Its closest living relative is the cheetah. First about the animal, itself, and then about the lore and the possibility that the catamount was not, in fact, extinct in Vermont. This much was certain: it was a wild mountain lion and it was in an area where one had not been seen for more than 100 years. However, many of their claimsespecially Mr. Bettys contention of roughly a dozen personal sightings in New Englandare hard to take seriously. Two mountain lion encounters in his driveway. Sue Morse, a professional animal tracker, believes that means cougars will, eventually, return to Vermont. In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.. . It is healthy to have respect and caution, but fear shouldnt drive ecological decision making. Spring Loaded to See Something Its closest living relative is the cheetah. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). Im not surprised that various state officers deny the presence of cougars in new England. 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. Its distinctive featurethe one that sets it apart from other North American wild catsis its tail, which is thick and often as long as its body. Green Mountain Lion Corporation, Inc. Business Consulting and Services Williston, Vermont 5,563 followers Boutique management recruiting firm focusing on heavy equipment manufacturing & distribution. Neither resemble a cougar! Apex predators like the cougar and wolf make for a healthier ecosystem. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. I got the glasses to my eyes and focused on the animal. 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). Ottmann nodded. I mentioned this to a neighbor who spotted one a few miles away. 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. 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. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings. Scat, tracks, lays, scratch mounds youll see these things.. It is hard for me to believe that the big cats havent found plenty of space to roam without regular detection. Its OK, he told me. Maybe, I thought, but the shape seemed wrong. 2,110 likes. 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. Its not my call. 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. In the second camp, there are those issuing the denials, pointing to the lack of photographic evidence, or the absence of tracks, or the simple truth that many people dont seem to know the difference between a cougar and a bobcat and a lynx and even, in some cases, a golden retriever. Even in the controlled environment of a lab, the truth about Eastern cougars seems to be almost willfully eluding its seekers. This isnt to say she believes none of these animals has stepped foot on New England soil over the past century. Phone: +1 802 448 8250. Running into a mountain lion can be a scary experience. 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. And consider, for a moment, the concern and outright fear an official acknowledgment of such a carnivorous and predatory creature might evoke. near Greenfield with an experienced guide that hed worked with several times. He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) was set to play the Long Tail Mountain Lions last Tuesday before the former decided not to compete based on concerns for player safety and fairness. If we end up with a population, it will be the result of a colonizer female who gets here somehow, some way, and the rest will be history.. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. By now, I knew the answer to that one. It was huge! 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? In Vermont, it was 1881. 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. I saw a Mountain Lion in 2007 in Northfield, MA at the junctions of Rtes 10 and 63. The one thing that jumped out at her the tail. But a deer is not a predator, like a bear can be, and certainly not a pure predator like a mountain lion, which is a majestic animal precisely because it is also a dangerous one. Beautiful creature. It kills to eat but does not necessarily practice any sort of conservation ethic. Its mounted carcass is on display in Montpelier where Id seen it when I was the adult supervision for my daughters sixth-grade class trip to the capital. No way to proveor disproveit. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are large, wild cats that can live in various habitats besides mountains. I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. Predator removal was steady and unforgiving from the early 1800s . Id need proof if I wanted people to believe me. Finally, in the third camp, there are the true believersthe cougar truthers, if you willthe men and women for whom the only logical conclusion (often reached after a significant investment of time, thought, and sometimes money) is that right here, right now, cougars live among us, feeding and breeding and rearing their young, and that suggesting otherwise is sheer ignorance, willful denial, or part of a mosaic of conspiracy. In my case, I had seen just about everything else in the Vermont woods in the several years that I had been going out, and not just during deer season. No An official form of the United States government. 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. There was the vaguest of trails, crisscrossed by deadfalls and a sharp-thorned bush that soon drew blood from Ottmanns right hand. Theymay not be looking, specifically, for a catamount. 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). If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. Several years of doing the follow-ups, then, convinced Blodgett that there were no catamounts in Vermont. There were pine cones on window sills, a well-used hatchet and a variety of animal figurines on display, and, near the television, a stack of videos including Life of a Predator and The African Lion. When that last catamount was killed by a deer hunter, the state was paying a $20 bounty for pelts or carcasses. Everglades Panther I was aware, too, of how a certain mythology surrounding the animal had taken root in Vermonts culture and even its identity: The University of Vermonts athletic teams, for instance, are known as the Vermont Catamounts, and their logo features a snarling cat lunging through the cleft of a V.. If he was not determined to prove that someone had actually seen a mountain lion in Vermonthe is a scientist, after allhe was still excited by the possibility. The cat is dead. By mid-19th century, forests made up only about 30 percent of New England (its notable that today that number stands at approximately 80 