No An official form of the United States government. I was just amazed as I watched this scene in my own back yard. Last documented and killed in Vermont in 1881, the catamount, also known as a mountain lion or cougar, could be making its way back to the Green Mountain State. Its mounted carcass is on display in Montpelier where Id seen it when I was the adult supervision for my daughters sixth-grade class trip to the capital. I think they never left, Ottmann piped in. I thought I saw signs posted in Pawling NY about 8 years ago, that DEC released a pair to control deer population,mane several people have seen them in Wingdale, NY. Where I live bears, wolves cougars etc roamed freely and now sadly if one of those apex predators is spotted our DNR will usually destroy it. The key to Morses assertion can be found in the term breeding population. Although the fact that cougars have traveled through New England is irrefutable (a DNA-confirmed roadkill is hard to deny), Morse believes its unlikely that they have settled here and created a self-sustaining population. The reasons for this conspiracy vary depending upon whom you talk to, but they coalesce around the idea that wildlife agencies would be inconvenienced by the cougars presence, as theyd be forced to respond in ways that would tax their resources. As livestock farming came to dominate the landscape, pressure on the big cats slowly mounted on two fronts: The number of farmers wanting them dead was increasing, while the rapid transition from forest to farmland meant their habitat was shrinking. My daughter and I were driving north in West Granby, near the Simsbury, Ct. line just after lunch one summer day a few years ago. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Because while male cougars eventually strike out on their own and occasionally wander far from home, females are, as Morse puts it, hardwired to remain close to their mothers home range. This much was certain: it was a wild mountain lion and it was in an area where one had not been seen for more than 100 years. The Spatz and Sue Ottmann referred to are Christopher Spatz and Sue Morse, two of the better-known and arguably most experienced cougar skeptics in the Northeast. We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. She said it jumped up on the neighbors stone wall which was pretty high and walked across it. Morse has been tracking cougars for 45 years, mostly in the mountains of the West, where their existence is not in doubt. And its not just Vermont. There was no mistake. They are much larger than bobcat and lynx, young adults can still have spots too. I wished it were a camera with a long lens to document the sighting. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. New in PJ Media: The world having gone absolutely insane, the Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) girls' basketball team is likely to get a lot of heat for this, but in a sane world, they would be the heroes of the story. Still more confusion ensued when a lab technician said she might have gotten some samples confused, and thus the canid result was thrown into doubt. Then saw him a few more times from further away across the road and along the edge sometimes of the woods. They were inevitably fleeting. Fish and Wildlife Service unofficially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. In the second camp, there are those issuing the denials, pointing to the lack of photographic evidence, or the absence of tracks, or the simple truth that many people dont seem to know the difference between a cougar and a bobcat and a lynx and even, in some cases, a golden retriever. So it is possible that, on occasion, someone would catch a glimpse of one of these animals. My neighbors have seen several over the last 15-20 years. I also know of someone who said they showed F&G a photo of one from a game camera in NH. I was outdoor with my two pugs and quickly scooped them up and brought them in the house. Predator removal was steady and unforgiving from the early 1800s . These settlers established measures for predator control by any means possible. The captive narrative also helped explain why there had been so many sightings reported, including some in Greenwich, among the richest and most domesticated suburbs in America. Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here. But perhaps an even larger portion is the product of his enduring faith in the men and womanloggers, hunters, trapperswhose vocations and avocations have instilled in them a deep familiarity with wild places and the creatures who inhabit them. If there is a follow up investigation, it turns out that people were mistaken about what they saw.. There was no denying that the carcass, which was examined by experts, was that of a mountain lion. If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. "The catamount, which is also a mountain lion, a cougar, a panther and a ton of other words, is actually one of the most widely distributed mammals in the whole world. In the first, there are those such as myself, whove maybe heard a few second- or third- or fourth-hand stories as well as official denials from state agencies or professional biologists, and therefore find themselves betwixt and between, neither believing nor disbelieving. He never found the evidence. This was, after all, a long, long way from the nearest known population of mountain lions and virtually the heart of the suburban East. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. An expert said it was probably a basking shark. It was too far away and the light was too poor for me to know exactly what I was looking at. 8 Arlington (9-10) and No. It was his great coolness and daring (either that, or fear) that enabled Crowell to shoot the animal at a distance of one rod only (roughly 16 feet), first hitting it in the leg with his shotgun, then dispatching it with a bullet to the head from a borrowed rifle. [Betty] and the other guys dont do this shit. We need cougars and we need wolves back in the Northeast, because a landscape of fear is a well-balanced landscape.. Saw one on old mountain rd Peterborough N.H. a few years ago on my property followed it and ran to get my camera have a photo but in distance by time got it was amazing animal t Metcalf. One day I most certainly watched him/her being chased up and down our chain link fence by a neighbors large dog who was barking insanely and couldnt quite catch the cougar, who finally made it away from the fence to escape the determined dog whod had him trapped up against it. I saw one about 10 years ago, on our road. Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont and convinced onlookers say the proof is in the pictures. He coined the term landscape of fear to describe the relationship between predator and prey in the wild. Bernier gets more than 50 reports of mountain lions a year. Unlike male cougars, the femaleslike this Montana cat with her cubdont tend to strike out for new territory, which makes it unlikely that a breeding population would establish itself far from the cougars current habitatsbut not impossible. Now that USFW has declared them extinct, why not formally reintroduce them. Around 1830, the . Its range was once similarly vast; from the high north regions of the Yukon to the Straits of Magellan. The animal that was killed in Connecticut proved that. I wasnt planning to shoot her unless she moved in my direction. I had a pair of good binoculars in my coat pocket. My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. Blodgett liked talking about this subject. Looking at the mounted animal, behind the glass, had made me feel kind of well, sad. The big cat on the ground before him, motionless, yet somehow still embodying that particular feline litheness, as if, with the flick of its tail, it might bound to its feet and disappear into the woods. Probably because of all the hunters that would be out trying to get their trophy and endangering others. Phone: +1 802 448 8250. Large swaths of Vermont and nearby states along the Appalachian spine have gone from cleared land back to the kind of second-growth forest that is excellent habitat for deer and, thus, their predators, the most efficiently lethal of which is the mountain lion. Whatever it was, it was standing motionless and, I thought, looking back at me as intently as I was staring at it. But it was also a male. He knew it was only a matter of time. Public opinion surveys show many more would support reintroduction, than oppose. I knew it had to have been from a mountain lion Ive seen bobcats and their tracks and from the size of the deer carcass Im convinced there are mountain lions amongst us in Massachusetts! Probably are lions in western NC, too. And DNA analysis shows us that felis concolor is genetically the same across the USI think it is irrelevant, but interesting. If the mountain lion is a certified killer of sheep and, sometimes, cattle, it has also occasionally attacked humans. He is a consummate storyteller, and he wears on his sleeve his affection for the region and the hard-working, commonsense people who inhabit it. Mountain lions are around 4 feet long with a two-and-a-half foot tail and can stand 24-30 inches tall at the shoulder. No need since so we guess it has moved on from the northeast corner of Connecticut. The last catamount killed in Vermont stands under glass just inside the doors to the Vermont Historical Museum in Montpelier, a hop, skip, and a jump down the block from the statehouse. I had a clear look, through the glasses at a bobcat. Americans called the mountain " Tah-wak-be-dee-ee-wads. Several years of doing the follow-ups, then, convinced Blodgett that there were no catamounts in Vermont. This isnt to say she believes none of these animals has stepped foot on New England soil over the past century. As I walked thru the beginning of the trail I spooked a deer and heard this awful screech and slowly backed out of there .. Especially by one that he remembers involving a kill site.. my father was recently trout fishing in central Mass. The animal, I learned, is called many things: mountain lion, panther, catamount, puma, cougar and more. There was never, of course, a photograph. Im gonna get hammered for it, he sighed. Had trouble sleeping last night cause that was to close and I think she may have stalked me from where I was in the woods. The old logging road was easy enough to navigate and I let my feet follow it while I kept my eyes up and scanning. All with eyes to see and spring loaded to see something. And yet there I was, on a Saturday in early November, crammed into a booth with Bo Ottmann, 48, and Bill Betty, 72, of Cougars of the Valley, the organization that Ottmann founded in 2007 to gather evidence of and alert the public to the big cats living among us. To Betty and Ottmann, the dominant narrative of the occasional itinerant cougar from the West is not particularly relevant to the facts on the ground. and with my friend Chris Christinat who lives in hartsville we saw one stalking a rabbit on her lawn about autumn of 2009. Concerned for people / pets and a school just down the street, stopped to report the sighting where dispatch told me that if I did not have proof they would not respond. