Large Animals That Used To Live Here …?

Black bear swimming in Quebec, Canada in 2012 (photo from Wikimedia Commons) 18 June 2026 Five hundred years ago elk, bison, wolves and mountain lions roamed the eastern U.S., including Pennsylvania, but now we never see them in Pittsburgh. The closest we get to a mountain lion are the four cougar statues immortalized as “panthers” on the Panther Hollow Bridge in Schenley Park. Panther statue at Panther Hollow Bridge (photo from Wikimedia Commons) Some of these large animals are making a comeback in the East, thanks in part to habitat restoration and reintroduction, as described by Andrew Moore in his new book The Beasts of the East: The Fall and Rise of America’s Eastern Wilderness. book cover The Beasts of the East by Andrew Moore Andrew and Boaz Frankel talked about the large animals that used to live here as they walked in Schenley Park last week. Talk Pittsburgh video embedded from CBS Pittsburgh on YouTube They never mentioned the black bears who used to live here, were gone for…