NATIONAL COUGAR DAY, JUNE 12TH 2024

Cougar, puma, catamount, panther – all names for one of the most mystical animals of the Americas, the mountain lion. The allure of this cat has captivated the imagination of field biologists, hunters, animal lovers, and wildlife watchers all over the world. Once the largest ranging mammal in the Western Hemisphere, mountain lion sightings today are rare as these animals struggle to maintain a wild existence as human development encroaches into their habitat at an ever increasing rate.  

In the winter of 1999, an event occurred that would cast light on the collision of two worlds. The arrival and six-week stay of a mountain lion and her three cubs on the National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming would forevermore change how these elusive predators are perceived by those who hunt them and those who argue for their protection. This spectacle marked the first time in history a mountain lion has been documented in the wild for an extended period of time. 

Wildlife watchers, photographers, and filmmakers came from around the world to witness the once-in-a-lifetime event. The weekends were particularly popular. Every day, there were around 20 to 30 or 40 people at that one spot taking photographs. Thousands of people, possibly between 10,000 to 15,000 people that winter came out to see the mountain lions. 

But less than three months later, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department would more than double the quota of mountain lions to be killed in the area, a decision that shocked the residents of the town of Jackson, pleasing only a few.  

The Cougar Fund was founded in 2001 by writer Cara Blessley Lowe and wildlife photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen after their firsthand experience observing the mother lion and her three cubs on the National Elk Refuge. Frequent collaborators, Blessley Lowe and Mangelsen produced a book titled “Spirit of the Rockies: The Mountain Lions of Jackson Hole” and a subsequent short film documentary on the historical event.  

These two pieces went on to garner major national media attention, broadly publicizing the principal issues facing cougars at the dawn of the 21st century: Lack of scientific data on cougar populations within state game agencies, inadequate regulations to protect female cougars and their dependent young, and a dwindling natural habitat further fragmented by human development.  

The Cougar Fund was founded to help ensure the conservation and protection of cougars throughout their range in the United States and the rest of the Western Hemisphere. Scientific research has shown that healthy cougar populations help to maintain healthy landscapes and biodiversity which humans depend on for clan water to drink, clean air to breathe, fertile soil in which to grow our food, for medicines derived from plants and other species, for personal and cultural inspiration, for physical and spiritual renewal and more. Our well-being and prosperity is inextricably linked to the health of natural landscapes, the myriad species that live in them and the intricate web of interdependent relationships that binds it all together. Conserving healthy and well-connected cougar populations not only helps us fulfill our moral obligation to protect nature but also yields immeasurable benefits to humans.  

Although viable cougar populations continue to exist throughout much of the western United States, decades of suppression through predator control and sport hunting are likely keeping them at levels at which they no longer play their crucial ecological roles. The Cougar Fund works to conserve cougar populations so they can continue to play their vital ecological role and therefore provide innumerable benefits to human society.  

The mission of the Cougar Fund is to protect the cougar and other carnivores throughout the Americas by educating children and adults on their value, and by monitoring state policies and advocating for management based on sound science, to assure a lasting place for these creatures.  

Thanks to Thomas D Mangelsen for his amazing photos and his continued passion and dedication to the protection of cougars, wolves, and bears
To learn more and to support the work of the Cougar Fund go to https://thecougarfund.nationbuilder.com/