By the late 20th century, the range of the catamount was confined to several western states and a small remnant population along the Gulf Coast that was eventually squeezed down into the Everglades/Big Cypress area of Florida and reduced to a couple of dozen animals of poor genetic quality due to inbreeding. Id been excited to read the news that wildlife officials would be releasing wolves in Yellowstone and thrilled, a few years later, when I heard, from a campsite on Slough Creek, the music of their howling. Still, Spatz acknowledged that the word hope is very different from the word believe. 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. Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. They set the stage for the exotics to move in, and this has a huge impact on our ecology, he said. I go out into the woods on the opening day of deer season every year and a lot of other Vermonters are out there with me. Kim Royar, a biologist at the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department, told me she receives 40 to 50 reports annually, and although she believes that few, if any, are actual cougar sightings, she doesnt dismiss the possibility that someday someone will happen upon the real deal. The second occasion was on the way to work when I saw the cougar/catamount crossing Route 44. Yet dozens of. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. On one side, there are those (as represented here by Sue Morse, Kim Royar, and Christopher Spatz, along with a number of others I spoke with) who contend that the lack of verifiable evidence is proof that the animals are not here. They are here & ..just a matter of time with photo or kill on a highway/road. I must have looked doubtfulwe were within spitting distance of a heavily trafficked road and only 12 miles from downtown Hartfordbut both Ottmann and Betty told me that cougars actually prefer more populated areas, since thats where deer tend to congregate. I also know of someone who said they showed F&G a photo of one from a game camera in NH. This was as clear as day had a long tail and long body I was thinking someones pet was on the loose or escaped form a zoo !! Around 7:10 pm this evening August 02, 2022 my wife entered our Oakwood Farm business off 6 Weed Road in Essex Center with headlights on. Lizzie Post Would Like Your Attention. I think I may have pissed her off since I was up in that area X2 this week. It can run 50 miles an hour and clear a twelve-foot fence. This guy was very intelligent, he had abandoned a professional career to pursue his dream of guiding. Distinguished by a boxy head, big paws and a VERY long tail. The last catamount in Vermont is finally, officially, certainly dead. At least once a year thered be a story from somewhere, but I only ran the absolute best, he told me. The animal was too small and it lacked the long, sinuous tail of the catamount. There is a reason that millions of people were afraid to go in the water after they saw the movie Jaws. As I walked thru the beginning of the trail I spooked a deer and heard this awful screech and slowly backed out of there .. I was deer hunting with my father, it was in the fall about 7 years ago, in Barre Ma towards the Templeton Ma lines. 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. Length of body. Yes, of course they are here, transients. 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. 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. They are here in the Catskill Mountains, so named for the magnificent felines. Still, there is no saying that it will not happen. I had seen bear, deer, coyotes, foxes, that one bobcat all the usual suspects. 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. A hard-to-spot mountain lion patiently waits for the right moment to attack an elk feeding in a gully at the Rio Mora National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico in a photo posted by the refuge . What are the chances of wolves coming back to Vermont? Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. 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. I saw a Mountain Lion in 2007 in Northfield, MA at the junctions of Rtes 10 and 63. When a cats around, its not hard to find evidence. About six years ago, my mother and step-father were traveling some back roads down to New Boston, NH to visit my sister where she lived in an extended care facility. If LTS can take care of business in that one, it would host the winner of the Bennington County matchup between No. The scientific name for the catamount is Puma concolor. I started asking a lot of questions, and realized theres only one explanation for the answers I was getting: They are here., You could have 30 in Connecticut alone. Fear is actually one of the most powerful ecological forces we know, and its a really important management tool., According to Laundre, the problems caused by a relatively fear-free ecosystem are not always obvious, in part because they can take decades to fully manifest. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings My assumption is it was the same animal. Betty was quiet, and I wondered if even he, a man who does not doubt the presence of these cats in our midst and who himself claims multiple sightings, thought Ottmann was exaggerating. 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. I had a pair of good binoculars in my coat pocket. She said it was long and thick. It kills to eat but does not necessarily practice any sort of conservation ethic. In recent years, it has been expanding its range elsewhere; moving into mid-western states like Illinois and Missouri from its established range in the Rocky Mountain states and the Dakotas. They were also reluctant to certify that turkey and moose had returned the Quabin reservoir lands for many years after locals reported seeing them. This, said Vermont Fish and Wildlife fur-bearer project leader Chris Bernier, is why he takes reports of mountain lion sightings seriously. I dont ever say to people, Thats not what you saw. I say, I hope you saw one, Spatz told me when I called him at his home in upstate New York. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). Was INCREDIBLE! He worked, in Wyoming and Arizona, with other professionals, some with government agencies, like the one he works for, and others who were hunters and trappers, often employed by ranchers who had lost stock to mountain lions. I live in Vermont and have seen, in broad daylight, a mountain lion (catamount, cougar, puma). Those who believe the growth and expansion of mountain lion populations to be a good thing routinely make the old, you face a greater danger of being struck by lighting or drowned in the bathtub argument and it is no doubt accurate. But, yes, thats exactly what it was. 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. I had seen only one in my life and it was not in Vermont, where the mountain lion was officially extinct, the last one having been killed in 1881. The Great Divide | Are There Mountain Lions in New England. A 2,000 Mile Journey Wildlife biologists, as professional scientists, require a higher level of documentation and proof. The mountain lionalso known as the cougar, puma, panther, or catamountis a large cat species native to the Americas. 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. Scat, tracks, lays, scratch mounds youll see these things.. 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. Experts need to see the body to dismiss their prejudices. I think they never left, Ottmann piped in. And, according to people who swear they know what they saw the catamount. Were arrogant if we think were the only species that makes decisions based on fear, he told me when I called him at his home in Oregon. Harrigan nodded. Actually, Blodgett says, something of the opposite was true. That animal in Connecticut makes for a pretty fantastic story but it takes more than one dispersing male. Feb 28, 2023 4:00 am By Robert Spencer 1 Comment. Long Trail beat Arlington 62-40 on Feb. 7. Theres probably 100 in Connecticut, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke. Put bluntly, Morse does not believe that New England is home to cougars. If these people say they saw something, Im going to listen., If theres one thing people on all sides of the debate can agree on, its that a breeding population of cougars is essential to the overall health of New Englands ecosystems, which currently lack an apex predator. I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. Indeed! He says that if mountain lions do . Face to face, maybe, with a sure enough catamount. They have a right to exist here and they contribute to healthier prey species. My mother always said she saw one across the street from our house one night in the late 50s early 60s. 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. This assessment is echoed by the aforementioned Christopher Spatz, who has been studying cougars for better than 20 years. One cat will leave more than 10,000 tracks per day. Chance of snow 90%. Around 1830, the . Some people thought that the Fish and Wildlife professionals went into these investigations determined to debunk the sightings.
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