They were also seen at other times by members of my family and other people in the neighborhood. Especially among those who did believe. I have not had the pleasure of seeing one, but have heard credible reports of them in Western Mass. Scat, tracks, lays, scratch mounds youll see these things.. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. Anyway I got to see that set of eyes way closer than I ever wanted, by the time my hand got on my pistol she was gone. Around 1830, the . My own inclination, for the little it matters, is to side with the professionals like Blodgett. Ottmann grew up and still lives just minutes from the tavern; his familiarity with the establishment was obvious (after we met in the parking lot, he led me into the building through the kitchen, greeting each of the staff by name). Green Mountain Lion Corp #256 34 Blair Park Road Ste. I now live in Boulder, CO where we have regular sightings.same animal as 35 yrs agohands down, Warren ,Ma early morning having my coffee on my front steps and noticed about 50 feet across the Road something coming out of the trail as it did it looked out at the road and turned around as it did I could see that it was a mountain lion ! Just like we dont need any slimy humans on earth period. 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. 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. You need breeding pairs and theyd probably settle down long before they got here.. It was definitely a cougar. In Vermont, it was 1881. In my mind, I went through all the nots. 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. In the states where there are robust mountain lion populations, they are a threat to livestock, pets and, occasionally, humans. Tom Stearns, a Vermont Game Warden says they get reports all the time. One summer I saw what I assumed was the same cougar several different times in my neighborhood which was near a long strip of woods along I 91 and used to be a large open field across the road from our home. Morse founded Keeping Track in the belief that getting citizens interested and engaged in wildlife will have the knock-on effect of getting them interested and engaged in how land-use decisions affect wild populationsand might provide the impetus for conservation efforts. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings Local game officials are saying that this is another one of those sightings where people claim to have seen a mountain lion. vital part of this countries ecosystem. Body coloration can range from tan to gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots. It was fast as hell but there was no mistaking its not only long,but THICK tail as it disappeared into the woods. They denied it until a cougar was hit as it tried to cross the very busy Merritt Parkway. It seems humans just cant resist destroying these animals and either dont realize or dont care what damage we have done to our natural environment over the centuries. Was INCREDIBLE! I had seen bear, deer, coyotes, foxes, that one bobcat all the usual suspects. I started this blog for people to discuss mountain lion sightings and reports in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. Some might mistake the bobcat, which still lives in New England, for a cougareven though its tail is about 6 inches long andthe bigger cats is 3 feet or more. An expert said it was probably a basking shark. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Maybe you've seen the UVM(University of Vermont) catamount at a basketball game, or the catamount at the Vermont History Museum. I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. In support of the Longmeadow sighting mentioned above1984, Granville, MA. Mountain Lions - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) NPS.gov Park Home Learn About the Park Nature Animals Mammals Mountain Lion Mountain Lion Last updated: May 4, 2018 Was this page helpful? I have no choice but to take this seriously, he told me. The reason why experts wont admit to a breeding population existing is that there is NO PROOF. 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. 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. 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. We need cougars and we need wolves back in the Northeast, because a landscape of fear is a well-balanced landscape.. The cat is dead. I had a clear look, through the glasses at a bobcat. Some people say they have seen a catamount in the woods. Feb 28, 2023 4:00 am By Robert Spencer 1 Comment. Maybe, I thought, but the shape seemed wrong. Most of those sightings were misidentifications, Doug Blodgett says. Cougars, Lynx, Bobcats, Wolves, Bears etc were and are a I went back and told the tale to anyone who would listen. Some with cameras. Two mountain lion encounters in his driveway. We think theyre coming in from Canada, Betty told me. His Tail was very long almost touching the ground and as thick as velvet rope. There, too, is Crowells photograph, grainy and old: the hunter leaning against a tree stump, his head propped casually on his left hand, elbow to stump, shotgun cradled in the crook of his right arm. Yet dozens of. 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. Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont and convinced onlookers say the proof is in the pictures. I got the glasses to my eyes and focused on the animal. They are there and thriving!!!! Betty had driven up from his home in Rhode Island. I wasnt the only one to see the big cat. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Wildlife do really crazy things, and you just never know.. In Vermont, for instance, a few dozen wild turkeys from Pennsylvania were released in 1969 and multiplied into the thousands we have here now. Indeed, in 2011, a male cougar was hit and killed by a car in Milford, Connecticut; through its DNA, wildlife biologists were able to trace the cat back to South Dakotas Black Hills, some 2,000 miles distant. As they watched in amazement, the cat casually moved off and disappeared into the surrounding woods. 2,110 likes. Please. They especially come down from the mountains when there is a big water shortgage. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. The animal was too small and it lacked the long, sinuous tail of the catamount. There was, in California last year, a case of a mountain lion seriously injuring a six-year old who was walking a trail in Silicon Valley country. I thought about why this might be and the best I could come up with for an answer is that we feel a kind of nostalgia for the wild. Of course no dash cam or accessible phone camera at the time! My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. 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. 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. They are much larger than bobcat and lynx, young adults can still have spots too. Theres probably 100 in Connecticut, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke. Morse has been tracking cougars for 45 years, mostly in the mountains of the West, where their existence is not in doubt. 