SARANAC LAKE – Cougar, mountain lion, puma. Whatever you call it, the scientific name remains the same: Puma concolor.

Some say they’ve seen the impressive felines roaming the Adirondacks, while others scoff at the idea. The truth probably lies somewhere in between.

Cougars are a native species to New York and neighboring states, but they were eliminated through hunting and bounty programs in the 1800s.

In an email to the Enterprise, state Department of Environmental Conservation media relations officer Jomo Miller explained that existing populations that could serve as a source for natural recolonization are far away, and are separated by major highways and other significant barriers to migration.

Male cougars, like the one hit by a car in Milford, Connecticut, in 2011 do tend to roam in their quest to seek out territory and females to mate with. Paw prints and DNA samples extracted from scat showed the Connecticut cat traveled from the Midwest through Wisconsin, Minnesota and parts of the Adirondacks before it perished. DNA analysis also showed it was the same mountain lion that was spotted near Lake George in December 2010.

When the DEC released its State Wildlife Action Plan earlier this year, lynx, wolves and mountain lions were all protected as endangered and threatened species. In other words, those species have a safe haven in New York; they just don’t live here. There are some who think humans should work to change that.

The environmental group Protect the Adirondacks is involved in an ongoing effort to encourage the state to return cougars to the Adirondacks. In a press release, Protect Executive Director Peter Bauer criticized the DEC for not mentioning the reintroduction of big carnivores like cougars and wolves to the Park in the wildlife action plan.

Miller explained that the agency’s wildlife biologists have bigger concerns.

“In developing the State Wildlife Action Plan (SWAP), DEC focused conservation actions on declining or at-risk species that currently have populations in New York State and for which conservation action was urgently needed to maintain their populations in the state,” Miller wrote. “The earlier Comprehensive Wildlife Conservation Strategy called for additional studies of the social and biological feasibility of restoring cougars and wolves before restoration work could begin.”

Miller said a 2013 study conducted by wildlife biologist John Laundre concluded that the Adirondacks could sustain a cougar population, and a different study published this year showed there is some public support for cougar restoration.

That study’s resulting paper, titled “Predicting support for recolonization of mountain lions in the Adirondack Park,” was written by Elizabeth McGovern, a graduate student with the Yale School of Ecology and Environmental Studies and Heidi Kretser, Livelihoods and Conservation Coordinator with the Saranac Lake chapter of WCS.

The research began with going through old DEC reports of cougar sightings and determining their plausibility. Sightings reported by reputable sources like DEC wildlife biologists were considered more valid than those with vague descriptions, like someone who reported seeing a large, black streak running through the woods.

Kretser found there was a surprising amount of plausible sightings, and that made her wonder how people would perceive risk if they shared their world with the large predators.

The study concluded that people were largely in support of cougars living in the Adirondacks as long as it happened naturally – 77.4 percent of the 315 Adirondack residents and 52.1 percent of the 800 state residents surveyed agreed with natural recolonization. Almost 80 percent of those respondents reported hiking at least once a year.

When asked if they would support efforts to reintroduce mountain lions to the Park, only 35.7 percent of residents and 40.2 percent of non-residents said yes.

Kretser said she found the disparity in public opinion was related to risk perception. Those who thought cougars were more dangerous were more likely to be opposed to their return. She said a series questions on cougar facts attempted to further explain that correlation.

“We found that the people who have higher levels of risk tended to have lower levels of knowledge about cougars, and the people who had higher levels of risk tended to be less supportive of natural recolonization,” Kretser said. “So if you don’t have the knowledge, you tend to be more shy of cougars coming into the landscape.”

The questions included were: Are mountain lion attacks common in areas where they live close to humans? (No) Do mountain lions prefer to eat livestock even when wild animals are plentiful? (No) Are mountain lions in danger of becoming extinct worldwide? (No).

“We found people who own some kind of livestock tended to have higher levels of risk, and we also found that hunters aren’t as excited about them coming back because they’re competition for deer,” Kretser said. “There are some real, legitimate concerns for people who live here.”

Kretser said regardless of what steps, if any, wildlife biologists take in facilitating the return of cougars to the Adirondacks, it could be a good idea for the DEC to begin educating the public on the animals.

“There could be a dispersing male in the area,” Kretser said. “It’s a very low possibility, but it’s happened before and it could happen again. Getting that kind of information out there so people know, like what to do if there’s a conflict, gives them the power to deal with whatever kind of risk they might perceive.”