DISCOVER MAINE, AROOSTOOK COUNTY • 2020
The native tribes had great respect for this animal, and stories were told for generations about the strength, courage and cunning of the cougar. As settlers gradually cleared forest for the purpose of creating farmland, they would soon have encounters with the animal. Cows and sheep were easy prey. The settlers began rigorously hunting, trapping and poisoning the cougar. The last known documented cougar was trapped in northern Maine in 1938. Even though the eastern cougar is now considered extinct by the US Dept of Interior, approximately 50 sightings of cougars are reported each year in Maine.