My parents friend in Deposit, NY, posted a young catamount sitting on the front porch on Facebook. In their estimation, the presence of a breeding cougar population in New England would likely stem from our proximity to Canada, where, as they rightly point out, DNA analysis has resulted in 19 positive identifications across Quebec and New Brunswick since 2001 (although some of these were shown to be of South American lineage, suggesting escaped pets). I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. Blodgett and I were returning from a day spent looking forand finding timber rattlesnakes, a species that is endangered in Vermont. The Vermont woods would be a lot more interesting with mountain lions in them. You dont even have to go out and look for it.. 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 . near Greenfield with an experienced guide that hed worked with several times. But the landowners were excited enough by the possibility that, persuaded by Blodgett, they bought a trail camera and set it up on the site. And so we come to the great divide over cougars in New England. Videos. This was, after all, a long, long way from the nearest known population of mountain lions and virtually the heart of the suburban East. If someone described seeing a black panther, for example, then you knew right away and you didnt need to do any more investigating.. She favors plaid shirts, green Dickies work pants, and hiking boots, and she chided me for shaking her hand too gently. The one thing that jumped out at her the tail. Its not a bear, not a dog, not a deer, not a bobcat. No An official form of the United States government. Long Trail beat Arlington 62-40 on Feb. 7. They especially come down from the mountains when there is a big water shortgage. We told him what we saw, and he confirmed other sightings on the property. When that last catamount was killed by a deer hunter, the state was paying a $20 bounty for pelts or carcasses. Around 1830, the . And consider, for a moment, the concern and outright fear an official acknowledgment of such a carnivorous and predatory creature might evoke. The mountain lionalso known as the cougar, puma, panther, or catamountis a large cat species native to the Americas. I could hear the steady rush of traffic on Route 315. He says that if mountain lions do . Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. 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. There was the vaguest of trails, crisscrossed by deadfalls and a sharp-thorned bush that soon drew blood from Ottmanns right hand. on route to stone tower on Quabbin Hill. Mountain Lions have been more prevalent to the west in the last 100 years, but many of the pockets of breeding populations east of the Mississippi River have been wiped out over the decades due to habitat loss and hunting. The truth is, I was by this point dubious. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings. People could have been looking at a catamount that was not, in fact, a wild animal. In the states where there are robust mountain lion populations, they are a threat to livestock, pets and, occasionally, humans. My neighbors have seen several over the last 15-20 years. 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. A 2,000 Mile Journey I also had a coworker report a similar experience around the same time. Raised them carefully to my eyes. Chance of snow 90%. Lacked, almost any tail at all, for that matter. I started to get nervous so I was scanning the area low and high in the trees. Some people thought that the Fish and Wildlife professionals went into these investigations determined to debunk the sightings. But it seems virtually inevitable that a time is coming when that thing you see on the trail up ahead of you might be something to make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Even in areas of high cougar density, the there are far more attacks on humans by domesticated dogs or deer/car collision fatalities than those due to cougar attack. 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. At Green Mountain Lion Corp, we specialize in placing professionals in a variety of industries. But it was also a male. That it had, somehow, made a return and established residence. 8 Arlington (9-10) and No. my father was recently trout fishing in central Mass. Typical species behavior is for males to disperse from an area when the population reaches the carrying capacity of the habitat. Its range was once similarly vast; from the high north regions of the Yukon to the Straits of Magellan. 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. Still, there are those of us who know what weve seen. 3 talking about this. Regarding a breeding population that is the unknown. If you are a mountain lion, looking to relocate, there is good quality real estate and plenty to eat here in Vermont. 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. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. Ive heard some biologists say it is not a distinct subspecies. Phone: . 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 reported it to Connecticut DEEP, only to be told there are no cougars in Connecticut. And, he says, if they were here, wouldnt one have been killed on one of the states highways where cars and trucks travel some 9 million miles every year? If those people who said they were seeing catamounts were wrong, and not just making it up, then what were they seeing? Public opinion surveys show many more would support reintroduction, than oppose. If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. Mid Vermont Christian School Eagles forfeited their girls basketball playoff game on Tuesday against Long Trail School Mountain Lions. Everglades Panther Low 24F. 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. I heard from Neighbors that they have been sighting from the mass pike which runs along this area but also very close to Quabbin! Their bodies are mainly covered in tawny-beige fur, except for the whitish-gray belly and chest. Lizzie Post Would Like Your Attention. Thats a reasonable assertion. Feb 28, 2023 4:00 am By Robert Spencer 1 Comment. Jason. The animal was too small and it lacked the long, sinuous tail of the catamount. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are large, wild cats that can live in various habitats besides mountains. 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. Humans and wildlife MUST learn to live along side each other and we MUST learn to respect nature. Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. There was one photographed on a porch in Greenwich, CT, looking in the patio window that made national news a decade ago. Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. I only saw the back side, but he was huge. The cougar and the states refusal to admit it was here made the local paper. Im gonna get hammered for it, he sighed. If theyre in one, theyre in the other.. 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. 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. There were caribou antlers mounted above the front doors, and the interior walls were covered in row upon row of books; a long table was piled high with still more books in seemingly random arrangements. 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? Ive never forgotten that and told it to many folks over the years, most of whom, I must say, thought I was hallucinating I guess but, it/he/she was a fact in Longmeadow, MA that summer long ago. They were inevitably fleeting. 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. So yes they are here and not to sure why they dont admit to them being around ! Many on both sides of the cougar debate beileve that New Englands natural habitat would benefit from having an apex predator in the ecosystem again. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. 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. The scientific name for the catamount is Puma concolor. 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. I got the glasses to my eyes and focused on the animal. In fact, jaguars used to be native to south Texas, as well! All of which is to say that if Alexander Crowell wasnt afraid on that long-ago Thanksgiving Day, he probably should have been. 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. Theres probably 100 in Connecticut, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke. 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 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. To admit it was here made the local paper at her home in Jericho the Yukon the... The one thing that jumped out at her the tail many more support! Parents friend in Deposit, NY, posted a young catamount sitting on the.... 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