Trail of the Cougar

Long part of the American landscape, cougars were once held sacred by native peoples, admired by Davy Crockett, and even seen by Christopher Columbus. They lived nearly everywhere in North and South America, claiming the largest range of any New World mammal. But these animals have not had an easy time of it in the modern world. They have been hunted for their pelts, for sport, and even for their meat. They can be dangerous intruders in our world, as we are in theirs. Today, aside from a tiny remnant holding on in Florida, cougars are gone from eastern North America. Some survive in Canada and the western United States, but at numbers which are only a fraction of their former population. And as the line between wilderness and urban sprawl becomes ever less distinct, this American icon finds itself in a fight for survival.