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89-645: The fast ferry scandal was a political affair in the late 1990s relating to the construction of three fast ferries by the Canadian provincial crown corporation BC Ferries under direction of the Executive Council of British Columbia , headed at the time by Premier Glen Clark of the New Democratic Party . In addition to major delays and cost overruns, the ferries never fully met their original specifications, and only operated briefly in

178-454: A comprehensive literature review of more than 160 studies on cougar ecology, ecological interactions with 485 other species in cougar-inhabited ecosystems have been shown to involve different areas of interaction, ranging from the use of other species as food sources and prey, fear effects on potential prey, effects from carcass remains left behind, to competitive effects on other predator species in shared habitat. The most common research topic in

267-477: A cost-plus basis. It would have to act as project manager and assume the risk of the fast ferries. Catamaran Ferries International (CFI), a wholly owned subsidiary of BC Ferries, was incorporated in March 1996 to carry out the work and construction started later that year. The CFI board was suddenly replaced a year later with a new one whose members were either part of CFI management, had significant business ties to

356-473: A fast ferry service from Downtown Vancouver to a point on Vancouver Island. When questioned, representatives of WMG indicated that they are actively searching for suitable applications for the Fast Ferries and they would not rule out such a service. On December 16, 2005, WMG confirmed that it is considering putting the ferries into service from North Vancouver to Duke Point (near Nanaimo) to compete with

445-565: A female reaches estrous again, her offspring must disperse or the male will kill them. Males tend to disperse further than females. One study has shown a high mortality rate among cougars that travel farthest from their maternal range, often due to conflicts with other cougars. In a study area in New Mexico , males dispersed farther than females, traversed large expanses of non-cougar habitat and were probably most responsible for nuclear gene flow between habitat patches. Life expectancy in

534-766: A female's litter can have multiple paternities. Copulation is brief but frequent. Chronic stress can result in low reproductive rates in captivity as well as in the field. Gestation is 82–103 days long. Only females are involved in parenting. Litter size is between one and six cubs, typically two. Caves and other alcoves that offer protection are used as litter dens. Born blind, cubs are completely dependent on their mother at first and begin to be weaned at around three months of age. As they grow, they go out on forays with their mother, first visiting kill sites and, after six months, beginning to hunt small prey on their own. Kitten survival rates are just over one per litter. Juveniles remain with their mothers for one to two years. When

623-495: A fleet of custom-designed high-speed catamaran passenger/vehicle ferries for BC Ferries. The eventual goal was to use aluminum from Alcan smelted in British Columbia (BC), to create jobs building aluminum boats for the international market. The vessels were to be built by private shipyards under the overview of a new provincial Crown corporation to be called Catamaran Ferries International (CFI). A major impetus for

712-484: A foremost crepuscular and nocturnal activity pattern in a ranching area in southern Argentina. Home range sizes and overall cougar abundance depend on terrain, vegetation, and prey abundance. Research suggests a lower limit of 25 km (9.7 sq mi) and upper limit of 1,300 km (500 sq mi) of home range for males. Large male home ranges of 150 to 1,000 km (58 to 386 sq mi) with female ranges half that size. One female adjacent to

801-468: A kill to a preferred spot, covers it with brush, and returns to feed over a period of days. The cougar is generally reported to not be a scavenger , but deer carcasses left exposed for study were scavenged by cougars in California, suggesting more opportunistic behavior. Aside from humans, no species preys upon mature cougars in the wild, although conflicts with other predators or scavengers occur. Of

890-517: A large pack of seven to 11 wolves killing a female cougar and her kittens, while in nearby Sun Valley, Idaho , a 2-year-old male cougar was found dead, apparently killed by a wolf pack. Conversely, one-to-one confrontations tend to be dominated by the cat, and there are various documented accounts where wolves have been ambushed and killed, including adult male specimens. Wolves more broadly affect cougar population dynamics and distribution by dominating territory and prey opportunities, and disrupting

979-424: A powerful leap onto the back of its prey and a suffocating neck bite. The cougar can break the neck of some of its smaller prey with a strong bite and momentum bearing the animal to the ground. Kills are generally estimated around one large ungulate every two weeks. The period shrinks for females raising young, and may be as short as one kill every three days when cubs are nearly mature around 15 months. The cat drags

