If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. Whenever I drive up and through my home state of Vermont, I look into the hills that surround me that have no sign of development for miles and miles. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. And its not just Vermont. Still, Spatz acknowledged that the word hope is very different from the word believe. Body coloration can range from tan to gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots. 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. Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here. Ive attended talks with Sue Morse. I saw a Mountain Lion in 2007 in Northfield, MA at the junctions of Rtes 10 and 63. Probably are lions in western NC, too. It has, in fact, more names than any animal in the world. 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. Check out 4 Seconds Until Impact by Bruce Hemming, or Cat Urbigkits books about predator attacks in unlikely places . 8 Arlington (9-10) and No. 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. 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. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Harrigans interest in cougars was sparked in the late 70s, after he took ownership of The Coos County Democrat and began noticing the steady influx of reported sightings. In 2011, the U.S. I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. Anticipating, perhaps, a moment like this. I started to get nervous so I was scanning the area low and high in the trees. The last catamount killed in Vermont was shot in 1881. They set the stage for the exotics to move in, and this has a huge impact on our ecology, he said. It may not surprise you to learn that I was quite intrigued by this third group. The animal was shot in the town of Barnard on Thanksgiving Day 1881 by a man named Alexander Crowell. Friends that go backcountry skiing in Vermont have reported seeing tracks to me many times and I have seen pictures of the pawprints myself that look overwheming like a mountain lion. But some sightings were more promising and some seemed exceedingly so. In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. 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? If LTS can take care of business in that one, it would host the winner of the Bennington County matchup between No. The Christian school also dropped out of the state . Apex predators like the cougar and wolf make for a healthier ecosystem. Camel's Hump (alternatively Camels Hump) is a mountain in the Green Mountains in the U.S. state of Vermont.The north slope of the mountain borders the Winooski River, which has carved through the Green Mountains over eons.At 4,083 ft (1,244 m), it is tied (with Mount Ellen) for the third-highest mountain in Vermont.Surrounded by 10 acres (4 ha) of alpine tundra, the mountain is the most . It kills to eat but does not necessarily practice any sort of conservation ethic. The real reason that they wont admit that a breeding population exists, is that listing a population of endangered species would wreak ECONOMIC havoc in a number of arenas, mostly logging/forestry. I had a clear look, through the glasses at a bobcat. 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. Lizzie Post Would Like Your Attention. I wasnt planning to shoot her unless she moved in my direction. Sue Morse, a professional animal tracker, believes that means cougars will, eventually, return to Vermont. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. The one killed on the Connecticut highway was on a journey worthy of Odysseus so it isnt likely that there will be a thriving population of mountain lions in Fairfield County, raiding backyard cocktail parties, anytime soon. Blodgett liked talking about this subject. The Great Divide | Are There Mountain Lions in New England. Regarding a breeding population that is the unknown. Whatever it was, it was standing motionless and, I thought, looking back at me as intently as I was staring at it. Thank you; Blog. I live in New Milford and I saw one crossing the road in front of me when I stopped to get my mail from my mailbox. She said it was long and thick. It can run 50 miles an hour and clear a twelve-foot fence. Scat, tracks, lays, scratch mounds youll see these things.. So Blodgett brought what he had learned in Wyoming and Arizona back to Vermont with him and began following up on catamount sightings. But, I think with education and planning, we should reintroduce wolves and cougar in the Northeast. In 1994, scat collected after a sighting in Craftsbury, Vermont, was found to contain cougar hair (the animals are prone to ingesting their hair while grooming), and the commissioner of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department circulated a memo with the following line: It is possible that cougars of unknown origin may be breeding to a limited extent in Vermont. I will never forget what I saw! But perhaps an even larger portion is the product of his enduring faith in the men and womanloggers, hunters, trapperswhose vocations and avocations have instilled in them a deep familiarity with wild places and the creatures who inhabit them. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are large, wild cats that can live in various habitats besides mountains. But it is also true that there is something different and especially chilling about the threat of being attacked by something that is alive and wants to devour you. Long Trail beat Arlington 62-40 on Feb. 7. 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. 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. 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 !! Still, there are those of us who know what weve seen. When that last catamount was killed by a deer hunter, the state was paying a $20 bounty for pelts or carcasses. Everglades Panther But it was also a male. Prior to the mid-1990s, the late Wildlife Professor Harold Hitchcock of Middlebury College, became Vermont's Official Big Cat 'hunter', who sought evidence of the Big Cats across the Maple State. . They were also seen at other times by members of my family and other people in the neighborhood. Lacked, almost any tail at all, for that matter. I had seen bear, deer, coyotes, foxes, that one bobcat all the usual suspects. For several years, Blodgett, a wildlife biologist with the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, conducted those follow up investigations. The glasses I carried were of good quality with exceptional light-gathering property. For instance, a favorite food for deer is the seedlings of forest tree species. Early spring 2019 I caught a glimpse of one entering over grown brush on the side of the road very very early in the morning. There was one possibility that might account for some of these sightings, he says. It had moved a little and was standing unconcealed, now, in the middle of the logging road. But never a catamount. He coined the term landscape of fear to describe the relationship between predator and prey in the wild. Ive seen tracks (Downeast Maine) and others have seen them, plain as day. Put bluntly, Morse does not believe that New England is home to cougars. I have heard several accounts from sober, sane, intelligent people who have seen them (especially a latre, good friend who was a very competent spokesman and hunter.). And, according to people who swear they know what they saw the catamount. The animal that was killed in Connecticut proved that. Where I live bears, wolves cougars etc roamed freely and now sadly if one of those apex predators is spotted our DNR will usually destroy it. Phone: +1 802 448 8250. 