Having been on the endangered species list since 1973 and not having a confirmed sighting since the 1930s, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) declared the eastern cougar extinct. Cougars are also known as ghost cats, catamounts, pumas, painters, panthers, and mountain lions.
Although there have been reported sightings, the USFWS believes upon reviewing the reports the sighted animals have been cougars of other species, including South American cougars that have escaped captivity or western cougars that have migrated into the area. Eastern cougars historically ranged from Ontario south to South Carolina and west to Tennessee, an area that includes Connecticut.
Prior to declaring cougars extinct, the service reviewed:
• a request for scientific information about the possible existence of the eastern cougar subspecies — 573 responses were received, all of which were reviewed;
• U.S. and Canadian scientific literature; and
• requested information from the 21 states within the historical range of the subspecies. No states expressed a belief in the existence of an eastern cougar population.
