Read a newspaper article the other day that was about animal sightings in different areas of Manitoba in the last year or two, specifically; brown bears, cougars, whooping cranes and pronghorns. All of them were considered hunted out in Manitoba since the early 20th century and they're starting to make a comeback. I know two winters ago I tracked a cougar in the area about 100 miles north of where marcraft hails from, and Manitoba Conservation was still claiming there weren't any cougars in Manitoba. Then about a week later a farm couple got an awesome photo of a cougar running through their back yard and it made the front page of both the big papers in Winnipeg. I'm just throwing this out there because I'm not sure what's bringing them back, although I think it's a good thing. Maybe...less hunting being done? But there's still more encroachment by humans on their natural habitats. I know deer are traveling farther north and moose are coming farther south (attributable to the cut lines that Manitoba Hydro has gashed up all of our forests with), so are coyotes and wolves, doing the south-north transit.. and the caribou herd is starting to come as far south as it did decades ago, the herd's growing so it would have to for food, but I'm perplexed by the re-introduction of these other critters. Thoughts? Anyone?
