The Estonian animal protection society (ELS) posted on social media that a puma had been sighted near Rõuge, Võru County.

The post read: "A report reached the ELS hotline that a puma has been seen moving around in Rõuge parish, near the Latvian border. The reporter said the animal has already been seen several times and is moving around only in southeastern Estonia."

Zoologists Mati Kaal and Aleksei Turovski, however, remained skeptical. "People's knowledge of wildlife is not the best. It could also have been a lynx. It likely isn't a big cat, though a lynx can indeed look a certain way, so that people might think it is a puma," Kaal said.

"If it really does turn out to be a puma, then according to both experts it would likely be an individual animal that had escaped from a zoo or wildlife park. "If the puma had bolted from somewhere, then it would be used to getting food from people, making it easy to trap," Kaal added.

How well a puma, also known as the cougar and native to continental America, in any case could cope in an Estonian forest depends on which subspecies it belongs to.

Turovski explained that there are at least eight subspecies of puma. "If it was a Canadian puma, then it would manage excellently in Estonian forests. If it was a Patagonian puma, perhaps even better. If it was a descendant of a tropical subspecies, then things would not be so easy," the zoologist said.

Turovski added he does not believe that a puma in the forest would present much of a danger. "If it is an animal bred for several generations as a pet, then, for it, a human is a source of food and care. I really don't believe it would attack a human on its own initiative," said Turovski.

According to Kaal, much would depend on the specific situation, were a person to encounter a puma in the forest. "Generally it would rather keep its distance, but if it got stuck somewhere in a dead end, then of course it could be dangerous," he said.

The puma's diet is also similar to that of the lynx, meaning while a puma in the Estonian forest could find food, conflict with a lynx over the same prey could end up badly for the lynx, though much depends on the age of the puma and what subspecies it is.

According to zoologists, pumas are agile, making catching them not an easy job, since smaller individuals can also climb trees.

Despite it ultimately being unlikely that a puma is wandering around in Estonian forests, Kaal said it is not wholly impossible. While zoos do not buy or sell animals, private keepers can order animals outright from the internet.

"There is a zoo on Saaremaa where a puma has been obtained from somewhere, and the owners there are at this very moment building it a bigger dwelling for the winter. If a litter has been available somewhere, then it may be, for example, that Latvians too have acquired themselves a puma," Kaal went on.
A litter is typically made up of four to five cubs.

Kaal said private owners being able to keep potentially dangerous predators was not a sensible state of affairs, however. "It is not a good idea to keep a beast of that kind, but people love their freedom. At first, when it is small, it is terribly cute, but when it grows up and becomes sexually mature, then it can get dangerous," Kaal explained.

Turovski noted that a serval cat is also kept in captivity, entirely legally. This feline in the wild inhabits sub-Saharan savanna areas, mainly in bushland. The serval can leap nearly three meters into the air and can change direction while airborne. "They are still pretty serious and dangerous animals. Even though they have been adapted to fulfill the function of a pet," he noted.

If a puma or any other bigger cat species is found in the forest after all, the ELS urges reporting it to the Environmental Board on +372 662 5999, or calling the society itself on +372 526 7117, or emailing them at info@loomakaitse.ee. It can also be reported on their social media page here.

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