP) - The eastern cougar has been labelled the ghost of the New Brunswick forest, but now federal scientists have fleshed out the almost mythical creature with some solid DNA evidence.
Officials with Parks Canada said Tuesday that a hair sample taken from a test site in Fundy National Park in southern New Brunswick is from a cougar. Although DNA analysis of the hair does not say what kind of cougar is living in the park, it is nevertheless one of the most convincing clues to date that the big cats are roaming Maritime woodlands.
"We can't give a definite answer as to whether it's an eastern cougar at this point in time," said Thierry Bouin, a superintendent for Parks Canada in southern New Brunswick.
"We're hoping that some of the other hair samples yet to be tested will also be from a cougar. It will take several more months to get results from the remaining samples."
While eastern and western cougars are genetically identical, some of the big cats in North America are descended from South American varieties.
A cat killed in Quebec in the 1990s turned out to be a South American breed.
Still, the cougar confirmation in New Brunswick is good news for the hundreds of people who have had their sightings treated with skepticism and derision.
"No one ever believed me before," said Shannon Hagerman of Fredericton, who saw a cougar stroll across a road one sunny afternoon two years ago.
"People would always tease me about the so-called cougar I saw and ask me if it could have been a kitten."
Many of the reports have been unreliable.
One of the most recent cougar sightings in New Brunswick resulted in the testing of hair samples that turned out to be from a cow.
"I'm really pleased it has finally been confirmed because this is what you need," said Fred Scott, a cougar expert and curator of the Wildlife Museum at Acadia University in Wolfville, N.S.
"Sightings are totally useless. They're so inconclusive and there's so much variation in reliability."
The last known cougar in the region was shot and killed in the 1930s. Many believed that animal was the last of its kind.
The eastern cougar is listed in Canada as a "data deficient" species, meaning there is not enough information to say whether it still exists.
Diane Amirault, a biologist with the Canadian Wildlife Service in Sackville, N.B., said she gets about 20 reports a year from people who have seen cougars.
She said they come from all over Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. She said hotspots for sightings include Fundy National Park and Halifax.
"The reports from right outside Halifax are amazing because you wouldn't think of that area as wild, wilderness country for cougars."
Scott said it is almost certain that the cougars seen today in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are either released or escaped animals from private owners and small zoos, or they are the descendants of those cats.
"There's a huge captive population in private hands which is unregulated and which is either released deliberately or escapes with a very high frequency," Scott said.
He said the number of cougar sightings has exploded along the U.S. eastern seaboard where many privately owned cats are raised.
Scott said he knows of one zoo curator who is offered a cougar a month from private owners who only wanted the cats when they were cute and cuddly cubs.
"Zoos have all the cougars they need, so these private owners put them in the car, take them out into the woods and let them go."