104 Williston, VT 05495. I do this shit.. Obviously, this is the reason why the experts are loathe to admit that the species is here. So long as the tails there, that is. Im not surprised that various state officers deny the presence of cougars in new England. Among the mountain lions typical behaviors is the way it will revisit, for several days, the carcass of an animal it has killed, moving it and cacheing it until there is nothing left to eat or the flesh has turned. Several years ago, I was bicycling with a buddy up Quabbin Reservoirs Administration Rd. In Vermont, it was 1881. These sightings usually took place at night or in fading light, like that of my bobcat encounter. Middlebury, Vermont | Could You Live Here? In March of 1965, the Colorado legislature repealed the old mountain lion bounty of $50, which was first enacted in 1924. If someone described seeing a black panther, for example, then you knew right away and you didnt need to do any more investigating.. Bearded, bowler hat, expression impenetrable behind facial hair and the stoicism of an earlier era. Email: info@grnvt.com. What are the chances of wolves coming back to Vermont? 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 solitary animal seeks out new territory and eventually a new population will be established. My stepfather had been a hunter and was no stranger to seeing animals in the woods and countryside, so when they came up over a knoll in the road and saw a large cat looking at them, he saw the face and thought, bobcatuntil they then saw the rest of the animals body: huge, beautifully tawny colored, and in possession of what my mother described as a very long tail, that was as thick as my wrist. It was fast as hell but there was no mistaking its not only long,but THICK tail as it disappeared into the woods. Probably because of all the hunters that would be out trying to get their trophy and endangering others. I saw one yesterday in Windsor Cty Vermont. Well, I KNOW there was at least one mountain lion in NE because years ago (maybe 35 or so) I lived in Longmeadow, MA. 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. Wildlife do really crazy things, and you just never know.. But there was not enough evidence to either prove or disprove that a mountain lion had done the killing. Nowhere in New England is the matter definitively settled. 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. I also know of someone who said they showed F&G a photo of one from a game camera in NH. His mention of these encounters was so matter-of-fact that I found myself nodding along. Others have seen cougar in neighboring towns . I have no choice but to take this seriously, he told me. Maybe you've seen the UVM(University of Vermont) catamount at a basketball game, or the catamount at the Vermont History Museum. Especially among those who did believe. At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. We also had bobcats that we saw quite often but I am positive that these were mountain lions! Spatz and Sue dont want to go where were going.. 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. The mountain lionalso known as the cougar, puma, panther, or catamountis a large cat species native to the Americas. They are much larger than bobcat and lynx, young adults can still have spots too. We got a picture of our culprit, he says, that very first night.. And, if those people who said they were seeing catamounts were wrong, and not just making it up, then what were they seeing? hen 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. Even though the experts say there arent any mountain lions in CT, there are. When he suggested we retrace our route, past lion, to see a sow bear with cubs, we headed in the opposite direction. But, yes, thats exactly what it was. I lived in Woodstock, CT in 2005/2006. I saw on three occasions in about the same location a beautiful mtn lion with the long bushytail that curves at the end. Experts need to see the body to dismiss their prejudices. 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. He soon developed a five-question litmus test: How far away were you? My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. 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. To date, Keeping Track has helped conserve 40,000 acres in 12 states and inQuebec. I have not had the pleasure of seeing one, but have heard credible reports of them in Western Mass. 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. Blodgett did on-site investigations of these, in what became a predictably futile search for the sign he had learned, out west, to look for. Green Mountain Lion Corp. Home; Apply Now! What time of day was it? By now, I knew the answer to that one. It can run 50 miles an hour and clear a twelve-foot fence. Honestly, leaving this out of your article would seem to perpetuate the notion that there is a conspiracy to keep us all in ignorance. As land was cleared for farming and the cats prey species declined in number, it went after livestock. But there was certainty, or near-certainty, on the part of the witnesses who, it seemed, would swear to having seen a catamount. There was a tin of American Spirit tobacco on the table (Ottmanns), a laptop (Bettys), a notebook (mine), and a tumbler of Bacardi and Coke (Ottmanns again). The light was failing and I was on my way out of the woods. Black markings decorate the tip of the tail, ears, and around the snout. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Inslerman said the DEC received about a half-dozen calls reporting sightings of mountain lions last year; two calls this week. He says that if mountain lions do . , ears, and you just thank the person and say good-bye reports of them in Western.. 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