I also know of someone who said they showed F&G a photo of one from a game camera in NH. The journey is chronicled in the 2016 book Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cats Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg. He and his clients were 100% sure of what they saw, and its very difficult to imagine any other animal being mistaken for a cougar in this case. 2012). As unlikely as it sounds, it was a more believable theory than some of the alternatives, among them that the cat was evidence of a breeding population in the state that was being kept secret by DEEP. On November 22, about 20 miles north of Rowlett there was another . If theres a middle ground in the cougar debate, it belongs to John Harrigan, a veteran outdoorsman, newspaper reporter, and widely read syndicated columnist. Mountain Lions in New York. But its also a great story that lays out how an animal this large, at 150 pounds, traveling through even rural areas, leaves signs and is detected. It was a 140-pound male mountain lion, the first confirmed in Connecticut in more than 100 years. Anyone can get fooled. Well, I KNOW there was at least one mountain lion in NE because years ago (maybe 35 or so) I lived in Longmeadow, MA. A mountain lion was confirmed by the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission through trail camera photos taken Dec. 9 east of Lincoln. If you believe you have seen a mountain lion and want to report it to NH Fish and Game, please contact the Wildlife Division at (603) 271-2461 or wildlife@wildlife.nh.gov to request an observation report form. Wednesday, November 25th 2020. We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. The big cat has been extinct here since the mid-1800s. Now the bears, they dont even care if people are home, theyll go right in the house. Connecticut Dept. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. 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. Ottmann and I walked farther. Height at shoulder: 25-30 in. Hear the full interview: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators, Connecticut Dept. Two were confirmed in Logan County (2014 and 2015), and one . Description. How did I know? 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. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). 90th Annual New Haven Register All-State Football First Team. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. (My wife didnt get a look at the tail.) That maybe, just maybe, what my wife and others saw wasnt a bobcat that seemed bigger in the thrill of the moment, but a real, honest-to-goodness mountain lion, a long-lost ghost of the forest. He has also reported for the Marketplace Morning Report. 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. Connecticut Republicans are proposing to reduce the cost of electricity by removing state taxes and surcharges from customer invoices. When I accepted the assignment to write about my quest to uncover the truth regarding the existence of cougars in New England, I had little idea what I was agreeing to. My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. Could UConn women's basketball be back to 'square one' with seven available players at Seton Hall? In yet another variant, DEEP is said to be helicoptering mountain lions in to help control the deer population. But as Eastern cougar search efforts became more organized and still there were no concrete signs of the creatures, many became more skeptical. Snowy winter AM just before us neighbor kids were heading to catch the bus, we (myself, my dad and neighbor) all watched a large cat cross the yard and leave huge prints and a distinct tail drag mark in the snow! He has also reported for the Marketplace Morning Report. 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. The main habitat requirement for mountain lions is stalking cover to successfully hunt prey. Mountain lions are carnivores (meat eaters) and prey mostly on deer. I think of Aldo Leopolds Thinking Like a Mountain essay about how deer decimated the forests and died of starvation because of humans incessant desire to kill. However, because they are capable of traveling great distances, they have turned up in all parts of North Dakota. Check out 4 Seconds Until Impact by Bruce Hemming, or Cat Urbigkits books about predator attacks in unlikely places . Bobcats and a possible mountain lion have been mentioned within the past few weeks. It was hunted to extinction last century, but throughout the Blue Ridge, there are claims from locals that the cat has returned. For decades afterward, there were reported sightings of the mythical creature prowling the woods around town. Peter Yankowski is a breaking news reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media Group. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. of Energy & Environmental Protection. A bobcats tail is short and bob-like, while mountain lions have long, curving tails that can grow up to 3 feet. The big cat sighting is the third in the past month in New Canaan, and close to the previous one, Aug. 8, on White Oak Shade Lane.. Its quite an uphill challenge for us to manage that situation right now. Betty, for instance, has presented on Eastern cougars more than 300 times, gathering many hundreds of sighting reports in the process. And follow us on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag. We think theyre coming in from Canada, Betty told me. Those are the two closest populations that we have here. 