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1068-459: A reduced capacity, before being auctioned off at a substantial loss by the subsequently elected BC Liberal Party government. A review was later conducted by British Columbia Auditor General George L. Morfitt . The provincial government at the time, led by New Democratic Party (NDP) premier Glen Clark , used provincial Crown corporation BC Ferries to advance its economic goal of supporting British Columbia's shipbuilding industry by creating

1157-873: A tree. The cougar has the most extensive range of any wild land animal in the Americas, spanning 110 degrees of latitude from the Yukon in Canada to the southern Andes in Chile. The species was extirpated from eastern North America, aside from Florida, but they may be recolonizing their former range and isolated populations have been documented east of their contemporary ranges in both the Midwestern US and Canada. The cougar lives in all forest types, lowland and mountainous deserts, and in open areas with little vegetation up to an elevation of 5,800 m (19,000 ft). In

1246-634: A variety of BC companies. Completed modules were transported to CFI's facility in North Vancouver and assembled there. This was done both to stimulate the shipbuilding industry and to make it unnecessary to build a much larger facility for the PacifiCat construction. The fast ferries were intended to achieve crossing times that were 30 minutes faster than those of conventional ferries, making twelve crossings per day rather than eight. Although they initially achieved this crossing time, complaints of

1335-467: Is a learned behavior and they do not generally recognize humans as prey. In a 10-year study in New Mexico of wild cougars who were not habituated to humans, the animals did not exhibit threatening behavior to researchers who approached closely (median distance=18.5 m; 61 feet) except in 6% of cases; 14 ⁄ 16 of those were females with cubs. Attacks on people, livestock, and pets may occur when

1424-473: Is a mostly solitary animal. Only mothers and kittens live in groups, with adults meeting rarely. While generally loners, cougars will reciprocally share kills and seem to organize themselves into small communities defined by the territories of dominant males. Cats within these areas socialize more frequently with each other than with outsiders. In the vicinity of a cattle ranch in northern Mexico, cougars exhibited nocturnal activity that overlapped foremost with

1513-413: Is a partial skull from the late Calabrian ( Ensenadan ) age. The head of the cougar is round, and the ears are erect. Its powerful forequarters, neck, and jaw serve to grasp and hold large prey. It has four retractile claws on its hind paws and five on its forepaws, of which one is a dewclaw . The larger front feet and claws are adaptations for clutching prey. Cougars are slender and agile members of

1602-559: Is afforded protection under the Endangered Species Act . The Texas Mountain Lion Conservation Project was launched in 2009 and aimed at raising local people's awareness of the status and ecological role of the cougar and mitigating conflict between landowners and cougars. The cougar is threatened by habitat loss , habitat fragmentation , and depletion of its prey base due to poaching . Hunting

1691-596: Is also sometimes used in the United States. The first use of puma in English dates to 1777, introduced from Spanish from the Quechua language . In the western United States and Canada, it is also called "mountain lion", a name first used in writing in 1858. Other names include "panther" (although it does not belong to the genus Panthera ) and "catamount" (meaning "cat of the mountains"). Felis concolor

1780-400: Is apparently correlated with the presence of other predators, prey species, livestock and humans. It is an ambush predator that pursues a wide variety of prey. Ungulates , particularly deer , are its primary prey, but it also hunts rodents . It is territorial and lives at low population densities. Individual home ranges depend on terrain, vegetation and abundance of prey. While large, it

1869-560: Is believed to have originated in Asia about 11 million years ago ( Mya ). Taxonomic research on felids remains partial, and much of what is known about their evolutionary history is based on mitochondrial DNA analysis. Significant confidence intervals exist with suggested dates. In the latest genomic study of the Felidae, the common ancestor of today's Leopardus , Lynx , Puma , Prionailurus , and Felis lineages migrated across

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1958-403: Is legal in the western United States. In Florida, heavy traffic causes frequent accidents involving cougars. Highways are a major barrier to the dispersal of cougars. The cougar populations in California are becoming fragmented with the increase in human population and infrastructure growth in the state. Human–wildlife conflict in proximity of 5 km (1.9 sq mi) of cougar habitat

2047-664: Is less. Whereas the size of cougars tends to increase as much as distance from the equator increases, which crosses the northern portion of South America, jaguars are generally smaller north of the Amazon River in South America and larger south of it. For example, while South American jaguars are comparatively large, and may exceed 90 kg (200 lb), North American jaguars in Mexico's Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve weigh approximately 50 kg (110 lb), about

