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It would be very very very unlikely if there was a population that has returned....say a few breeding pairs. It would be very unlikely that both a male and female are in NC at any given time. However, odds are during any given year at least 1 male has likely roamed around somewhere in NC. Now when a community swears for years and years they see the same 1 around the same place I really doubt it. However, it's likely at least 1 of the sightings somewhere is real. Males have been known to travel thousands of miles to find a mate. Since they have natural habitat closer than that, it's likely they occasionally pop by. Even jaguars have returned to the US.
Likely? I'll have to disagree. Possible? Maybe. However, the NC Widlife Resources Commission says:
"Though cougars have been extirpated from North Carolina since 1900, the NCWRC still receives reports from the public on sightings of cougars or cougar tracks. Upon investigation, NCWRC biologists have concluded that many reports of cougar sightings or their tracks are misidentification of both domestic and wild animals. Domestic cats and dogs, coyotes, bobcats, and red foxes infected with mange are the most common animals mistaken for cougars.
It is possible that some sightings can be attributed to captive cougars that have escaped or been illegally released. During the 1980s, two captive cougars were found feeding at a dumpster in Tyrell County.
No tangible evidence exists that wild cougars currently exist in North Carolina."
Well, the NC Wildlife folks and NC State, NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and a bunch of other folks are running a very cool citizen science camera trap venture right now called North Carolina's Candid Critters. Maybe someone will capture one on their cam. It's a pretty cool project.
Here in Pennsylvania which is bigger than NC and much closer to Canada which has a viable population of mountain lions we often hear of sightings. Yet no one has ever produced a single photo or footprint for proof. The Game Commission also will not go on record as saying they exist here.
NC77 be aware of for what reason . Fear ?? maybe worry more about copperheads or rabid animals in general . PO'd feral dog can be scarry or neighbors mutt that bites first showing no signs of being a biter . Big cats orare not something to fear unless you bike or run on trails in words wear ear buds and just don't pay attention or your some tourist just trying to get a little closer for a better picture assuming your in an area with big cats !! Yea .I know big cats . Spending my first 42 years in SW FL and many of those years in the fakahatchee swamp in collier county florida were cougars can been seen close up over the decades . I saw my first cougar around 1973 . Bears can be far scarier specially in later winter / early spring if there was a arm winter and a low mast crop to a typical citified novice out for a quiet stroll in the woods while eating a granola bar and looking for birdies . HA
Cats will typically warn you and so will bears IF your paying attention .
Well, the NC Wildlife folks and NC State, NC Museum of Natural Sciences, and a bunch of other folks are running a very cool citizen science camera trap venture right now called North Carolina's Candid Critters. Maybe someone will capture one on their cam. It's a pretty cool project.
I've taken their course and have been approved to run my game cam for them, I just haven't found the time to be able to upload them to their website, so I haven't started a campaign for them yet.
There are tons of game cams set up all over NC and not one has produced a cougar. Even some of our neighbors up here claim to have heard/seen a cougar and one has even claimed to have seen a black panther. That same neighbor has had a game cam set up for 10 years and has never caught either one on it, even though the black panther supposedly was at the end of their driveway.
Years ago, my sister-in-law was out hiking in Western NC when she saw a deer (dead) up in a tree. She wondered how it got up there but it wasn't 'till months later that she learned that only a big cat could have done it.
That project looks like fun.. will definitely participate once we move in.
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