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Cougar attacked me: Cornwall-area man
Matthew Sekeres
The Ottawa Citizen
Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen
David Wood says he was bitten on the arm by what he thinks was an eastern cougar.
Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
Wildlife experts believe hunting and urban development pushed the eastern cougar, similar to this variety that lives in B.C., into either the most remote reaches of the province or into extinction.
An animal attack on a Cornwall-area man is the latest evidence suggesting the eastern cougar may be present in Eastern Ontario.
David Wood, 19, said he was attacked by a cougar last weekend in the back yard of his Monkland home. He also claimed he saw the animal the next day and that it was unmistakably a cougar.
"Honestly, it looked like a female lion," he said. "I yelled, 'Mom, mom,' and it was in the bush.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and a federal committee on endangered species both believe the wild eastern cougars no longer exist here. The animal was rabidly hunted and trapped throughout the century and urban development pushed cougars into either the most remote reaches of the province or into extinction.
Mr. Wood isn't convinced, nor are some authorities who say a cougar could be roaming.
"From what I've seen, looking at the bite and hearing what other people have seen, describing the animal, it's more apt to be (a cougar) than a dog," said Kevin Casselman, an animal control officer for Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry County.
"I just can't see people lying all over the place."
Mr. Casselman said he has received six recent unconfirmed sightings of a cougar.
"There is a lot of evidence that is starting to turn up to show that these cats are out there," said Todd Lester, president of the West Virginia-based Eastern Cougar Foundation, which tracks confirmed cougar sightings.
Mr. Lester said provincial wildlife biologist Lil Anderson collected cougar droppings northeast of Kenora in 1999. Forensic analysis matched them to a cougar. In New Brunswick, paw prints and droppings were found in the snow in 1993.
Mr. Lester plans to contact Mr. Wood and said if the story is true, it would be the first report of a cougar attack on a human on the eastern side of the continent.
Mr. Wood said his brother's Rottweiler, Rascal, was agitated and barking relentlessly around 1 a.m. on Aug. 4. He went outside to feed the pet and noticed the tip of a tail near the family's goat pen.
Mr. Wood said he came within one metre before an animal lunged at him. He blocked his face and neck with his forearm, which received a scraping bite, and kicked the animal with his steel-toe boots. Stumbling back, the six-foot-five, 285-pound teen said the animal advanced again and he kicked at it, scaring it off.
Mr. Wood admits he never got a clear view of the animal and that it was a very foggy night. But the next day, around 7 p.m., Mr. Wood said he saw a cougar crouching in roughly same spot where the attack occurred.
This time, Mr. Wood was about five metres away.
The bite left eight tooth markings that Mr. Lester said is consistent with the jaw structure of the cougar.
Cougars are notorious for avoiding human contact and are rarely sighted. Their main food source is deer, although they will feed on smaller animals if hungry. A starving cougar will scavenge and would attack a human, experts warn.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife's terrestrial mammal group lists the cougar as "data deficient," meaning it does not have enough scientific information about the animal in the east to list it as extinct or extirpated, meaning the animal exists, just not in Canada.
If wild cougars still existed in this area, they would occasionally be hit by cars, as in the West.
But that has not happened and it is believed the last wild eastern was shot near the Quebec-Maine border in 1938.
"If it were a cougar, it would be escaped or released. We're not talking about an indigenous, wild cougar," said Shaun Thompson, district ecologist for the ministry's Kemptville office. "They are an extremely elusive animal. There are none native or indigenous to this part of Ontario anymore."
Matthew Sekeres
The Ottawa Citizen
Chris Mikula, The Ottawa Citizen
David Wood says he was bitten on the arm by what he thinks was an eastern cougar.
Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
Wildlife experts believe hunting and urban development pushed the eastern cougar, similar to this variety that lives in B.C., into either the most remote reaches of the province or into extinction.
An animal attack on a Cornwall-area man is the latest evidence suggesting the eastern cougar may be present in Eastern Ontario.
David Wood, 19, said he was attacked by a cougar last weekend in the back yard of his Monkland home. He also claimed he saw the animal the next day and that it was unmistakably a cougar.
"Honestly, it looked like a female lion," he said. "I yelled, 'Mom, mom,' and it was in the bush.
The Ministry of Natural Resources and a federal committee on endangered species both believe the wild eastern cougars no longer exist here. The animal was rabidly hunted and trapped throughout the century and urban development pushed cougars into either the most remote reaches of the province or into extinction.
Mr. Wood isn't convinced, nor are some authorities who say a cougar could be roaming.
"From what I've seen, looking at the bite and hearing what other people have seen, describing the animal, it's more apt to be (a cougar) than a dog," said Kevin Casselman, an animal control officer for Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry County.
"I just can't see people lying all over the place."
Mr. Casselman said he has received six recent unconfirmed sightings of a cougar.
"There is a lot of evidence that is starting to turn up to show that these cats are out there," said Todd Lester, president of the West Virginia-based Eastern Cougar Foundation, which tracks confirmed cougar sightings.
Mr. Lester said provincial wildlife biologist Lil Anderson collected cougar droppings northeast of Kenora in 1999. Forensic analysis matched them to a cougar. In New Brunswick, paw prints and droppings were found in the snow in 1993.
Mr. Lester plans to contact Mr. Wood and said if the story is true, it would be the first report of a cougar attack on a human on the eastern side of the continent.
Mr. Wood said his brother's Rottweiler, Rascal, was agitated and barking relentlessly around 1 a.m. on Aug. 4. He went outside to feed the pet and noticed the tip of a tail near the family's goat pen.
Mr. Wood said he came within one metre before an animal lunged at him. He blocked his face and neck with his forearm, which received a scraping bite, and kicked the animal with his steel-toe boots. Stumbling back, the six-foot-five, 285-pound teen said the animal advanced again and he kicked at it, scaring it off.
Mr. Wood admits he never got a clear view of the animal and that it was a very foggy night. But the next day, around 7 p.m., Mr. Wood said he saw a cougar crouching in roughly same spot where the attack occurred.
This time, Mr. Wood was about five metres away.
The bite left eight tooth markings that Mr. Lester said is consistent with the jaw structure of the cougar.
Cougars are notorious for avoiding human contact and are rarely sighted. Their main food source is deer, although they will feed on smaller animals if hungry. A starving cougar will scavenge and would attack a human, experts warn.
The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife's terrestrial mammal group lists the cougar as "data deficient," meaning it does not have enough scientific information about the animal in the east to list it as extinct or extirpated, meaning the animal exists, just not in Canada.
If wild cougars still existed in this area, they would occasionally be hit by cars, as in the West.
But that has not happened and it is believed the last wild eastern was shot near the Quebec-Maine border in 1938.
"If it were a cougar, it would be escaped or released. We're not talking about an indigenous, wild cougar," said Shaun Thompson, district ecologist for the ministry's Kemptville office. "They are an extremely elusive animal. There are none native or indigenous to this part of Ontario anymore."