Very informative article.  I'd argue there are already established cougars east of the Mississippi.   In many of the areas already highlighted as potential spots for relocations.One pet peeve of mine is the random South Dakota stat that "...reduced costs of deer-vehicle collisions by an estimated $1.1 million annually."  I hate when people use large numbers for impact, but it leaves a whole gray area as to what it means.  If you assume the average car crash costs $5,000, that means it reduced car crashes in South Dakota by approximately a count of 220 accidents.  Not shabby and every little bit counts, but when you consider there are 18,000 annual vehicle crashes in South Dakota each year, your talking about ~1% of crashes, less if average car crash costs is >$5,000.  I'm not saying its wrong for the author to do, I get the need for impactful statements, and I'm probably in the minority but I hate when people have exact information (~220 accident decrease) but instead use "wow" statements that obfuscate the underlying data.  Off my soapbox now.  :-)

Very informative article.  I'd argue there are already established cougars east of the Mississippi.   In many of the areas already highlighted as potential spots for relocations.One pet peeve of mine is the random South Dakota stat that "...reduced costs of deer-vehicle collisions by an estimated $1.1 million annually."  I hate when people use large numbers for impact, but it leaves a whole gray area as to what it means.  If you assume the average car crash costs $5,000, that means it reduced car crashes in South Dakota by approximately a count of 220 accidents.  Not shabby and every little bit counts, but when you consider there are 18,000 annual vehicle crashes in South Dakota each year, your talking about ~1% of crashes, less if average car crash costs is >$5,000.  I'm not saying its wrong for the author to do, I get the need for impactful statements, and I'm probably in the minority but I hate when people have exact information (~220 accident decrease) but instead use "wow" statements that obfuscate the underlying data.  Off my soapbox now.  :-)

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