Of the stories of endangered species, I consider this story to be unusually strange. Furthermore, I consider this story to not only be strange, but to have been strange for some time. It is the story of the Eastern Cougar (known scientifically as a subspecies of Puma concolor).

Should you speak, sing the eternal farewell?

The US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the eastern cougar extinct in March of 2011. That declaration was presented as something that probably should have been done a long time ago. The last confirmed eastern cougar was killed in 1938. The agency recommended that the eastern cougar be dropped from the endangered species list.

Should you speak, sing the eternal farewell? It was therefore considered something of a shock when a cougar was killed in Connecticut in July of 2011. It was a cougar, and it was in the east, therefore it must be an eastern cougar, yes? Not necessarily. It was later discovered that this cougar had come to Connecticut from the Black Hills of South Dakota, by way of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan.

Should you speak, sing the eternal farewell? A cougar was shot in Kentucky in 2014. This cougar was considered to be a western cougar, and that cougars seen in the eastern United States were relatives of the extinct eastern cougar.

Should you speak, sing the eternal farewell? Some scientists are of the opinion that the western cougar and the eastern cougar are but two names for the same animal. If that is the case, then the eastern cougar isn’t really extinct because there never really was an eastern cougar. The case is that the American cougar’s habitat has decreased to the American west, but the American cougar isn’t extinct. And if the eastern cougar doesn’t really exist, then it shouldn’t be called extinct by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Should you speak, sing the eternal farewell? The US Fish and Wildlife Service is making their proposal available for review and comment until August 17, 2015. The IUCN Red List reports that the cougar species as a whole, Puma concolor, is considered “least threatened” because there are varieties throughout North and South America. All I know is that unless the cougars have an advocate, it won’t stay that way.

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