2136-565: Is lower in areas closer to the equator . A survey of North America research found 68% of prey items were ungulates, especially deer. Only the Florida panther showed variation, often preferring feral hogs and armadillos . Cougars have been known to prey on introduced gemsbok populations in New Mexico . One individual cougar was recorded as hunting 29 gemsbok, which made up 58% of its recorded kills. Most gemsbok kills were neonates, but some adults were also known to have been taken. Elsewhere in

2225-650: Is not always the dominant apex predator in its range, yielding prey to other predators. It is reclusive and mostly avoids people. Fatal attacks on humans are rare but increased in North America as more people entered cougar habitat and built farms. The cougar is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List . Intensive hunting following European colonization of the Americas and ongoing human development into cougar habitat has caused populations to decline in most parts of its historical range. In particular,

2314-507: Is pronounced in areas with a median human density of 32.48 inhabitants/km (84.1 inhabitants/sq mi) and a median livestock population density of 5.3 heads/km (14 heads/sq mi). Conflict is generally lower in areas more than 16.1 km (10.0 mi) away from roads and 27.8 km (17.3 mi) away from settlements. Due to the expanding human population , cougar ranges increasingly overlap with areas inhabited by humans. Attacks on humans are very rare, as cougar prey recognition

2403-703: The Bering land bridge into the Americas 8.0 to 8.5 million years ago. The lineages subsequently diverged in that order. North American felids then invaded South America 2–4   Mya as part of the Great American Interchange , following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama . The cheetah lineage is suggested by some studies to have diverged from the Puma lineage in the Americas and migrated back to Asia and Africa, while other research suggests

2492-598: The Cockscomb Basin of Belize were nocturnal but avoided each other. In a protected cloud forest in the central Andes of Colombia, cougars were active from late afternoon to shortly before sunrise and sometimes during noon and early afternoon. In protected areas of the Madidi - Tambopata Landscape in Bolivia and Peru, cougars were active throughout the day but with a tendency to nocturnal activity that overlapped with

2581-460: The Felidae . They are the fourth largest cat species worldwide; adults stand about 60 to 90 cm (24 to 35 in) tall at the shoulders. Adult males are around 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) long from nose to tail tip, and females average 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in), with overall ranges between 1.50 to 2.75 m (4 ft 11 in to 9 ft 0 in) nose to tail suggested for

2670-820: The San Andres Mountains was found with a big range of 215 km (83 sq mi), necessitated by poor prey abundance. Research has shown cougar abundances from 0.5 animals to as many as seven per 100 km (39 sq mi). Male home ranges include or overlap with females but, at least where studied, not with those of other males. The home ranges of females overlap slightly. Males create scrapes composed of leaves and duff with their hind feet, and mark them with urine and sometimes feces . When males encounter each other, they vocalize and may engage in violent conflict if neither backs down. Cougars communicate with various vocalizations. Aggressive sounds include growls, spits, snarls, and hisses. During

2759-884: The Santa Ana Mountains , it prefers steep canyons, escarpments, rim rocks and dense brush. In Mexico, it was recorded in the Sierra de San Carlos . In the Yucatán Peninsula , it inhabits secondary and semi- deciduous forests in El Eden Ecological Reserve . In El Salvador , it was recorded in the lower montane forest in Montecristo National Park and in a river basin in the Morazán Department above 700 m (2,300 ft) in 2019. In Colombia , it

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2848-604: The Washington Marine Group for US$ 13 million ( CA$ 19.23 million), 4.2% of what it cost to build them. Washington Marine Group announced on July 28, 2009 that they had sold the three ships for an undisclosed amount to Abu Dhabi MAR , a luxury yacht builder. The ferries were observed to be tied up in the port of Alexandria, Egypt in late 2022. The Egyptian government plans to scrap the vessels. The PacifiCats were designed by Philip Hercus of Australia and Robert Allan Limited of Vancouver. Hercus developed

2937-618: The eastern cougar population is considered to be mostly locally extinct in eastern North America since the early 20th century, with the exception of the isolated Florida panther subpopulation. The word cougar is borrowed from the Portuguese çuçuarana , via French; it was originally derived from the Tupi language . A current form in Brazil is suçuarana . In the 17th century, Georg Marcgrave named it cuguacu ara . Marcgrave's rendering

