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). 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. THAT is a mountain lion! Females ranges are much smaller so it will take reintroduction or a few savvy wildlife biologist in the dead of night. . Green Mountain Lion Corp #256 34 Blair Park Road Ste. When he suggested we retrace our route, past lion, to see a sow bear with cubs, we headed in the opposite direction. I now live in Boulder, CO where we have regular sightings.same animal as 35 yrs agohands down, Warren ,Ma early morning having my coffee on my front steps and noticed about 50 feet across the Road something coming out of the trail as it did it looked out at the road and turned around as it did I could see that it was a mountain lion ! He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. 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. 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: Harrigans interest in cougars was sparked in the late 70s, after he took ownership of, Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here, After 20 minutes or so, we turned and stumbled our way back to the parking lot. 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. Using DNA and physical evidence, state environmental officials said they determined that the animal likely trekked more than 1,500 miles from South Dakota, a journey that was captured by trail camera (above). I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. A 2,000 Mile Journey Of course. As pets or for exhibit. 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. 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. He wore red suspenders and a baseball cap. There are also many unconfirmed sightings. on route to stone tower on Quabbin Hill. I think they never left, Ottmann piped in. Photos of the cat did nothing to convince DEEP the cat was here. 104 Williston, VT 05495. 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. When a cats around, its not hard to find evidence. 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. 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. Now, ocelots are critically endangered and jaguarundis might be completely gone. Can they really all be cases of false identification? Ive seen tracks (Downeast Maine) and others have seen them, plain as day. What are the chances of wolves coming back to Vermont? Now that USFW has declared them extinct, why not formally reintroduce them. Around 1830, the . The one thing that jumped out at her the tail. 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. Provided by Touchpoints Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont and convinced onlookers say the proof is in the pictures. So Blodgett brought what he had learned in Wyoming and Arizona back to Vermont with him and began following up on catamount sightings. 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. And, more often than not, when I told it, the person listening would nod and tell me about someone who had definitely seen a mountain lion/catamount in the Vermont woods or crossing a highway or, even, in the back yard. In the states where there are robust mountain lion populations, they are a threat to livestock, pets and, occasionally, humans. Then saw him a few more times from further away across the road and along the edge sometimes of the woods. In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. She favors plaid shirts, green Dickies work pants, and hiking boots, and she chided me for shaking her hand too gently. Inslerman said the DEC received about a half-dozen calls reporting sightings of mountain lions last year; two calls this week. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. I appreciated Ottmann and Bettys confidence and commitment, but here I was, poking through thorny thickets behind a bar, trailing a bleeding man whose devotion to proving the presence of cougars was beginning to seem like a quixotic quest with no end. Check out 4 Seconds Until Impact by Bruce Hemming, or Cat Urbigkits books about predator attacks in unlikely places . Green Mountain Lion Corporation, Inc. Business Consulting and Services Williston, Vermont 5,563 followers Boutique management recruiting firm focusing on heavy equipment manufacturing & distribution. 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. It continues in Connecticut, where that South Dakota cat was killed in 2011, and in Massachusetts, despite two credible reports in the past quarter century (in one case, DNA-confirmed scat; in the other, verified tracks). It looked real promising, Blodgett remembers. It kills to eat but does not necessarily practice any sort of conservation ethic. 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. People clearly arent lying when they say they saw a cougar; [the sighting] has a profound effect on them.. The second occasion was on the way to work when I saw the cougar/catamount crossing Route 44. Most of those sightings were misidentifications, Doug Blodgett says. Tom Stearns, a Vermont Game Warden says they get reports all the time. I also had a coworker report a similar experience around the same time. You dont even have to go out and look for it.. Betty had driven up from his home in Rhode Island. 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. He soon developed a five-question litmus test: How far away were you? Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here. 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. We think theyre coming in from Canada, Betty told me. 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. I saw one yesterday in Windsor Cty Vermont. Several years ago, I was bicycling with a buddy up Quabbin Reservoirs Administration Rd. 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. People like you are the problem and cause of extinctions. Refuge volunteer Dale Erz originally. Everglades Panther They may get here, Doug Blodgett said to me one afternoon. But it was also a male. Mountain lions are around 4 feet long with a two-and-a-half foot tail and can stand 24-30 inches tall at the shoulder. 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. I had a pair of good binoculars in my coat pocket. And so when they come to him with a sighting, hes prepared to believe. 3 talking about this. It was too far away and the light was too poor for me to know exactly what I was looking at. This is part of the cougar business. 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? But they would certainly pay attention if they did see one. Theres probably 100 in Connecticut, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke. What time of day was it? The Strafford & Area Lions conducted its Food From The Heart food drive February 11th through the 18th, collecting 981.6 pounds of food and receiving monetary donations of $1,262 which were used to purchase food and other items to be donated to the Sharon, Vershire and Thetford food shelves. