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Cougar Management in the U.S., State by State

Cougar management in the U.S., state by state.

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Cougars once roamed throughout most of the contiguous 48 United States. Yet, efforts to exterminate cougars, wolves and other predators that began with European colonization and continued as late as the 1960s resulted in the virtual elimination of cougars from the eastern two-thirds of the United States. Today viable, breeding cougar populations are found in the 15 states of Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota, North Dakota, Texas and Florida. In most of these states, cougars are the only species of native large carnivore that survived extermination programs.

Protections afforded to cougars vary widely across their range. All western states except Texas with surviving cougar populations established limited protections for the cats by the early 1970s. Today cougars are classified as a game species and hunted for sport in 13 states: Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, South Dakota and North Dakota. In these states, authority for setting and carrying out hunting programs is held by each state's wildlife managment agency. Among western states California has afforded the most protection to the species. In California cougars are classified as a “specially protected mammal” and sport hunting was prohibited by public referendum in 1990. In contrast, Texas classifies cougars as a “varmint” and permits their killing without restrictions or reporting requirements. Florida’s small population of cougars, known as Florida Panthers (Puma concolor coryii), is classified as an endangered species under federal and state law and is considered one of the most endangered mammals in the world. In all of the United States cougars can be legally killed for threatening or attacking domestic livestock and pets or for posing a threat to human safety.

More About The Range of the Cougar

[+ ZOOM] Outside of the United States, Cougars also range throughout Mexico, central- and South America, although the status of their range is not entirely known.

Puma concolor was historically the largest ranging land mammal in the Western Hemisphere, aside from man. A habitat generalist and highly-adaptive, the cougar once roamed the entire expanse of the lower 48 United States, up into the Canadian Yukon south to Chilean Patagonia in South America. As Americans, it is the animal we all most share in common, moreso than the bald eagle or the white-tailed deer.

Today, cougars are officially recognized by state wildlife management agencies in 15 states: Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Florida (as subspecies Puma concolor coryii), North Dakota and South Dakota. Cougars are listed as endangered in Florida and protected by law in California. Increased sightings in the Midwest, including Nebraska, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Kansas, are leading to valuable scientific research on the possible viability of cougar populations in these states.

Cougars are legally hunted, almost year-round, in 13 states: Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota, South Dakota and Texas. Cougar hunting is regulated by each state's wildlife management agency in all of the above states except for Texas, where the cougar is classified as varmint and may be killed at any time and in any manner, and with no requirement to report cougar kills to Texas wildlife officials.

Cougars also range throughout Mexico, Central and South America, although the status of their range is not entirely known.