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. . But there was certainty, or near-certainty, on the part of the witnesses who, it seemed, would swear to having seen a catamount. 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. Id splurged on them. For instance, a favorite food for deer is the seedlings of forest tree species. Westford, MA, crossing Dunstable Rd from Long Sought For Pond into the woods. Photos of the cat did nothing to convince DEEP the cat was here. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. But this requires a breeding pair. Ordinary, the lone males do not range much more than 100 miles. Apex predators like the cougar and wolf make for a healthier ecosystem. ), or someones coworkers mother had seen one from the back porch of a summer camp back in 07 or maybe 08, and shed tried to get a picture but this was before she got her first iPhone, and by the time shed retrieved her camera from the living room, the cat was long gone. Beautiful animal. I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. my husband tapped my leg and asked what is that crossing the road It was a Cougar tan in color long tail which had a slight curl upward .I wish I had my camera to prove it but I know We saw it. Still, sightings are common. The catamount is a creature of stealth and concealment; it stalks its prey, which on the EasternSeaboard would likely be deer, moose, porcupines, beavers, and domestic livestock. The scientific name for the catamount is Puma concolor. And there have been fatal attacks. Americans called the mountain " Tah-wak-be-dee-ee-wads. The solitary animal seeks out new territory and eventually a new population will be established. The animal was shot in the town of Barnard on Thanksgiving Day 1881 by a man named Alexander Crowell. The Strafford & Area Lions conducted its Food From The Heart food drive February 11th through the 18th, collecting 981.6 pounds of food and receiving monetary donations of $1,262 which were used to purchase food and other items to be donated to the Sharon, Vershire and Thetford food shelves. We lived off of Mountain Rd in Granby, Ct for 8 years and I can say that without a doubt I am 100% sure that there are mountain lions living there. Yes I have seen several pictures on game cameras from people in Massachusetts in Central and western Mass that do have mountain lions on their game camera so please dont be ignorant. One one occasion she had two little ones with her so their den must have been sort of closeby. 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. When he suggested we retrace our route, past lion, to see a sow bear with cubs, we headed in the opposite direction. Length of body. 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. The discussion of whether federal lands should be a place to subsidize cattle ranching is another question. The last catamount in Vermont is finally, officially, certainly dead. 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. I saw a cougar in Wolfeboro NH crossing / running across 28 ; close call between myself and a car traveling in the opposite direction over 12 years ago . It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. A few years later, though, the scat was retested with DNA analysis and found to be canid, rather than feline, in origin. 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. 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. 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. It had traveled, certainly, though Minnesota and Wisconsin and, who knows, perhaps even Vermont and might, then, have accounted for some of those sightings. He never found the evidence. At least once a year thered be a story from somewhere, but I only ran the absolute best, he told me. The debate rages in Maine, where the last confirmed cougar kill occurred in 1938, and in New Hampshire, where the last confirmed kill was in 1885. And, if those people who said they were seeing catamounts were wrong, and not just making it up, then what were they seeing? Vermont Girls' School Strikes Back Against the Trans Madness. The last catamount in Vermont is finally, officially, certainly dead. This was, after all, a long, long way from the nearest known population of mountain lions and virtually the heart of the suburban East. You cant mistake the long tail. We were talking about those animals, like coyotes and turkeys, that have re-established themselves in Vermont and, unlike the rattlers, are thriving. He wore red suspenders and a baseball cap. The Mountain Lions won both regular season margins by 30-plus points. If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. 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. Its not my call. Earlier in the year, Id attended one of these presentations, and even in the tiny village of Woodbury, Vermont, on a stiflingly hot summer evening, nearly 100 people showed up to hear her speak and see her photographs (Morse is a magnificent wildlife photographer). Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. I have pictures of tracks around my car and up to the back steps of my deck in Arkville, NY . It jumped 28 feet across the road. So Blodgett brought what he had learned in Wyoming and Arizona back to Vermont with him and began following up on catamount sightings. Big kitty. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. Dismissing most of the sightings as probable bobcats, Morse asserted that the scientific evidence has not been proven. Of course. In March of 1965, the Colorado legislature repealed the old mountain lion bounty of $50, which was first enacted in 1924. These sightings usually took place at night or in fading light, like that of my bobcat encounter. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. Now that USFW has declared them extinct, why not formally reintroduce them. 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. The first European settlers arrived in the Texas Hill country in the early 1800s and viewed mountain lions as a dangerous threat to their own survival as well as a predator threat to their livestock. A journey of nearly 2,000 miles. 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 . 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. I moved very carefully to get my hand in my pocket and my fingers around the glasses. We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. She IS, perhaps, the most knowledgeable and experienced person in this arena and I listened intently to her presentation (Richmond, VT 2018). These things happen suddenly and they are over quickly. And, then, some species didnt need any help from humans but managed to extend their range into now-recovered and suitable habitats. Still, Spatz acknowledged that the word hope is very different from the word believe. This isnt to say she believes none of these animals has stepped foot on New England soil over the past century. 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. The sightings as probable bobcats, Morse asserted that the scientific evidence has not been proven to gray and are. 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