This Saturday, WPC's Wild in the Woods includes hikes, animals and more....

The eastern cougar (Puma concolor couguar) once inhabited all of the northeastern United States. It has also been known by the names puma, panther, mountain lion and catamount. Hunting and habitat changes pressured the eastern cougar and caused its numbers to dwindle as pioneers "settled the land". Bounties paid for documented cougar kills helped to further endanger this large cat. In Clinton County, $6 bounties were paid as late as 1871. Experts believe that in Pennsylvania the eastern cougar became extirpated in the late 1800's. This cat continues to survive in the western U.S. as a different subspecies, and it is not uncommon in some regions.

But sightings and reports of the cougar in Pennsylvania have continued. Experts believe that some of these sightings are misidentifications, while others are in fact sightings of escaped or released cougars, and do not represent a relict population of the native eastern mountain lion. Apparently the last documented kill of a cougar was in the 1960's, and was not an eastern cougar, but instead a released individual of a different subspecies.

WPC members will have a chance to see the young mountain lion pictured above during the annual event Wild in the Woods this coming Saturday. Members are invited to spend the day at Bear Run Nature Reserve (at Fallingwater, Fayette County) participating in hikes, demonstrations, presentations and a bountiful lunch. Activities will range from getting advice on gardening, to hiking remote areas of the nature reserve, viewing some live animals, and members tour Fallingwater for free. For more information, go to the our web site.
WPC memberships start at just $25.

The 3-month old captive female cougar pictured today will attend Wild in the Woods along with other animals and is from Woodland Zoo, Farmington, Pa.

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