3026-590: The panther , mountain lion , catamount and puma , is a large cat native to the Americas. It inhabits North , Central and South America , making it the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial mammal in the Western Hemisphere , and one of the most widespread in the world. Its range spans the Yukon , British Columbia and Alberta provinces of Canada , the Rocky Mountains and areas in

3115-406: The $ 210 million figure was announced. The government hoped that private shipyards would be able to build the ships on a fixed-cost basis. This turned out not to be the case; the shipbuilding industry was less enthusiastic than anticipated. Moreover, none of the shipyards being considered for the work had the facilities to build the fast ferries. BC Ferries had no choice but to do the work itself on

3204-594: The BC Ferries board for a quick approval, and the Auditor-General's report about the fast ferries partly blames him for rushing the fast ferries into production. The result was a ten-year capital plan which had been crafted by the government. It bypassed leasing a fast ferry for trials in BC waters and went directly to implementation. Several other projects previously considered essential, such as replacing one of

3293-512: The BC Ferries routes. WMG at one point said they intended to make a decision by the spring of 2006. As of July 2009 the ferries had been sold for use in the United Arab Emirates . They were later found tied up in the port of Alexandria, Egypt in late 2022. In January 2024, the ferries were listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace by an Egyptian company that was planning to scrap them if they went unsold. The primary factor for

3382-611: The Horsesehoe Bay-Departure Bay route. This situation was the starting point from which the fast ferry project developed. In 1992, BC Ferries and the government began reviewing the issue of ferry service to Nanaimo. The final report, completed in January 1994, neither supported nor endorsed the use of fast ferries for service between Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay. At a meeting in February 1994 that involved

3471-498: The Horseshoe Bay terminal is located in a very small cove next to a commercial marina and there have been several collisions between pleasure craft and ferries over the years. The provincial government was aware of these issues as early as 1972, when a Ministry of Highways report recommended developing a new ferry route between Iona Island south of Vancouver and Gabriola Island south of Nanaimo. Another report recommending

3560-592: The NDP government. Holyman's managing director and its global development manager met with the Minister for Transport and cautioned him against the BC Ferries FastCat plan. They suggested that a first time builder would find it impossible to construct the vessels on time, within budget, or within weight specification. They also suggested that the intended power would be insufficient to meet targeted speed, even if

3649-484: The PacifiCat project, calling it "a failed experiment." Her colleagues agreed, and the ships were put up for sale at an asking price of $ 120 million for all three. They turned out to be difficult to sell, due to their highly specialised design and a saturated market. After a change of government in May 2001, and more attempts to sell at a higher price, the ships were finally put up for auction in March 2003 and were sold to

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3738-466: The United States. Establishing wildlife corridors and protecting sufficient range areas are critical for the sustainability of cougar populations. Research simulations showed that it faces a low extinction risk in areas larger than 2,200 km (850 sq mi). Between one and four new individuals entering a population per decade markedly increases persistence, thus highlighting the importance of habitat corridors. The Florida panther population

3827-552: The activity of calves . In a nature reserve in central Mexico, the activity of cougars was crepuscular and nocturnal, overlapping largely with the activity of the nine-banded armadillo ( Dasypus novemcinctus ). Cougars in the montane Abra-Tanchipa Biosphere Reserve in southeastern Mexico displayed a cathemeral activity pattern. Data from 12 years of camera trapping in the Pacific slope and Talamanca Cordillera of Costa Rica showed cougars as cathemeral. Both cougars and jaguars in

3916-907: The activity of main prey species. During an 8-year-long study in a modified landscape in southeastern Brazil, male cougars were primarily nocturnal, but females were active at night and day. Cougars were diurnal in the Brazilian Pantanal , but crepuscular and nocturnal in protected areas in the Cerrado , Caatinga and ecotone biomes. Cougars in the Atlantic Forest were active throughout the day but displayed peak activity during early mornings in protected areas and crepuscular and nocturnal activity in less protected areas. In central Argentina, cougars were active day and night in protected areas but were active immediately after sunset and before sunrise outside protected areas. Cougars displayed