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. Lizzie Post Would Like Your Attention. Bobcats: They are are the only wild cat found in the state and the most common in North America. The deer dont eat the exotics, but they eat the competitors. 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. LOS ANGELES (AP) A mountain lion that was part of a National Park Service study was fatally struck by a vehicle on a highway near Southern California's Santa Monica Mountains. For who but we humans can look across the landscape and not acknowledge our role in the diminishment of cougars and the myriad ways in which we have knocked the landscape out of balance? Initially, officials believed it had been released from a private handler. The last catamount in Vermont is finally, officially, certainly dead. A trail runner in Utah experienced a terrifying encounter with a mother mountain lion that stalked him on a trail for six minutes, lunging him at least three times . Those are the two closest populations that we have here. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. A harvest is kind of twofold. Action Alerts. Or at least theyre not supposed to be. There is also something appealing about the idea that there is an animal out there so cunning that it has escaped our notice and the eyes of our cameras. I was just amazed as I watched this scene in my own back yard. Several years ago, I was bicycling with a buddy up Quabbin Reservoirs Administration Rd. So theres fresh mud. . DEEP believes their numbers have increased in recent years. We dont have extra money to do secret projects, he says. Ive seen bobcats before, this wasnt a bobcat. And its a lose-lose situation, because theres really not a whole lot you can tell them in most cases thats going to change their mind.. When we reached tower, a ranger arrived in a pickup. She was also the voice behind the weekly Connecticut Real Estate newsletter by CT Insider. I saw one yesterday in Windsor Cty Vermont. Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. October 12, 2020 10:47 pm ET. A month after the cat was struck and killed, researchers confirmed it had traveled more than 1,500 miles from the Black Hills of South Dakota. Hear the full interview: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators. . 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. Its definitely a problem thats only going to get worse. (Throughout history, people have had a deep fear of these creatures, hounding and hunting them mercilessly.) Nowhere in New England is the matter definitively settled. Bill Betty of Matunuck, a mountain lion expert who spoke at the South Kingstown Land Trust barn Oct. 30, thinks there is ample evidence pointing to the existence of a mountain lion in Matunuck. And were one of the most densely populated states as far as humans. Wild Turkey Brood Survey 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. Photo of a mountain lion taken by a game camera. Connecticut In the decades that followed, many cougar enthusiasts came to share Wrights conclusions, at least at first. With 18 native South American names, 25 Native American names, and 40 English names, this big cat has a big list of sobriquets that all boil down to the same thing: mountain lion. Hed encouraged me to keep my eyes open for deer carcasses cached in the trees (according to Ottmann, cougars are fantastic climbers and are known to stash their kills high in trees), but I saw only leaf-bare branches. The recent social media posting of what was thought to be an image of a mountain lion in Prairie du Rocher brought skepticism . In July 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Mountain Lion Foundation petitioned the Fish and Game Commission to list mountain lions as a candidate species under the California Endangered Species Act ( CESA) within a proposed evolutionarily significant unit (ESU) located in Southern California and the central coast of California. When you look at a state like Connecticut, with all the people we have here, all the trail cameras we have in the woods, all the cars we have driving you can imagine if we had an established population here in Connecticut, we would know about it pretty quickly. So, traffic had been slowed from both ends for a good 3-5 minutes. The mountain lion is believed to have had an encounter with a family on their lawn. Using DNA and physical evidence, state environmental officials said they determined that the animal. I have learned one thing in my career, and thats to never say never, she said. Box 1896 Sacramento, CA 95812 916-442-2666 info@mountainlion.org. Males can reach up to two metres in length and weigh over 60 kilograms. And Im assuming whatever were doing right now, its not working. 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. 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. As a Even in parts of the country where there are documented breeding populations of mountain lions, there are still many false reports. There is a big difference between Tuesday when none of us saw a moose in our region and then Thursday we did, Morse says. These powerful cats can weigh between 70-220 pounds, with males weighing more. 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This assessment is echoed by the aforementioned Christopher Spatz, who has been studying cougars for better than 20 years. Heres what to know about mountain lions (and other large cats) in Connecticut. He/she was UNMISTAKEABLY a mountain lion: stretched out straight, long tail straight out behind him, golden/beigey color, and smallish head, little ears. Bobcats: Though technically a type of lynx, they are distinct from other species of lynx such as the Canadian lynx. 