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. Much as I liked Ottmann and Betty, and much as I found some of their evidence compelling, I was struggling to reconcile their more provocative claims with the restraint expressed by the many other experts Id spoken with. They knew what they were doing, Blodgett says. People said that the catamountas the animal is called in Vermontwas still around and you heard stories about someone who would swear to having seen one. 104 Williston, VT 05495. Most of those sightings were misidentifications, Doug Blodgett says. To date, Keeping Track has helped conserve 40,000 acres in 12 states and inQuebec. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. With all the thousands of trail cameras in the woods of New England, one would think that there would be at least one picture taken of a catamount. Check out 4 Seconds Until Impact by Bruce Hemming, or Cat Urbigkits books about predator attacks in unlikely places . Several years ago, I saw what was definitely a cougar walking along a street. If this habitat can support them, it should. I knew it was a cat track because the tracks were in a straight line and no signs of claws like you would see with a coyote track. But they would certainly pay attention if they did see one. For several years, Blodgett, a wildlife biologist with the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, conducted those follow up investigations. Stupid me grabbed my camera and a stick as to protect myself ( yes stupid idea as I could stop this thing from attacking me lol. The real reason that they wont admit that a breeding population exists, is that listing a population of endangered species would wreak ECONOMIC havoc in a number of arenas, mostly logging/forestry. I kept trying to make it be something else because I was shocked that I was, indeed, watching a mountain lion pass in front of me. Theyre here. So you can imagine there. Still, sightings are common. Forty years of reporting on New Hampshire cougar sightings has convinced Harrigan that the state is home to at least a handful of breeding animals. When we reached tower, a ranger arrived in a pickup. I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. Bennington, VT (05201) Today. And, according to people who swear they know what they saw the catamount. The tavern was quiet except for some hard-rock music playing on the radio, the murmur of a handful of men at the bar, and us. A wildlife camera snapped the image in late 2019 and the refuge shared it on Facebook this month, challenging followers to find the hidden mountain lion. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. It was huge! The tails gotta be there. A deer is a wild animal and it is always a pleasure to see oneunless it is in the high beams, at night. Mid Vermont Christian School Eagles forfeited their girls basketball playoff game on Tuesday against Long Trail School Mountain Lions. And, more often than not, when I told it, the person listening would nod and tell me about someone who had definitely seen a mountain lion/catamount in the Vermont woods or crossing a highway or, even, in the back yard. You could have 50. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. But I dont think it will happen any time soon.. The first time was in the yard which was surrounded by woods. Yet dozens of. The habitat is certainly right, with so many farms having gone by and so much formerly cleared land returning to second growth forest and with the populations of prey species suchas deer and porcupines having reached abundant proportions. The expert opinion held up until a man was killed by a Great White not too far away. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.. . Then, follow-up DNA researchmatching samples from the carcass with those from scat and hair collected in other locationsestablished that the animal had come to Connecticut from the Black Hills of North Dakota. As they watched in amazement, the cat casually moved off and disappeared into the surrounding woods. When I shared their story with the staff at the center where my sister lived, I expected surprise and interested. Green Mountain Lion Corp #256 34 Blair Park Road Ste. How did I know? In fact, jaguars used to be native to south Texas, as well! If these animals are not in the habitat, what we see is an overabundance of herbivores., The ecologist John Laundre, who has spent 35 years studying cougars, concurs. His Tail was very long almost touching the ground and as thick as velvet rope. I was tracking some deer tracks and I came to a promising deer run with a lot of deer scat on the ground when I noticed a cat track amongst the sign. I saw an adult cougar/catamount twice within a two week period. Tried to see "mountain lion" and agree that what appears to be a long tail is most likely the . 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