4005-736: The authors of Mammal Species of the World recognized the following six subspecies in 2005: In 2006, the Florida panther was still referred to as a distinct subspecies P. c. coryi in research works. As of 2017 , the Cat Classification Taskforce of the Cat Specialist Group recognizes only two subspecies as valid : Lynx Cheetah A. jubatus [REDACTED] Cougar [REDACTED] Jaguarundi H. yagouaroundi [REDACTED] Felis Otocolobus Prionailurus The family Felidae

4094-472: The average female in the same region averages about 42 kg (93 lb). On average, adult male cougars in British Columbia weigh 56.7 kg (125 lb) and adult females 45.4 kg (100 lb), though several male cougars in British Columbia weighed between 86.4 and 95.5 kg (190 and 211 lb). Depending on the locality, cougars can be smaller or bigger than jaguars but are less muscular and not as powerfully built, so on average, their weight

4183-434: The cats take prey more frequently and spend less time feeding on each kill. Unlike several subordinate predators from other ecosystems, cougars do not appear to exploit spatial or temporal refuges to avoid competitors. The gray wolf and the cougar compete more directly for prey, mostly in winter. Packs of wolves can steal cougars' kills, and there are some documented cases of cougars being killed by them. One report describes

4272-557: The cheetah diverged in the Old World itself. A high level of genetic similarity has been found among North American cougar populations, suggesting they are all fairly recent descendants of a small ancestral group. Culver et al. propose the original North American cougar population was extirpated during the Pleistocene extinctions some 10,000 years ago, when other large mammals, such as Smilodon , also disappeared. North America

4361-403: The company, or already served on BC Ferries board. According to the Auditor-General's report, this is a textbook example of poor corporate governance. It "created the awkward accountability relationship of having board members account to themselves for their performance." On March 1, 2000, Joy MacPhail , then the minister responsible for BC Ferries, recommended to the government that it abandon

4450-511: The cougar diet. Learned, individual prey recognition was observed, as some cougars rarely killed bighorn sheep, while others relied heavily on the species. In the Central and South American cougar range area, the ratio of deer in the diet declines. Small to mid-sized mammals, including large rodents such as the capybara , are preferred. Ungulates accounted for only 35% of prey items in one survey, about half that of North America. Competition with

4539-431: The cougar, 32 cougar zoological specimens were described and proposed as subspecies until the late 1980s. Genetic analysis of cougar mitochondrial DNA indicates that many of these are too similar to be recognized as distinct at a molecular level but that only six phylogeographic groups exist. The Florida panther samples showed a low microsatellite variation, possibly due to inbreeding . Following this research,

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4628-424: The cougar. The cougar has been listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List since 2008. However, it is also listed on CITES Appendix II . Hunting it is prohibited in California, Costa Rica , Honduras , Nicaragua , Guatemala , Panama , Venezuela , Colombia, French Guiana , Suriname , Bolivia , Brazil, Chile, Paraguay , Uruguay and most of Argentina. Hunting is regulated in Canada, Mexico, Peru , and

4717-531: The early 1900s, shipbuilding in British Columbia was at its greatest, in support of a booming fishing industry. During World War II , shipbuilding again peaked with the delivery of two 10,000-ton freighters every week. By the 1990s, however, shipbuilding in British Columbia was nearly dead due, in-part, to the ballooning cost of materials, high labour costs, labour disputes, and increasing competition from Asian shipyards. Faced with potential collapse of

4806-590: The failure of the fast ferry project. These breakdowns were identified as follows in Morfitt's report: Governance: Project management: The auditor general report was later criticized in a Legislative standing committee by MLA Rick Kasper for ignoring and not accounting the benefits to BC and Canada in income taxes etc. from building the ships in BC. PacifiCat-class ferry The PacifiCat project started in June 1994 with an estimated total cost of $ 210 million. By

4895-456: The fast ferry project was made in June 1994; it had been decided to immediately proceed with building three fast ferries. The government claimed the fast ferries would cost $ 210 million total, and Clark later insisted that this figure had included everything "right down to the toilet paper." The truth was that little actual analysis had been done: not even the type of ship (single hull or catamaran), nor their dimensions had even been determined when

4984-659: The feline's behavior. Preliminary research in Yellowstone , for instance, has shown displacement of the cougar by wolves. One researcher in Oregon noted: "When there is a pack around, cougars are not comfortable around their kills or raising kittens [...] A lot of times a big cougar will kill a wolf, but the pack phenomenon changes the table." Both species are capable of killing mid-sized predators, such as bobcats , Canada lynxes , wolverines and coyotes , and tend to suppress their numbers. Although cougars can kill coyotes,

