Cougar Killed In Troup County
Tony Potts
11-19-2008
Hunters around West Point Lake might be led to believe that
Georgia has a new predator roaming the woods - the cougar. A
Sunday kill of a male cougar on U.S. Army Corps of Engineer land
at West Point Lake, south of Hwy. 109 seemed to verify
that thought. However, according to the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources’ Wildlife Resources Division, this simply is a one-time
experience.
`Though cougar and panther sightings persist in Georgia, there
are no known native populations of these animals roaming the
woods,` advises Wildlife Resources Division Region Supervisor
Kevin Kramer. `There is no reason to believe there are any more cougars out there. This likely
is a unique experience and while exciting, is not something for which we
should be concerned.`
The cougar, taken near the Abbottsford community west of LaGrange, was
a male, 88 inches in length measured from the nose to the tip of the
tail and weighed approximately 140 pounds. The hunter who took the
animal was legally hunting deer from his tree stand at the time the
cougar approached.
Initial external examination by Wildlife Resources Division biologists
found no tattoos, tags or collars, and the cougar had not been
declawed.
Further examination by The Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease
Study in Athens Monday afternoon confirmed the cougar to be healthy and
well fed. Researchers determined the cougar had a very low parasite
level and that the pads on all four feet were scuffed. According to
SCWDS staff, these findings are consistent with a captive reared cougar,
not a wild specimen.
Due to the fact that there are no known native populations of cougars
in Georgia, no permitted cougars in this area and that the closest
Alabama facilities permitted to house cougars (in Elmore and Macon
Counties) have accounted for all permitted cougars, the animal taken
Sunday likely escaped or was released from a non-permitted individual.
There currently are no leads as to who may have most recently held the
animal, but the Division will continue to look into all possibilities.
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