A new CBS Mornings broadcast segment shines a spotlight on cougars and the Olympic Cougar Project, carried out by Panthera and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe in Washington State.
Just a few hours from Seattle, a CBS Mornings crew visited the Olympic Cougar Project in October 2021 to learn about Panthera’s cougar research, with a focus on the tribal and technological partnerships that are helping scientists connect cougars in northwest Washington.
In this landscape, high-definition remote cameras and GPS collars provide a window into the secret world of cougars, unveiling where the species travels and why, what they eat, how they raise their young, interactions between pumas and bobcats and how the species navigates through a mosaic of human-dominated lands.
In particular, the segment examines how Panthera’s scientists utilize EarthRanger software as a visual, analytical data-aggregator with the unique strength of compiling GPS collar data to signal when wild cats are mating, establishing natal dens, entering and leaving national parks and reservations and crossing Interstates.
Excitingly, the crew was present for the recollaring of a male cougar or puma known as ‘Omar’ or the ‘Coastal Cat,’ who prefers territory where the Peninsula meets the Pacific.
Watch the segment below to hear from Puma Program Director Dr. Mark Elbroch on what we are learning about cougars and why species monitoring is so significant, how cougars serve as ecosystem engineers maintaining the health of habitats for wildlife and people alike, how technology is aiding wildlife conservation and more.
Assisting Panthera scientists’ understanding of cougar numbers, EarthRanger recently signalled the mating of two collared cats – Yoko and Vinnie – and the subsequent birth of several kittens.
The Olympic Cougar Project
The Olympic Cougar Project (OCP) is a large-scale, multi-national collaborative effort to assess and increase cougar connectivity in western Washington State where these big cats have lower genetic diversity than in other areas of the state. Given conflict over livestock is the biggest source of cougar deaths in the region, the OCP also aims to facilitate co-existence between cougars and human communities through various education and community outreach initiatives.
Adopting a community approach rarely seen in the United States that extends across state and tribal nation boundaries, the OCP is carried out by Panthera and the Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe alongside multiple other tribal nations, including the Jamestown S’Klallam, Quinault Nation, Makah, Port Gamble S’Klallam and Skokomish Tribes, respectively.
