by Kris Kennedy

Created on: November 17, 2009

American Big Cat Habitat

The United States has its big cat, Cougar, and it is having difficulty surviving with human habitats moving into there areas. Sometimes dead cougars end up on the side of road as most common road kill such as coyotes and deer. Is there room in America for our big cat?

Washington State University

One of Washington Universities, Washington State University (WSU) uses the animal as its mascot. No longer does the University keep a Cougar as a live mascot because of the consequences of confinement for a Cougar. In the seventies the last kept cougar died. The veterinarian college at the school did not want to care for another cougar because confinement causes arthritis because a Cougar needs to run long distances. Are there areas today in which this large cat can find to run? Maybe keeping one cougar and risking arthritis would prevent one large cat from dying on the side of the road because he got running and could not stop.

An employee of WSU-Tri-Cities looked outside and said to fellow employees that there is a cougar out there. The other employees said just there is a road iron cougar at the entrance. "No, I mean a real cougar," she responded to her fellow employees. A cougar was lying in the grass and later got up and ran away. WSU-Tri-Cities lies on the city border of Richland, Washington. As the town grows out there have been more and more sightings of cougars.

Problems

The animals that naturally call Washington State home have been having difficulty living in the natural areas because humans are moving into there habitats. People bring with them there pets. Wild animals do not make a distinction between pets and a meal. Families living in outlying areas are encouraged to keep small pets indoor to prevent them from being food for coyotes, but even cats need to eat. Will the expansion cause cougars to be the next breed to be guilty of using pets as food.

A family learned the spirit of a cat. They woke up and found coyote hair in the living room and the door to the garage open. They had lost a cat to coyotes and replaced him with two cats from the shelter. They looked for there cats. They found one cat with coyote hairs in its claws. They could not find the other cat that always was able to get the door open and get outside. Luckily, they looked outside and saw this cat. This feisty little cat protected the other adventurous cat. He showed his tough cat nature. Are the big cats fighting this fight in the American wild? Can we keep the coyote and big cat fight out in the outlying area as we creep into the area.

We do not want to lose our big cats, but do not want to run into them in our neighborhoods. An answer must exist.

Learn more about this author, Kris Kennedy.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.