5073-402: The government, BC Ferries, design bureaus, and the shipyards, the cost of the program more than doubled from $ 210 million ($ 70 million/vessel) to almost $ 460 million ($ 150 million/vessel) and final delivery was almost 3 years behind schedule. As with all prototype construction this cost and build time was gradually being reduced with each successive completion. A large part of the delay was because

5162-478: The hull form and Robert Allan handled the outfitting aspects of the design. The PacifiCats were custom-designed to fit BC Ferries' docks, which allow simultaneous loading on two full-length roll-through vehicle decks. This trait gives the PacifiCats their unique appearance in comparison with other fast ferries. Once the design was complete, CFI divided the construction work into over a hundred modules, built by

5251-863: The large predators in Yellowstone National Park – the grizzly and black bears , gray wolf and cougar – the massive grizzly bear appears dominant, often (though not always) able to drive a gray wolf pack, black bear or cougar off their kills. One study found that grizzlies and American black bears visited 24% of cougar kills in Yellowstone and Glacier National Parks , usurping 10% of carcasses. Bears gained up to 113%, and cougars lost up to 26% of their daily energy requirements from these encounters. In Colorado and California, black bears were found to visit 48% and 77% of kills, respectively. In general, cougars are subordinate to black bears when it comes to killing, and when bears are most active,

5340-429: The larger jaguar in South America has been suggested for the decline in the size of prey items. In Central or North America, the cougar and jaguar share the same prey, depending on its abundance. Other listed prey species of the cougar include mice , porcupines , American beavers , raccoons , hares , guanacoes , peccaries , vicuñas , rheas and wild turkeys . Birds and small reptiles are sometimes preyed upon in

5429-429: The latter have been documented attempting to prey on cougar cubs. The cougar and jaguar share overlapping territory in the southern portion of its range. The jaguar tends to take the larger prey where ranges overlap, reducing both the cougar's potential size and the likelihood of direct competition between the two cats. Cougars appear better than jaguars at exploiting a broader prey niche and smaller prey. The cougar

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5518-464: The literature used here was the cougar's diet and its prey's regulation. The cougar is a generalist hypercarnivore . It prefers large mammals such as mule deer , white-tailed deer , elk , moose , mountain goat and bighorn sheep . It opportunistically takes smaller prey such as rodents , lagomorphs , smaller carnivores, birds, and even domestic animals, including pets. The mean weight of cougar vertebrate prey increases with its body weight and

5607-415: The local ship building industry, the British Columbia government initiated the fast ferry program, expecting local shipbuilders could emulate the success of Australian shipbuilders such as Austal and Incat . In the early planning stages of the project, Australian fast ferry operator Holyman , then one of the biggest and most experienced fast ferry operators in the world, was in talks with BC Ferries and

5696-442: The mating season, estrus females produce caterwauls or yowls to attract mates, and males respond with similar vocals. Mothers and offspring keep in contact with whistles, chirps, and mews. Females reach sexual maturity at the age of 18 months to three years and are in estrus for about eight days of a 23-day cycle; the gestation period is approximately 91 days. Both adult males and females may mate with multiple partners, and

5785-399: The minister responsible for BC Ferries, the corporation's management indicated that using fast ferries required "further extensive analysis." Their advice was ignored, and less than two months later the minister responsible, Glen Clark , ordered the ferry corporation to cede control over its long-term planning to the government. After the government finished drafting the plan, Clark pressed

5874-453: The northern ferries, were deferred in favour of the fast ferries. In addition, the construction of the fast ferries would be used to revitalise the province's shipbuilding industry, furthering policy goals beyond merely improving ferry service to Nanaimo. The BC Ferries board, which was required to rubberstamp the plan, noted several concerns about the fast ferry aspect when asking the cabinet to give it final approval. A public announcement of

5963-503: The project failure was the overall cost of building three fast ferries being substantially more than advertised at the outset of the project in 1994, when it was projected to cost $ 210 million. The press called BC Auditor General Morfitt's comments perhaps the most damning report the BC Auditor General's office has ever issued. His report stated significant breakdowns in governance and project management were major factors in

