No wild mountain lion population has been confirmed in Maine in more than 80 years. The last confirmed eastern cougar in the state was killed in 1938, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has declared the eastern cougar extinct. Mainers still report them, though, and a few cases have been backed up by hair or tracks. Here is what is documented, what is not, and why the sources read the same evidence differently.
The last confirmed mountain lion in Maine
According to the Bangor Daily News, a trapper killed an eastern mountain lion in Somerset County in 1938. The Eastern Cougar Foundation also treats that animal as the last confirmed wild eastern cougar in Maine.
The same article lists two later Maine cases with evidence from biologists: hair samples that identified a cougar in Cape Elizabeth in 1995, and tracks from a mountain lion in Monmouth in 2000. Neither led to a confirmed breeding population.
What the federal government decided
On March 2, 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said that after a three-year study it had concluded the eastern cougar is extinct. Martin Miller, its northeast endangered species chief, said, “We found no information to support the existence of the eastern cougar.” Mark McCollough, the biologist in the service’s Old Town office who led the review, wrote a 107-page report.
The Eastern Cougar Foundation says the review found no verifiable evidence of a breeding population in the cat’s historic range, and that a final rule in January 2018 removed it from federal protection. The agency wanted physical proof, such as a carcass or photograph, not sightings.
Why people keep seeing them
The 2011 article says Maine wildlife officials get dozens of reports every year. Federal biologists who reviewed the issue also considered more than 570 public comments on possible sightings across the country. We could not find a current yearly count of Maine reports.
McCollough told the Bangor Daily News in 2014 that cougars that turn up in Maine are either of captive origin or animals that walked in from western states, and that his team could not find evidence they are still here and breeding. He pointed to a cougar that traveled from South Dakota and was killed in Connecticut in 2011. The article says bobcats are often mistaken for cougars, and that about 10 percent of eastern cougar sightings involve black panthers, a cat McCollough says there is no scientific evidence ever lived in eastern North America.
In 2014 a North Waldoboro man shared trail camera photos of an animal he believed was a mountain lion. The article describes such reports as unconfirmed in most cases.
Why the sources disagree
- Eastern cougar versus any cougar. The federal finding is about a breeding eastern population. The Eastern Cougar Foundation notes that a single wanderer from the West or an escaped pet does not make one, and that cougars are now generally treated as one subspecies, so the finding is about a regional population.
- Sightings versus proof. The state and federal agencies count only carcasses, photographs, hair and tracks. Most Maine reports are unconfirmed, and the few confirmed ones, in 1995 and 2000, did not show a population.
- Wild or captive. McCollough says Maine cougars are probably escaped pets or western wanderers. We found no DNA result from a Maine animal in our sources that settles where any of them came from.
Mountain lions in Maine: FAQ
Are there mountain lions in Maine?
No breeding population has been confirmed. Federal biologists say the eastern cougar is extinct, though the 2011 report says Maine officials get dozens of sighting reports every year.
When was the last mountain lion killed in Maine?
A trapper killed one in Somerset County in 1938, which is the last confirmed eastern cougar in the state.
Has a mountain lion been confirmed in Maine since 1938?
The Bangor Daily News reports biologist-confirmed evidence in Cape Elizabeth in 1995 (hair) and Monmouth in 2000 (tracks).
Is it legal to hunt a mountain lion in Maine?
As of the 2011 article, hunting or trapping a cougar in Maine was illegal because there is no open season.
Our details come from the Bangor Daily News 2011 report on the extinction finding, the Bangor Daily News 2014 report on mistaken identity and the Eastern Cougar Foundation. We have not independently verified these accounts, and the sighting and legal details may have changed since those reports.