IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Dueck, H. | |
| Carnivore conservation - a proposal for the Canadian Rockies - Final report | |
| 1990 Full Book | |
Although abundant throughout much of North America before the arrival of the Europeans, the cougar, grizzly bear, wolf, and wolverine ranges receded as European civilization advanced. By the late 1800s a combination of unrestricted hunting and trapping, and drastically reduced bison and elk populations resulted in the near extirpation of these large carnivores in the contiguous U.S.A. and throughout the settled regions of Canada. Some recovery of large carnivore populations occurred, beginning in the 1930s, partly as a result of increased legal protection. The 1950s reversed this trend with the initiation of new government predator control program. Although the 1960s and 1970s saw a return to greater protection for these large carnivores, both the grizzly bear and the wolf are now listed as threatened species in the contiguous U.S.A., and the eastern cougar is endangered. Worldwide, large carnivores have not fared well in competition with civilization. Concern has been expressed, that unless Canada learns from the mistakes of others we too may, in the future, be faced with the expensive and difficult task of trying to recover populations of these large carnivores. The time to act is now, while w still have healthy populations of these species and sufficient habitat for them. |
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