vermont mountain lion sightings

I know what they look like and this silhouette was very much the same as that cat last summer. [An overabundance of deer] means our forests are getting older and older and not being replaced. He also points to the influx of invasive plant species in New England as evidence of an out-of-control deer population. 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. ..If still interested or wanting a news-letter Eastern Puma Net-News copy, send your street or P.O. Nowhere in New England is the matter definitively settled. 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. If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. I have no choice but to take this seriously, he told me. Two of my family members sighted cougars in Florida during daylight hours: one was leaping through a field on myakka side of route 75, between north port and Sarasota. On the other side, there are those (as represented here by Bill Betty and Bo Ottmann, along with a number of others I spoke with) who say the overwhelming quantity of anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. I worked in Hartland for a few years and it seemed to be common talk. It was a flooded area. These are huge animals that make a lot of distance to the day. It took the animal down, held the animal in its paws, laid on its side and kicked it /gutted it with its hind legs (I have seen my cat do this). Indeed, one of her steadiest sources of funding for Keeping Track is a presentation on cougars that has been known to draw more than 500 audience members. Look out for our newsletters with travel tips and special offers. To find your loons, consult this interactive map of Common Loon sightings in the current year from Vermont eBird, a project of the Vermont Atlas of Life. Now, lets start talking about our favorite big cat! About a few miles from the covered bridge. John Lutz, 99 Beagle Boot Lane, Maysville, WV 26833, John Lutz (Eastern Puma Research Network, Maysville, WV). And thats a surprisingly complex question, because it hinges on numerous factors: policy and politics, culture and conditioning, habitat and, frankly, hubris. Very distinguishable nails marks in the snow. And if it is, it will be just a matter of time before someone gets a photo of it, he said. It all happened so fast. ), 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. Weve got a growing bear population. These experienced trackers unanimously confirmed that the tracks were made by a Mountain Lion. 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. He has also reported for the Marketplace Morning Report. While the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks department hesitates to give solid numbers because they feel methods for tracking the population need to be improved, their estimate in 2019 was about 4,000 - 4,500 mountain lions. McEnroe: It is an uphill challenge. Body coloration can range from tan to gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots. Please contact me at epuma@frontier.com or 304-749-7778. Send picture to epuma@frontier.com Would greatly like to see your picture. Hawley: That animal was documented. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. And somebody hollering. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows. Since my 1st contact with Prof. Harold Hitchcock in 1981, I have collected big cat sightings from across Vermont from the internet. Subsequent DNA testing found that the animal was from South Dakota. They usually don't wanna be around you anyways. I studied the track it was the front paw left in the silt while the cat was drinking from the brook. Hear the full interview: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators, Connecticut Dept. Felis concolor couguar. He was very, very shook up. It could simply mean someone who had an illegal pet or captive animal released the cougar into the wild. I dont care if it was the western or eastern blah blah I just know that it was a mountain lion!!! The animal, I learned, is called many things: mountain lion, panther, catamount, puma, cougar and more. Back in the 60s a traveling zoo lost their black panther, and denied it. As a scientist, lack of evidence is very good evidence. Though the infamous catamount has been declared extinct in Vermont since 2018, several people spotted big cats that they thought to be mountain lions on Ripley Road two weeks ago, according to posts on Front Porch Forum. We have a lot of them here in N CA. Tickets at the door will be $10 until sold out. 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). 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. One cat will leave more than 10,000 tracks per day. I noticed that there were many great websites, blogs, and discussion boards devoted to mountain lion sightings in other states of New England, but not one just for Vermont. A rare Missouri mountain lion sighting was reported recently after one of the big cats was hit by a vehicle in Franklin County. The cat was huge and tail was at least 3 feet long and thick. She favors plaid shirts, green Dickies work pants, and hiking boots, and she chided me for shaking her hand too gently. The cats passed by, moving west through Snows property. We live pretty much in the midst of the Green Mountains in the town of Andover. What a site. John Lutz, Eastern Puma Research Network. I swear that is what I saw this morning at about 4 am in my drive. It wailed just one time but it woke me from a sound sleep. Photo courtesy of Dave O'Donnell. They were at least 4-5 inches at the widest part of the pad. 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. Even in the controlled environment of a lab, the truth about Eastern cougars seems to be almost willfully eluding its seekers. During the Summer of 1991, my wife Linda and I, took 3 days on our vacation, to meet both Harold & Martene Hitchcock. Despite frequent claims, there has only been one confirmed mountain lion sighting since the late 1800s here. Patrick's reporting has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, Here & Now, and All Things Considered. He waves me over and shows me an animal lying in our driveway. 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. But that was OK. Bo Ottmannknew they were out there. Lutz, P.O. Dashboard for displaying mountain lion reports to the public. For example, a mountain lion native to North Dakota made it as far as Connecticut in 2011, according to Bernier. Mountain Lions Not Just a Tall Tale in Adirondacks. The presentation promises to be a magnificently illustrated introduction to cougar biology and ecology in the broad diversity of habitats where Morse has studied them, from Alberta to the Mexican border. Hawley, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, says data dont support a breeding population of mountain lions in Connecticut. We need cougars and we need wolves back in the Northeast, because a landscape of fear is a well-balanced landscape.. Betty folded his arms across his chest, where they rose and fell and rose again with his breathing. Mountain lions remain an enigmatic animal for residents of New Hampshire, with New Hampshire Fish and Game reporting three to five sightings per week. All of which is to say that if Alexander Crowell wasnt afraid on that long-ago Thanksgiving Day, he probably should have been. Clearly, Puma concoloronce inhabited the forests of the Northeast, although its difficult to say in what numbers. And, a couple of biologists I talked to when I was putting this exhibit together, said that it's. We watched the entire time. There is no question about it: cougars are not only being seen in eastern North America, some are attempting to recolonize their former habitats. Morse has been tracking cougars for 45 years, mostly in the mountains of the West, where their existence is not in doubt. Originally I began in the Mid-Atlantic States, but widely expanded my collection to include all the New England States, at the suggestion of the late Prof. Harold Hitchcock of Vermonts Middlebury College. The dam is a protected area from hunting. 