In the past the puma was eliminated from the entire eastern half of North America within 200 years following European colonization. Forests were cut down for timber and fuel, deer populations were greatly reduced, and pumas were hunted out. Any remaining eastern populations are considered Critically Endangered. It has also gone from the more densely settled areas of South America.

The World Conservation Union (IUCN) currently lists the puma as a “near threatened” species. It has shifted the pumas status from “least concern,” while leaving open the possibility that it may be raised to “vulnerable” when greater data on the cat’s distribution becomes available. The pumas total breeding population is estimated at less than 50,000 by the IUCN, with a declining trend.

The puma is regulated under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), rendering illegal international trade in specimens or parts.

The puma is also protected across much of the rest of its range. As of 1996, puma hunting was prohibited in Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, French Guiana, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Suriname, Venezuela, and Uruguay. (Costa Rica and Panama are not listed as current range countries by the IUCN.) The cat had no reported legal protection in Ecuador, El Salvador, and Guyana. Regulated puma hunting is still common in the United States and Canada.

Conservation threats to the species include persecution as a pest animal, degradation and fragmentation of its habitat, and depletion of its prey base. Pumas can live as high as 4,500 metres and in this vast range, they occupy almost all possible habitats, coniferous forest, tropical rain forest, swamp, grassland, brush country, rugged snow-country, and desert regions.

Livestock are regarded by pumas as food, particularly when their natural prey has been overhunted by people. This has then been used as an excuse for persecution.

Hunting is the biggest threat to pumas in Latin America. In Peru Andean people are used to kill every puma that comes in sight. At our first visit in the study area in the valley of the river Chancay we already found the dead body of a puma being killed in one of the Andean towns. There is very little information about the conservation status of pumas in the local population. Environmental education and giving value to pumas due tourism development are the key strategies Mundo Azul will focus on in its future conservation work.

A first and necessary step however s to study the size of the remaining puma populations in the Andes in order to identify key areas and develop conservation strategies. As Mundo Azul conservation volunteer you have the unique opportunity to take part in this effort. The research you are participating in will be used to identify key conservation areas. As with any large predator, habitat corridors and sufficient range areas are critical to the sustainability of puma populations. Research simulations have shown that the animal faces a low extinction risk in areas of 2200 km² (850 sq mi) or more.

Become a Mundo Azul conservation volunteer and help protect the pumas of Peru

Read more about the natural history of the puma.