I know I haven’t posted much about the existence of cougars in Virginia. There has been a lull of news in the scheme of things, as the entire Eastern Cougar Foundation has changed direction and focus.
This fact alone has really dampened my spirits, as I really wanted to help prove their existence, but in some ways it has prompted me to try harder to find one. I feel as if the time window is closing and it is important to find a cougar before it doesn’t matter as much. The fact is that there have been more developments in DNA evidence to prove the origin of cougars in North America.
From an arctile in the new Cougar Rewiliding Foundation, (formerly known as the eastern cougar foundation) “Dr. Melanie Culver’s genetic research determined that all of the wild cougars north of Central America are the same subspecies, the idea of an eastern cougar had been rendered moot scientifically. And ECF may prove to be a hurdle in recruiting new members in regions not associated with the East.” CRF Newsletter July, 2010.
To put a damper on the subject, this finding in the DNA suggests that cougars in North America may be but one genetic family, so trying to distinguish an eastern subspecies would be moot.
2 comments:
It puzzles me as to why you have a defeatest attitude because ECF has become a Rewilding Group. Such change proves to us veteran professional cougar researchers, their actions has been from the beginning to introduce more aggressive cougars from other larger alien sub-species into the forests of the east.
One must remember wild, native cougars DO continue to roam freely in the eastern forests.
Actually, it is good news. In some ways a leap has been made to continue the purpose without the pesky fact of figuring out if cougars exist in the east. For more personal reasons it was disheartening for me, as I really believed (still do) that I could prove their existence, it is a personal quest. In some ways this announcement would make it obsolete for there to be cougars present already. Either way I have realized that I am not going to try to stop looking, but I am accepting this reintroduction with open arms, as all of us believers know that it is the best thing for cougars to be reintroduced.
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