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. Sometimes people feared fishers (erroneously attributing the blood-curdling screams of foxes to these hard-to-spot creatures), and in the late 1930s, after several animals were slain under strange circumstances in Glastonbury, the Hartford Courant dubbed the lion-like creature supposedly responsible, the Glawackus. On a mountain lion that died on a Connecticut highway. Ive seen more field evidence in a couple of hours tracking out west than Ive seen in 100 years on the East Coast, he said. 5-7 yards from me. Mountain lions usually retract their claws when walking. Working in the 1980s in southern California, where there are cougars, biologist Paul Beier said that 95 percent of cougar sightings they investigated turned out to be misidentifications. 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. You cant mistake the long tail. Hawley said the last confirmed mountain lion sighting in the state was one that was killed on the Merritt Parkway in 2011 when a car struck the animal near Exit 55. Bearded, bowler hat, expression impenetrable behind facial hair and the stoicism of an earlier era. Now that USFW has declared them extinct, why not formally reintroduce them. By 1825, only 25% of Connecticut was forested due to deforestation from agricultural activities and other uses of timber. The 1881 death of this catamount officially marked the end of cougars in Vermont; however, the very last Eastern cougar is thought to be an animal that was killed in Somerset County, Maine, in 1938. But further inspection revealed it was a very large coyote. Its OK, he told me. But that was OK. Bo Ottmann knew they were out there. How big was the animal? 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. March 20, 2022; Bob Dylan is Staying Busy in Isolation May 5, 2020; An Argument Against Gen Eds February 18, 2013; Forgive or Forsake: When an Artist Messes Up April 6, 2018; Computer Science and ESPN: An Interview with Christine Chung February 18, 2015; The Emperor Has No Clothes: Trump and COVID-19 April 22, 2020 Fight at end of CT high school basketball game involving Middletown, Weaver second in as many days, How UConn women's basketball forward Amari DeBerry landed on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 plays, Connecticut boys hockey top performers / games to watch (Jan. 17), Goggles? Clearly, Puma concolor once inhabited the forests of the Northeast, although its difficult to say in what numbers. What are the chances of wolves coming back to Vermont? For instance, a favorite food for deer is the seedlings of forest tree species. A threat to livestock, they were hunted out of the state and driven to parts more wild. On the idea of bear hunting in Connecticut. Not a bobcat 100% mountain lion and anybody that tries to think a bobcat as any resemblance to a mountain lion clearly has no idea about wildlife there are a lot of false reports because of this however they are without a doubt in part of New England and fish and game has as usual covered up despite coming out and following mountain lion tracks in the snow through the woods in Central Mass and finding a deer carcass 20 feet up in a tree and said to the landowner yep you probably have a mountain lion passing through and asked for the homeowner not to speak much about it furthermore DNA confirmation of a horse that was attacked in Petersham Massachusetts in the last several years and also the Quabbin Reservoir DNA were mountain lion without a doubt they are here. We told him what we saw, and he confirmed other sightings on the property. UConn women's basketball's Dorka Juhsz, Amari DeBerry play 'word sneak' at press conference, Fight breaks out after CT high school basketball game between Bassick, Wilbur Cross, Amanda Bynes, Steve from 'Blues Clues' to appear at 90s Con in CT, Connecticut paranormal convention coming back this spring, Bridgeport woman competes to find love on Paramount+ dating show, Self-taught pianist Serene to perform at Grace Farms. Indeed! It lowers the population in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population. Im gonna get hammered for it, he sighed. The history of this theory in Connecticut and New England goes back long before our current era of fake news. Though promoted as a once in a lifetime event and offered at the dirt-cheap price of $15, only 395 Nebraskans applied for the chance to hunt a mountain lion. That had to be a mountain lion. I mentioned this to a neighbor who spotted one a few miles away. As I turned a corner going north toward Waterbury, I saw the cat come up from the cornfield, saunter across the highway, turn and look in my direction and then amble off into the brush. 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. May 12, 2021. Weights range from 80 to 225 pounds, but the average is 140 pounds. However, when I asked the room of 200 or so people how many believe they had seen a mountain lion/cougar/puma/catamount, hands shot up all around the room about 25% of those present. CNN . Still, there are those of us who know what weve seen. He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. Were getting more and more home entries every year. 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