Do Mountain Lions Roam the Mountains of Garrett County & Western Maryland?
by Glenn Therres, The Maryland Natural Resource Magazine, Fall 2007
Historically, mountain lions once inhabited the wilderness of our state. Also known as cougar, puma, or panther, these native big cats lived throughout Maryland when the first colonists arrived. As Maryland was settled, the forests were cleared and our mountain lions started to disappear. The early settlers shot the big cats because these predators killed deer and livestock. Cougars were feared and thus, persecuted. By the mid-1800s, the mountain lions had disappeared from all but the remote mountainous areas of
western Maryland. In the late 1800s, the last of Maryland’s remnant population of cougars is thought to have disappeared. At that time, the white-tailed deer population (the principal prey species of this big cat) was reduced considerably by market hunters and homesteaders. Also, the extensive forests in western Maryland were logged for lumber and charcoal. The combination of these two factors, plus the continued persecution of this “vermin,” made it nearly impossible for the
species to survive.This same scenario was played out throughout the Appalachian Mountains and elsewhere in eastern North America.
The eastern cougar was declared an endangered species by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 1973. In the 1970s, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service tried to confirm the presence of eastern cougars in the Appalachian Mountains, but was not able to do so. The only remnant population in the eastern part of the continent is the endangered Florida panther. Today, we still receive reports of mountain lions, cougars, and even black panthers in Maryland. All the other states in the east receive similar reports. Is there a remnant population of mountain lions in Maryland? That’s a $64,000 question.
The full article can be found here via .pdf file