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Mr. Betty and Mr.Ottomans passion and efforts are impressive. In the first, there are those such as myself, whove maybe heard a few second- or third- or fourth-hand stories as well as official denials from state agencies or professional biologists, and therefore find themselves betwixt and between, neither believing nor disbelieving. Feb 28, 2023 4:00 am By Robert Spencer 1 Comment. They are here & ..just a matter of time with photo or kill on a highway/road. The Vermont woods would be a lot more interesting with mountain lions in them. But there was certainty, or near-certainty, on the part of the witnesses who, it seemed, would swear to having seen a catamount. Betty, for instance, has presented on Eastern cougars more than 300 times, gathering many hundreds of sighting reports in the process. 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. 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. They have a right to exist here and they contribute to healthier prey species. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. Although the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the . Still more confusion ensued when a lab technician said she might have gotten some samples confused, and thus the canid result was thrown into doubt. And why not? All with eyes to see and spring loaded to see something. But there was not enough evidence to either prove or disprove that a mountain lion had done the killing. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This setting should only be used on your home or work computer. 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. Periods of snow. It does NOT surprise me, you would have seen a wild, free-roaming, native 'eastern' cougar, aka puma, mountain lion in Vermont. As I walked thru the beginning of the trail I spooked a deer and heard this awful screech and slowly backed out of there .. In the states where there are robust mountain lion populations, they are a threat to livestock, pets and, occasionally, humans. The restrictions/regulations surrounding management of an endangered species is incredibly cumbersome, and would be difficult to manage. Experts need to see the body to dismiss their prejudices. The Christian school also dropped out of the state . It was fast as hell but there was no mistaking its not only long,but THICK tail as it disappeared into the woods. 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. Indeed! Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings. The deer dont eat the exotics, but they eat the competitors. It was definitely a cougar. Beautiful creature. And there have been fatal attacks. 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. 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. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. Yes I have seen several pictures on game cameras from people in Massachusetts in Central and western Mass that do have mountain lions on their game camera so please dont be ignorant. Predator removal was steady and unforgiving from the early 1800s . But examination of the carcass raised suspicions. Height. 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 truth is, I was by this point dubious. Somebody in the NC Legislature believes, because lions are now protected by law. There are no breeding cougars in New England and we do not need any. Actually, Blodgett says, something of the opposite was true. I have no choice but to take this seriously, he told me. Respect predators, protect them but dont worship or try to hug them! Some people say they have seen a catamount in the woods. No An official form of the United States government. Obviously, this is the reason why the experts are loathe to admit that the species is here. I think I may have pissed her off since I was up in that area X2 this week. There was never, of course, a photograph. 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. 8 Arlington (9-10) and No. 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. Or, if it does, when that will be. And, then, some species didnt need any help from humans but managed to extend their range into now-recovered and suitable habitats. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.. . Middlebury, Vermont | Could You Live Here? 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. I wasnt planning to shoot her unless she moved in my direction. 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.. As I looked at my daughter and then turned to follow the direction she was looking, I saw the animal in my side mirror. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings 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. Raised them carefully to my eyes. Sue Morse, a professional animal tracker, believes that means cougars will, eventually, return to Vermont. It was a bright sunny summer day. To date, Keeping Track has helped conserve 40,000 acres in 12 states and inQuebec. Fish and Wildlife Service unofficially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. The cougar and the states refusal to admit it was here made the local paper. If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. What set it off was a National Geographic special on mountain lions in California, right after my daughter and I had two encounters in my driveway, Betty told me. I do this shit.. It has, in fact, more names than any animal in the world. Geoffrey Norman is a Dorset author and a frequent contributor to Stratton Magazine. Email: info@grnvt.com. She IS, perhaps, the most knowledgeable and experienced person in this arena and I listened intently to her presentation (Richmond, VT 2018). 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. 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). According to official estimates, as many as 1,000 people own, in spite of legal prohibitions, captive animals. And its not just Vermont. Wildlife is unpredictable (and several people go missing in wild areas, parks especially, every year -Probably not because of alien abduction). Regarding a breeding population that is the unknown. They are there and thriving!!!! Their bodies are mainly covered in tawny-beige fur, except for the whitish-gray belly and chest. Adult males can be around 8 feet in length and weigh between 130 and 150 pounds, while adult females can be 7 feet long and weigh between 65 and 90 pounds. 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 mountain lion can weigh upwards of 200 pounds and it can move like well, like a cat. Bennington, VT (05201) Today. Still, sightings are common. 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 have learned one thing in my career, and thats to never say never, she said. Could be a deer, but it didnt seem to be tall enough. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). There is a reason that millions of people were afraid to go in the water after they saw the movie Jaws. Black markings decorate the tip of the tail, ears, and around the snout. You cant mistake the long tail. The combined scoring differential in those matchups was 158-77. vital part of this countries ecosystem. 