percent, nearer to what it was when cougars thrived here). "The catamount, which is also a mountain lion, a cougar, a panther and a ton of other words, is actually one of the most widely distributed mammals in the whole world. When I came out, the cat appeared in front of me coming up a rise (incredibly close to some ski condos). Typical species behavior is for males to disperse from an area when the population reaches the carrying capacity of the habitat. And, if those people who said they were seeing catamounts were wrong, and not just making it up, then what were they seeing? They may get here, Doug Blodgett said to me one afternoon. Especially among those who did believe. The evidence, he says, just wasnt there., Mountain Lions Revisit Kill Sites But they would certainly pay attention if they did see one. Some with cameras. We witnessed a mountain lion stalking a herd of deer. Regarding a breeding population that is the unknown. I went back and told the tale to anyone who would listen. I was just amazed as I watched this scene in my own back yard. If these animals are not in the habitat, what we see is an overabundance of herbivores., The ecologist John Laundre, who has spent 35 years studying cougars, concurs. Nostalgia for the Wild If there is a follow up investigation, it turns out that people were mistaken about what they saw.. 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. All those deer hunters represent a kind of ad hoc search party. Tried to see "mountain lion" and agree that what appears to be a long tail is most likely the . 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. 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. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings. It can run 50 miles an hour and clear a twelve-foot fence. The animal, I learned, is called many things: mountain lion, panther, catamount, puma, cougar and more. For several years, Blodgett, a wildlife biologist with the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, conducted those follow up investigations. In this case, there was the carcass of a deer, recently killed in the area where a couple had reported seeing what looked like a mountain lion on land they owned. In the United States the animal could, at one time, be found in all the states but with civilization, came a decline, the Vermont experience being more or less typical. The tails gotta be there. Mountain lions are large, tan cats. The Mountain Lions won both regular season margins by 30-plus points. I could hear the steady rush of traffic on Route 315. 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. 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. The Vermont woods would be a lot more interesting with mountain lions in them. The expert opinion held up until a man was killed by a Great White not too far away. In fact, jaguars used to be native to south Texas, as well! Betty had driven up from his home in Rhode Island. 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. 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. Indeed! 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 !! My husband and where riding our Motorcycle down Rte 110 near Milan NH Morse is a Vermont-based naturalist and the founder of Keeping Track, a nonprofit that trains people in the scientific protocols needed to detect, interpret, record, and monitor wildlife tracks and signs. Dismissing most of the sightings as probable bobcats, Morse asserted that the scientific evidence has not been proven. Phone: . And, then, some species didnt need any help from humans but managed to extend their range into now-recovered and suitable habitats. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. Growing up in northern Vermont, Id heard stories of sightings, though always a few steps removed from the tellersomebodys cousin had seen a cougar cross the road on their way home from deer camp up in Canaan (or was it Coventry? It was fast as hell but there was no mistaking its not only long,but THICK tail as it disappeared into the woods. You cant mistake the long tail. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. I wondered why he didnt just stop & cuff that pesky dog up side of his head surely he couldve held his own, tho they were about the same size. I had a pair of good binoculars in my coat pocket. Looking at the mounted animal, behind the glass, had made me feel kind of well, sad. My neighbors have seen several over the last 15-20 years. In 2011, the U.S. Interesting article, but it is really incomplete without a discussion of the legal implications of having a confirmed endangered species such as the Eastern Cougar in New England. At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. Videos - Industry Stories; Find Candidates; But I learned something else in my ad hoc researchesnamely that this was a question that aroused a lot of passion in people. We need cougars and we need wolves back in the Northeast, because a landscape of fear is a well-balanced landscape.. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. 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. 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 was outdoor with my two pugs and quickly scooped them up and brought them in the house. 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. 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 mountain lion can weigh upwards of 200 pounds and it can move like well, like a cat. 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. 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. Hes also unafraid to take unpopular positions when he deems it necessary: Shortly before our meeting, hed signed a petition in favor of keeping ATVs off public roads. Ive seen tracks (Downeast Maine) and others have seen them, plain as day. ), 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. That it had, somehow, made a return and established residence. 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. Also known as cougars, panthers or pumas, mountain lions range in color from tan to grey, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This setting should only be used on your home or work computer. Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. 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. If the mountain lion is a certified killer of sheep and, sometimes, cattle, it has also occasionally attacked humans. We have a lot of them here in N CA. 3 talking about this. As I looked at my daughter and then turned to follow the direction she was looking, I saw the animal in my side mirror. 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