THUNDER BAY - An elusive animal may have been captured on camera, but the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry still cannot say if Northern Ontario is its permanent home.
A property owner in Kaministiqua says a cougar was captured on a trail cam on his property late last week.
The individual does not want to use his name in order to keep people from descending on his property in the hopes of spotting the animal.
“I know the sighting and photos of cougars are quite rare,” he said. “They are a beautiful animal and hopefully the MNR can gather some information and pass it on to the public.”
A spokesperson with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry said there are no plans at this time to investigate the site where the trail cam was set up, but it could provide more concrete evidence that a cougar is in the area.
“In this case you have some trail cam photos which is very useful information and if we can get more information about those photos and get a closer look at those scenes, it would be very helpful,” said Jolanta Kowalski with the MNRF. “A confirmed cougar case in Ontario is very rare.”
The property owner said a friend asked to set up the trail camera and deer feed was spread out in the area. Several animals were caught on camera, but the cougar took everyone by surprise.
“Thirty years ago I told people about seeing that cougar and some people didn’t believe me,” he said. “So this time there was a photo. Once I got the photos I went to my neighbours on my street and I went to every house and I told them what I’ve seen.”
The photos have been circulated on social media since the weekend and while there have long been reported sightings of the elusive predator, it’s difficult to say just how prevalent cougars are in the region.
“We know there are some cougars in Ontario, but I think as we’ve mentioned before, they are elusive, so the population size isn’t known,” Kowalski said. “Cougars found in Ontario aren’t necessarily resident population, they could be escaped or released pets, animals dispersing from western North America, native animals, or a combination of those.”
In 2017, a frozen carcass of a cougar was found off the Boreal Road but DNA testing determined it was not part of a resident population in Northern Ontario.