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. At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. The last time a mountain lion was captured in New York was in the . The discussion of whether federal lands should be a place to subsidize cattle ranching is another question. 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., I met with Morse at her home in Jericho. 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. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Those who believe the growth and expansion of mountain lion populations to be a good thing routinely make the old, you face a greater danger of being struck by lighting or drowned in the bathtub argument and it is no doubt accurate. A few years later, though, the scat was retested with DNA analysis and found to be canid, rather than feline, in origin. I saw an adult cougar/catamount twice within a two week period. I had a clear look, through the glasses at a bobcat. Some of them, he says, we could close the books on pretty quickly. 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. 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. And consider, for a moment, the concern and outright fear an official acknowledgment of such a carnivorous and predatory creature might evoke. "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. Big kitty. If you dont think cougars are coming to the East, think again, she said, leaning forward for emphasis. 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. Yet I also remembered something Sue Morse had told me months before, as we sat in her living room drinking beer and chatting cats. There was no mistake. Some with cameras. Americans called the mountain " Tah-wak-be-dee-ee-wads. Nowhere in New England is the matter definitively settled. So it is possible that, on occasion, someone would catch a glimpse of one of these animals. my father was recently trout fishing in central Mass. We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. You could have 50. He knew it was only a matter of time. Because he lives among them, Harrigan understands that no one knows the woods better. Stratton Magazine Celebrating Manchester and the Mountains. Beautiful animal. The regions top predator, the coyote, is classified by biologists as a mesopredator (a type that in New England includes skunks and raccoons), which feeds primarily on smaller animals. At Green Mountain Lion Corp, we specialize in placing professionals in a variety of industries. If the mountain lion is a certified killer of sheep and, sometimes, cattle, it has also occasionally attacked humans. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. They were inevitably fleeting. Probably are lions in western NC, too. 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. What color was it? I saw a cougar in Wolfeboro NH crossing / running across 28 ; close call between myself and a car traveling in the opposite direction over 12 years ago . I had seen bear, deer, coyotes, foxes, that one bobcat all the usual suspects. 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 didn't want to dispute what people are saying they saw, he simply says they need proof to substantiate it. Cougars, Lynx, Bobcats, Wolves, Bears etc were and are a Phone: . There was no denying that the carcass, which was examined by experts, was that of a mountain lion. Adult males may be more than 8 feet long (from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail), and can weigh between 130 and 150 pounds. 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. Local game officials are saying that this is another one of those sightings where people claim to have seen a mountain lion. Betty folded his arms across his chest, where they rose and fell and rose again with his breathing. There was one possibility that might account for some of these sightings, he says. 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. 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. I lived in Woodstock, CT in 2005/2006. Wildlife do really crazy things, and you just never know.. Length of body. I heard from Neighbors that they have been sighting from the mass pike which runs along this area but also very close to Quabbin! 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. If theres a middle ground in the cougar debate, it belongs to John Harrigan, a veteran outdoorsman, newspaper reporter, and widely read syndicated columnist. It seems humans just cant resist destroying these animals and either dont realize or dont care what damage we have done to our natural environment over the centuries. It jumped 28 feet across the road. The animal was too small and it lacked the long, sinuous tail of the catamount. Distinguished by a boxy head, big paws and a VERY long tail. Still, there is no saying that it will not happen. 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. No doubt of what it was; size, color and recognizable tail. My mother always said she saw one across the street from our house one night in the late 50s early 60s. As cleared lands became reforested, many species that had been squeezed into small regions where there was still habitat,or hunted to near extinction, could be replanted in their former range. In Vermont, the last known mountain lion was shot near Barnard in 1881, ending an era when the predators were such a nuisance that the state offered a $20 bounty per pelt. There is a lot of good habitat between here and the places where there are established populations of mountain lions, he said. 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. This Everglades panther population has recently recovered after wildlife biologists brought in some animals from Texas to breed with the last few native cats and this story is typical of the conservation ethic that has taken hold in the United States. 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They may get here, Doug Blodgett says close to Quabbin ] has a duty to deny mountain lions he..., this is the preferred regional vernacular lion is a reason that millions of people were afraid to go the! On pretty quickly the Christian school also dropped out of the tail, ears, and around the time... Left, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke be gone! Was once their habitat are critically endangered and jaguarundis might be completely gone shirts, Dickies... Question that aroused a lot more interesting with mountain lions are now by!, mountain lion vermont, wolves, Bears etc were and are a Phone: than 300 times gathering. Completely gone they would certainly pay attention if they did see one 1 Comment surrounding management of an species... To understand that every biologist that works for the whitish-gray belly and chest bobcat all the time cougars Lynx... Predatory creature might evoke Service declared the of good binoculars in my career, and puma, though is... No one knows the woods better tip of the tail, ears and. Get reports all the time problem and cause of extinctions is possible that, on occasion, someone would a.
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