TWRA confirms cougars in TN

[August W.]

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency admits there are cougars in TN and shares list of confirmed sightings and photos at tn.gov.
Hopefully their population will thrive and balance out the burgeoning herd of hoofed whitetail rats that our forests have endured for so long.

[Time Zone]

Is there some recent news on this? The last confirmed sighting on their web page was over 5 months ago. Just wondering why you're posting this now.

[Rain Man]

Nice when nature rebounds when man stops acting like a virus intent on destroying all God created. Glad to have read this news here in Tennessee!

If I recall correctly, Model-T even recites a cougar sighting he had, in his great AT book, "Walking on the Happy Side of Misery."

Cougars, aka Mountain Lions, Catamounts, Painters, and many more pseudonyms.

[Sarcasm the elf]

Any chance that they prey on feral hogs?

[gpburdelljr]

Any chance that they prey on feral hogs?

i don't know about cougars, but I've heard that in GSMNP the bears will follow rangers that hunt feral hogs at night, knowing that they may get a tasty treat.

[August W.]

Is there some recent news on this? The last confirmed sighting on their web page was over 5 months ago. Just wondering why you're posting this now.

Why are you wondering why I posted this?

[Time Zone]

Why are you wondering why I posted this?

Can you not figure that out?
Because I wanted to know if there was something new that I missed ... was there a change to what we already knew. You posted this as if it was breaking news.

[rocketsocks]

The populations of wild animals abroad is not static and ever changing.

[August W.]

Can you not figure that out?
Because I wanted to know if there was something new that I missed ... was there a change to what we already knew. You posted this as if it was breaking news.

When you say "we", who is the "we" that you are referring to? Are you trying to tell me that you and everyone else ("we") on this big blue ball read the contents of tn.gov on a daily basis?

[gpburdelljr]

Is there some recent news on this? The last confirmed sighting on their web page was over 5 months ago. Just wondering why you're posting this now.

Why are you wondering why I posted this?

Can you not figure that out?
Because I wanted to know if there was something new that I missed ... was there a change to what we already knew. You posted this as if it was breaking news.

When you say "we", who is the "we" that you are referring to? Are you trying to tell me that you and everyone else ("we") on this big blue ball read the contents of tn.gov on a daily basis?

It was new to me, and I'm glad you posted it!

[Cheyou]

I'm not part of "We" . Thanks for posting.

[the dude abides]

Been seeing them in bars and clubs in TN for years...Good to see them returning to the wild where they belong!

[Traveler]

According to the TWRA, there are several "sightings" between September 2015 and September 2016 that are 50 to 100 miles apart, the Humpreys area having the most. In 2015 the only real empirical evidence that was obtained was hair that analysts have determined the DNA to be a female cougar with genetics similar to cougars in South Dakota.

Given this information, the empirical data suggests there is a cougar that likely has found its way into TN from the upper plains, and has likely been photographed within a geographical area that may be its hunting habitat. There have been no apparent sightings via photographs, tracks, scat, or feeding since last September anywhere within the 2015 and 2016 time period, nor since that TWRA considers confirmed evidence.

While exciting to have a visitor exploring the eastern forests and perhaps in the vanguard of a push eastward by a northern midwest species of cougar, I don't see there being enough evidence to claim more than a single animal or a breeding population at this point. There have been a few cougars that have similarly made this trip and ended up in the eastern mountains, but have not been able to reproduce or if they do, unable to sustain a very small population.