6052-427: The project was to have BC Ferries spend locally some of the billions that needed to be spent on new ships. The development of Duke Point , the truck ferry terminal south of Nanaimo , and the new island freeway allowed the north Nanaimo ferry terminal to focus on the passenger market. Large trucks were to be banned from the north Nanaimo terminal and moved to an alternate Duke Point truck ferry. The improvement promised

6141-537: The same as female cougars. Cougar coloring is plain (hence the Latin concolor ["one color"] in the scientific name) but can vary greatly across individuals and even siblings. The coat is typically tawny, but it ranges from silvery-grey to reddish with lighter patches on the underbody, including the jaws, chin, and throat. Infants are spotted and born with blue eyes and rings on their tails; juveniles are pale, and dark spots remain on their flanks. A leucistic individual

6230-410: The same solution was produced in 1988. This proposed route is 22 kilometres shorter than the current route and would have also eliminated the problems with ferry terminal traffic. Ultimately, the government did build a new ferry terminal for Nanaimo: Duke Point, which opened in 1997 and which serves as terminus for the ferry route from Tsawwassen. Duke Point was intended to divert truck traffic away from

6319-701: The second fastcat began operating in November 1999. The ferries had the following problems during their brief tenure: After a change in leadership, the new premier of BC, Ujjal Dosanjh , placed the ferries up for sale. A subsequent election virtually eliminated the New Democratic Party from the legislature, and Gordon Campbell of the BC Liberals auctioned off the PacifiCat fleet on March 24, 2003, for $ 19.4 million ($ 6.5 million/vessel) to Washington Marine Group . Further controversy erupted when it

6408-529: The shipyards commissioned to construct the vessels had very little experience working with aluminum. Also design changes during construction caused delays and more costs. Previously, construction of aluminum vessels in British Columbia had been limited to fishing boats and special-purpose vessels. The construction of three dual-hulled 122.5 m catamarans represented a very large leap of faith by the government in British Columbia shipyards. The first fastcat began service between Horseshoe Bay and Nanaimo in June 1999 and

6497-487: The south, but this is rarely recorded in North America. Magellanic penguins ( Spheniscus magellanicus ) constitute the majority of prey items in cougar diet in Patagonia 's Bosques Petrificados de Jaramillo National Park and Monte León National Park . Although capable of sprinting, the cougar is typically an ambush predator . It stalks through brush and trees, across ledges, or other covered spots, before delivering

6586-666: The southwestern United States, they have been recorded to also prey on feral horses in the Great Basin , as well as feral donkeys in the Sonoran and Mojave Deserts . Investigations at Yellowstone National Park showed that elk and mule deer were the cougar's primary prey; the prey base is shared with the park's wolves , with which the cougar competes for resources. A study on winter kills from November to April in Alberta showed that ungulates accounted for greater than 99% of

6675-604: The species in general. Of this length, the tail typically accounts for 63 to 95 cm (25 to 37 in). Males generally weigh 53 to 72 kg (117 to 159 lb). Females typically weigh between 34 and 48 kg (75 and 106 lb). Cougar size is smallest close to the equator and larger towards the poles . The largest recorded cougar, shot in 1901, weighed 105.2 kg (232 lb); claims of 125.2 kg (276 lb) and 118 kg (260 lb) have been reported, though they were probably exaggerated. Male cougars in North America average 62 kg (137 lb), while

6764-451: The time the ships were finished, the total cost had ballooned to $ 463 million. A 1999 report by the Auditor-General of British Columbia concluded that the fast ferry project had been beset by "significant breakdowns in both governance and risk management." Car ferry service on the route between Horseshoe Bay , West Vancouver and Departure Bay , Nanaimo had originally been started by the private Black Ball Line in June 1953. Black Ball

6853-716: The vessels were built within weight. Finally, they suggested that the ongoing maintenance and operation of fast ferries required specialized expertise. The company offered its expertise to the government. The vessels built for BC Ferries were intended to improve ferry service between the mainland terminal of Horseshoe Bay (in West Vancouver ) and the Vancouver Island terminal at Departure Bay (in Nanaimo ). The three vessels were built between 1998 and 2000 and were named as follows: Technically, PacifiCat Voyager