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. The last catamount in Vermont is finally, officially, certainly dead. 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). At around 9:30, Snow said, I was outside working and I heard the horn blow. Hawley: Wildlife biologists across the United States know where the current mountain lion range is. At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. He didn't want to dispute what people are saying they saw, he simply says they need proof to substantiate it. My e-mail: epuma@frontier.com /// my mailing address 99 Beagle Boot Lane, Maysville, WV 26833 Are you aware of the old black wild cat story? If you have any pictures you can post them here too! We watched it for nearly 10mins trying to figure out what it was (not thinking for a second that it could possibly be a mountain lion). I reported it to Fish and Wildlife but I bet they are laughing- I am in shock! After 20 minutes or so, we turned and stumbled our way back to the parking lot. Since then, there have been a handful of confirmed mountain lion sightings in the Northeast, although most have been thought to be escaped captive animals. Given the long, shared border between these provinces and New England, along with plentiful evidence that other species cross this border regularly, it seems entirely possible that cougars would also engage in international travel. She will also discuss the latest confirmations of cougars in the East, including the recently documented suitability of a substantial amount of wild habitats from Manitoba to Louisiana and Maine to Georgia. Hi Annie, I dont know if you still keep up with this blog but I thought Id give it a try. if you send me a USPS mailing address, will forward to you, a few of the many Eastern Puma Network Newsletters, we have published on an irregular basis since 1973. dr bondra fremont, ohio obituary; is francis leo marcos related to ferdinand marcos It is what wildlife biologists call an apex carnivore, which means it can overpower pretty much any other creature in its environmentwith the exception of an armed human. I started this blog for people to discuss mountain lion sightings and reports in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. I was driving yesterday (July 31st '13) around midnight on northbound I-89 about half way between Wight River Junction and Montpelier when a beautiful cat creature a size of a greyhound jumped from the midroad bushes and sped in front of my car across the road. We met for lunch on a Sunday morning in early March, and it didnt take long for me to understand why Harrigan is such a popular columnist. He was also convinced, wild pumas were traveling South from the eastern Canadian Provinces of Ontario & Quebec, into northern Maines vast wilderness.I have an assortment of reports from across Vermont, if interested in copies. Sometimes, one will make it as far east as Vermont. This is a site for people to discuss mountain lion sightings in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. Take some great pictures, leave it alone and enjoy the experience, Barrett said. Hawley: I feel strongly that we need a harvest here in Connecticut. The second sighting in myakka preserve, hopping a fence. His mention of these encounters was so matter-of-fact that I found myself nodding along. I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. I think the only reason the lion did not attack was because of the dogs. Bobcats have a white-tipped tail and mountain lions don't. Vermonts last known cougar, also known as a mountain lion or catamount, was killed in 1881 in Barnard. I have seen a bobcat as I had one that hung around one of the places I lived-I believe he may have been hurt because he hung around for about a month which is uncharacteristic of them if I remember correctly, and I also believe he same one was hit by Harpoon Brewery in Windsor and boy do they clean up wild cats fast. About 70 feet from the table, appeared to be a very large cat standing . Lou: I am still awaiting your pictureit is now October 1st. Cat. Vermont's last known cougar, also known as a mountain lion or catamount, was killed in 1881 in Barnard. These are rare, single events, and in such cases, the cat will leave a prominent trail of evidence wherever they go: indisputable game camera photos, camera photos, scat, tracks, sightings, Bernier said. my friend has agreat hunting camp in sandgate vt. he just sent me a photo from a trailcam on his property,and without a doubt he got a picture of a mountain lion I dont know how to transfer photos to here,but I can do it to an e-mail. It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. 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. There were also people who spoke of seeing prints in a specific area in Hartland as well. Also the hotel keeper at top of Mt. John A. Lutz But that was OK. Bo Ottmann. Occasionally 3 times a year, I send out news-letters telling of latest reportsby concerned persons collecting such data.. It took a rest in the shade of our driveway for about ten minutes. Help us document the biodiversity of the Green Mountain State. I took pictures but now wished I had placed an object to get the scale of the prints. One time a found a perfect mt lion print in the soft silt by the bull run stream only 70 yards from my front door. Mountain Lions Are Back in Vermont! Responding to complaints about a predator eating a local farmers sheep, Crowell and a small group of fellow hunters had tracked the big cat through the snow. In Vermont, it was 1881. I wanted to see how close I could get walking closer and closer the eyes did not run in fact they started to come to us. Records suggest that cash bounties for cougar kills were relatively common in the late 1700s and early 1800s; in the Adirondacks, a trapper named Thomas Meacham was credited with 77 cougar kills. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); aint seen none yet, them wind turbines scarin em off, I have been following the eastern mountain lion mystery since the mid-1960s, in every state, east of the Mississippi River. The Mountain Times is, and has always been, a family-owned independent newspaper located on Route 4. 35 wild cougars, known as the Florida Panther, of which a few are totally BLACK, and known as panther, but are actually of the jaguar family In the last few days, 3 sightings have been reported to us, large brown cats in Tennessee and Indiana, a total black cat, in Virginia. To gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots for our newsletters with travel tips and special.! 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