Beast of Never, Cat of God : The Search for the Eastern Puma

Rating:
Summary: From a 30-year Eastern Cougarmaniac
Review: For more than one hundred years, ever since cougars were pronounced extinct in the eastern US, people have continued to report sightings. Since the 1970s, many have become intrigued with these reports and have attempted to document them with evidence such as tracks, photographs and more recently, with remote camera pictures, hair samples, and scats, which can be identified by DNA analysis. A few confirmations have been logged in the northeastern US and eastern Canada.


One state which seems to have more than its share of evidence is Michigan, although no dead bodies have showed up yet. Late in 2001, Dr. Patrick Rusz, biologist for the private Michigan Wildlife Conservancy (MWC), released a report summarizing this evidence and began to search for more. In November, he announced that he had discovered tracks, deer kills, and scats characteristic of cougars on the north shore of Lake Michigan. Later, he found more scats on Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

The announcements set off a whirlwind of controversy. Does Rusz have evidence or doesn't he? The author is an outdoor writer who lives on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. For three years he accompanied Rusz on field trips. Butz also considers the possibility of cougar survival elsewhere in the East. It does seem that there is valid evidence in Michigan, but Rusz and the MWC have made major mistakes that have undermined their credibility.

Butz concludes that amateurs searching for evidence will never be successful in persuading recalcitrant state wildlife agencies to protect cougars. Nor will a purely scientific approach. It's a political matter as much as anything else.

Meanwhile, there is undoubted proof that cougars are extending their range from the Rocky Mountains and Black Hills eastward. Recently two crossed the Mississippi River into Illinois. Their appearance has been greeted a mixture of delight and unwarranted fear.

Butz' book is a good read. I recommend it to anyone who is excited about the return of wildness to the eastern United States.