Dear Cloverleaf,
I think there could be a few cougars in south-western Ontario now but I do not think they come from wild stock.
They are most likely the offspring of capitve cats that per owners have released and made a living in the winter killing farms dog, farm cats, wild turkeys and the odd deer.
I have heard there are a few in the pinery north of Sarnia and apparently there are quite a few deer there but I don't know if its true.
The ones that show up in NW Ontario are probably wild stock from the west. Lots of deer in the forested valleys of the big prairie rivers leading to the Rockies where ther are cougars. That is all they need.
I think the country is too steril and the snow to deep along the north shore of Lake Superior for them to have come into southern Ontario from the west. No deer for a 1,000 miles, only enough snowshoe hares one year in ten, and snow so deep east of Lake Superior that if you step off your cross country skis you disappear. Tough going for a cougar.
