Jburner;
You seem to know something about some things, BUT you are quite wrong about black cougars. I was within 4 ft of the one I saw, I HAD A VERY GOOD LOOK AT IT! My son also! Now, if you want to believe SPECULATION that you've read in the papers, go right ahead! BUT don't try to con me with that garbage when I WAS THERE! And, yes, they WERE in Florida and migrated into the Appalachians, according to Encyclopedia Britannica. AND there must be a lot of "roadside zoos", because sightings of cougar in N.B. go back into the '60's, at least!
A friend in N.B. who was a professional guide, at the time of my sighting, in answer to my inquiry, said "Yes, the locals call them "devil cats". He further added that he had tracked them in the snow. That's central N.B. that has as much snow as any part of Canada - and I know that because I've lived there and was born there.
I know a wildlife biologist who taught at Flemming- now retired (taught my friend the CO). In a one-on-one with me, as I was bear hunting on his property 3 years ago, insisted I was wrong about cougar in Ont, "There are none, they couldn't survive our winters!" When I told him about cougars in N.B., that have finally (since the '80's)been acknowledged by the MNR there, and pointed out that that part of N.B. where I saw one, as well as others reporting them, has the same latitude as central Ont, with winters equally as bad (or worse)he dismissed it as unlikely (as you have)because science was against it.
That must have been some of the "junk science" you mentioned.
"House cats" - please, gimme a break!!!
Bob
www.bigbores.ca