6942-442: The wash of the ships wake forced the ferries to take a longer route, and operate a slower speed around Bowen Island. An archived version of BC Ferries website stated in the year 2000 that a PacifiCat sailing was 1 hour 20 minutes, only 15 minutes shorter than a sailing with a regular vessel (1 hour 35 minutes). Cougar Also see text The cougar ( Puma concolor ) ( / ˈ k uː ɡ ər / , KOO-gər ), also known as

7031-594: The western United States . Further south, its range extends through Mexico to the Amazon Rainforest and the southern Andes Mountains in Patagonia . It is an adaptable generalist species , occurring in most American habitat types. It prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking but also lives in open areas. The cougar is largely solitary. Its activity pattern varies from diurnality and cathemerality to crepuscularity and nocturnality between protected and non-protected areas, and

7120-405: The wild is reported at 8 to 13 years and probably averages 8 to 10; a female of at least 18 years was reported killed by hunters on Vancouver Island . Cougars may live as long as 20 years in captivity. Causes of death in the wild include disability and disease, competition with other cougars, starvation, accidents, and, where allowed, hunting. The feline immunodeficiency virus is well-adapted to

7209-430: Was never part of the BC Ferries fleet, as it was christened but never commissioned; by the time this vessel was ready for deployment, the bottom had already fallen out of the fast ferry program. The vessels had a service speed of 37 knots (68 km/h) and a capacity for 250 car-equivalents and 1000 passengers. The hulls of all three vessels had slightly varying murals that depict a cougar . Due to various oversights by

7298-583: Was purchased by the government of British Columbia on November 30, 1961 and its routes absorbed into the BC Ferries system. Both the Horseshoe Bay and Departure Bay ferry terminals are located within residential areas. Departure Bay terminal is located at Vancouver Island's northern tip of their part of the Trans-Canada Highway ( Nanaimo ). Horseshoe Bay is the mainland connection to the Trans-Canada Highway freeway. In addition,

7387-614: Was recorded in a palm oil plantation close to a riparian forest in the Llanos Basin , and close to water bodies in the Magdalena River Valley . In the human-modified landscape of central Argentina, it inhabits bushland with abundant vegetation cover and prey species. Cougars are an important keystone species in Western Hemisphere ecosystems, linking numerous species at many trophic levels. In

7476-579: Was reproduced in 1648 by his associate Willem Piso . Cuguacu ara was then adopted by John Ray in 1693. In 1774, Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon converted cuguacu ara to cuguar , which was later modified to "cougar" in English. The cougar holds the Guinness record for the animal with the greatest number of names, with over 40 in English alone. "Puma" is the common name used in Latin America and most parts of Europe. The term puma

7565-512: Was revealed that the same company, which is a prominent financial backer of the Liberal Party, had offered $ 60 million for the vessels prior to the auction, on the condition that BC would then rent the ferries. Some claimed the aluminum ships were worth more as scrap. Others said Indonesians were prepared to pay as much as $ 88 million. In September 2005, the media reported that the Washington Marine Group had expressed interest in operating

7654-521: Was seen in Serra dos Órgãos National Park in Rio de Janeiro in 2013 when it was recorded by a camera trap, indicating that pure white individuals do exist within the species, though they are extremely rare. The cougar has large paws and proportionally the largest hind legs in the Felidae, allowing for great leaping and powerful short sprints. It can leap from the ground up to 5.5 m (18 ft) high into

7743-471: Was the scientific name proposed by Carl Linnaeus in 1771 for a cat with a long tail from Brazil. The specific epithet of the name, "concolor", is Latin for "of uniform color". It was placed in the genus Puma by William Jardine in 1834. This genus is part of the Felinae . The cougar is most closely related to the jaguarundi and the cheetah. Following Linnaeus's first scientific description of

7832-559: Was then repopulated by South American cougars . A coprolite identified as from a cougar was excavated in Argentina's Catamarca Province and dated to 17,002–16,573 years old. It contained Toxascaris leonina eggs. This finding indicates that the cougar and the parasite have existed in South America since at least the Late Pleistocene . The oldest fossil record of a cougar ( Puma concolor ) in South America (Argentina)

7921-422: Was to deliver more frequent service (travel time reduced by 30 minutes), with smaller-capacity ships (250 cars vs. 365). The smaller ferries required 17 fewer staff per vessel to operate the same route, reducing operating costs. Perhaps more important than the need for a more efficient ferry system was the NDP government's desire to rebuild and collect taxes from the shipbuilding industry of British Columbia. During

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