The Ottawa Citizen posts that, “In Ontario, where cougars officially don’t exist, the Ministry of Natural Resources has set up 40 cameras on forest trails throughout the province to try to prove the big cats really live here.”
It would seem that the 500 ‘possible’ cougar sightings (since 2002) in Ontario has sparked this new research project into existence. I have talked to some credible outdoors sources in my area and some have reported possibly seeing the large cats in the Huntsville area. The Ontario MNR has also collected hair and scat samples from various areas across the province.
The article shares that, “… the research project is designed to determine the distribution of cougars across Ontario and whether the animals are native to the province, are escaped captive animals or have arrived from western Canada or the United States.”
I think 40 cameras spread acrose the province would be rather like trying to scoop running water in open hands but I am looking forward to seeing the results of this project.
Thumbs up to the Ontario MNR.
*A great resource for ontario cougar information is the Ontario Puma Foundation
-Cougar photo from wikipedia
Cynthia,
Thanks for your question. The only other information I have is from a second post about cougars on my blog:
http://muskokaoutdoors.ca/blog/2009/05/08/ontario-mnr-purchases-40-cougar-cams/
It references the researcher you mentioned and shares an archived link to the Ottawa Citizen:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/2244892/posts
Does this help?
Hey i was just looking for some information on cougars in muskoka. I live in bracebridge. I have heard they have been seen round the huntsville area as well as on fraserburg rd in bracebridge where i just moved from and possible lost my cat to. any info bout the cougars in this area would be awsome. thanks
Mel