 <unk> hunting following European colonization of the Americas and the ongoing human development of cougar habitat has caused populations to drop in most parts of its historical range . In particular , the cougar was extirpated in eastern North America in the beginning of the 20th century , except for an isolated Florida panther <unk> . Breeding populations have moved east into the far western parts of the Dakotas , Nebraska , and Oklahoma . <unk> males have been verified in Minnesota , Missouri , Wisconsin , Iowa , the Upper Peninsula of Michigan , and Illinois , where a cougar was shot in the city limits of Chicago and , in at least one instance , observed as far east as coastal Connecticut . Reports of eastern cougars ( P. c. cougar ) still surface , although it was declared extirpated in 2011 . 
