People often get very emotional about it, Hawley says. It was a 140-pound male mountain lion, the first confirmed in Connecticut in more than 100 years. 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. So let's let's go to the phones. And I think a lot of folks would like them to be around. People clearly arent lying when they say they saw a cougar; [the sighting] has a profound effect on them., Still, Spatz acknowledged that the word hope is very different from the word believe. So I don't understand really how how this this idea came to be but it is the main reason why folks believe that fishing game is is covering up the fact that there are mountain lions in the state again with no evidence. So that that's more or less I think why I'm here and why I got into this in nineteen ninety nine I found a what appeared to be a print of a mountain lion and that was in the Osprey mountains and I thought well OK that's that's a print. ; track sets or photos of track sets; other tangible physical evidence verified by qualified professionals.". Today, mountain lions are found in the mountainous regions of the West. Colorado and California have the highest estimated populations of mountain lions in the United States. And so. John thanks. A hiker fought off a mountain lion that ambushed him in a canyon in Utah by throwing rocks at it, wildlife officials say. 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. Is there a way we can learn more about these dispersing mountain lions that may travel through the Granite State and that I would ask you certainly part about whether or not a he's spending too much time chasing down these kind of false leads or B would rather be doing something else that is more informative to whether or not we actually have or can prove that we have dispersing mountain lions in the state. Fish and Game then deny the evidence. I would just suggest that in my experience as a reporter covering this covering this issue for a few years at least at what point do we reach a certain critical mass for lack of a better term of accounts where I'm not to suggest that you guys aren't taking this possibility seriously. 3 min read. 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. Yes and you want to share what you learned. 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. So so in 2011 a mountain lion was killed in a car accident in Connecticut a car hit a mountain lion and killed it. Really appreciate it. Like Tate, he gets a lot of photos and . 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. We strolled across the tavern parking lot and ducked into the forest, where Ottmann maintains a portion of his $15,000 worth of wildlife recording equipment (hes had no luck capturing a cougar on camera, though, despite more than a decade of trying). And today we're talking about the mysterious elusive mountain line with folks who know something about it. And I can recall its information but I can't confirm or verify anything. Here are few facts you should know about bats and a few myths to forget. 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. Two mountain lion encounters in his driveway. Thank you. I do this shit.. Nowhere in New England is the matter definitively settled. Peter Biello: Wow. For instance, a favorite food for deer is the seedlings of forest tree species. And the clincher, What would you say was the most distinguishing feature? It seems like nothing will kill them! Squam Lake: Home of mountain lions - Concord Monitor That's next time on one day. Have you seen one. This week, NatureWatch columnist Thom Smith answers questions about chipping sparrows, the connections between shadbush blooms and shad fish, and gives advice on how to attract butterflies to your yard. Peter Biello: Nice to be here. Sort of dropped onto the SD card of a camera he'd set up out in the wild. However if if and when it does happen it takes up a lot of resources looking at that situation and identifying what's going on because when you start out you don't know it's a hoax. Mountain lions also have tails that can grow up to 3 feet. The females disperse a shorter range and once they find a vacant home range they stay in that location and live there. But on the other side of that coin there is this sense that there have been so many sightings locally and you guys Patrick you might recall the name the Wyndham McCracken she kind of turned herself into a local authority off authorities the right word but she was very dedicated to this. All the latest news and updates of New England Mountain Lion Sighting Bulletin Board's Message Board. On the other side, there are those (as represented here by Bill Betty and Bo Ottmann, along with a number of others I spoke with) who say the overwhelming quantity of anecdotal evidence suggests otherwise. The tail leave is a giveaway but not everybody gets to see the tail. Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. I don't know if she still is. Patrick Tate: No downward pressure at all I think actually Sean turned up and we found the evidence there a number of people would finally say finally we can put this debate to bed. I wanted to get your thoughts on the mystique of the mountain lion start with you Rick. But you've done some reporting on this. On one side, there are those (as represented here by Sue Morse, Kim Royar, and Christopher Spatz, along with a number of others I spoke with) who contend that the lack of verifiable evidence is proof that the animals are not here. Rick van de Poll: Well a report that you know as John Harrigan up north has in co-ops County for about 15 years I kept track of reports and people would call me and tell me where they saw the mountain lion they thought they saw it and it varied right from you know downtown villages all the way to remote highlands of the North Country and and everywhere in between. Re(1): ANOTHER female disperser in addition to the one BELOW! Confirmed reports of mountain lions in Massachusetts So here in New Hampshire when a person turns in something that the Department believes is possible mountain lion and believes it should be investigated further. I could hear the steady rush of traffic on Route 315. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. The next week, on June 11, the cat was hit and killed by an SUV on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford. But if you do if you think you're looking at a wild Puma their tail is very thick and especially in the winter is very thick and ponderous looking. They were able to do all that by genetics. If mountain lions returned to Massachusetts, there is no need to update current forest management practices. Peter Biello: When did you allegedly see a mountain lion. MassWildlife has only confirmed 2 mountain lion reports in the last 30 years. 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. Weve got a growing bear population. I just stood there just a second and I came to a complete stop and then I ran away. Despite this fact, Massachusetts residents continue to report mountain lion sightings. Think you've seen a mountain lion. 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. It may not surprise you to learn that I was quite intrigued by this third group. And I have to use that word allegedly because there is so much dispute about what people see and what they actually see. Are there mountain lions in Massachusetts? | Mass.gov Pelosi story here we go. Rick van de Poll: Yes. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference. What's going on. Sam Evans-Brown: Well and I think and the last takeaway here is everyone I think probably agrees that any possible sightings that have been seen. It's good to talk to you. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. We will use this information to improve this page. Pat ruse and he was sampling doing DNA samples from cats in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. New England Mountain Lion Sighting Bulletin Board, Re(1): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct, Re(2): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct, Re(3): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct, Re(4): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct, Re(5): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct, didnt win the pwrball. When evidence is submitted, MassWildlife carefully reviews the evidence in its entirety and attempts to verify the report. And you know it's rather interesting because certainly there are those you as a case of mistaken identity or they wanted to see something that perhaps they actually didn't. I've actually had to walk in on one or two now and look at what was going on and figured out what was going on. McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? Both male and female lions have similar appearance, but male lions are 30 to 40 percent bigger than the females, according to the Mountain Lion Foundation. Please limit your input to 500 characters. Peter Biello: Mm hmm. When a cats around, its not hard to find evidence. Fish and Game looked into the labs to have them confirm the information in the reports which the labs did not. It was a favorite of Euell Gibbons and I thought it was natures remedy for coughs and colds. In 2011, the U.S. Peter Biello: What about the idea of tourism like us leaving aside the fact that it is not on the Endangered Species Act is it. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. Mountain lion sightings in New Hampshire have increased along with the bobcat population, said Tate. If you go on YouTube and search mount lion Pat you can see people patent their hundred pound kiddie like its regular mascot cat. Here's why reports are so tough to prove mass.gov/doc/mountain-lions-in-massachusetts-distinguishing-fiction-from-the-facts/download, There are 69 invasive plant species in Massachusetts. It is what wildlife biologists call an apex carnivore, which means it can overpower pretty much any other creature in its environmentwith the exception of an armed human. According to French's article: To date, the only other confirmed evidence of a wild Mountain Lion in Massachusetts was found on March 4, 2011, when Steve Ward, a DCR forester, photographed a trail in the snow crossing a frozen cove near the southwestern end of Quabbin Reservoir. Now, similar proof is what we need! People were calling the New Hampshire Fish and Game director's office saying why are you dragging your feet on this. Of course. Tim Yeah. Within six weeks, he continued, I was getting off the plane in Jackson Hole for a national mountain lion conference. Mountain lions weigh . SUE Morse naturalist and science director for the organization keeping track. And theres another school of thought, Well, no, there just are too many of them probably we have to reduce that population somehow. Where do you fall in that whole continuum? Carol Ann P., of Hinsdale, wrote, Thank you for the very informative article on invasive species! Top-requested sites to log in to services provided by the state. My wife and I saw a mountain lion. Author of The last woman in the forest on Saturday July 13th at 7 p.m. at Warner town hall Warner historical dawg. I wish I could see it again! 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? New Hampshire Fish and Game Department says there's no proof. Oh well, not much I can do about that., William B., of Pittsfield wrote, I learned something from your column about invasive species. Forty years of reporting on New Hampshire cougar sightings has convinced Harrigan that the state is home to at least a handful of breeding animals. Peter Biello: Rick I believe you did mention that that they do leave carcasses up in the tree from time to time but are there any other species known in New Hampshire to do this on a regular basis. but won big 2night. Thank you. Seal pup cuteness best observed from a distance, 70% ineligible in start of NH Medicaid unwinding. It's unfortunate that that kind of thing happens as often as it does. OK. Rick van de Poll: Rick and I would add that if a mountain lion male takes up residence and successfully finds a female as pets there's gonna be a lot more evidence there will be like deer carcasses up in trees and territorial marking and claw marks and tracks and it you know dispersal is gonna be very tough to see or observed but residential parrots a totally different story. The USDA's Forest Service Wildlife Genetics Laboratory found that the animal came from South Dakota. Patrick Tate: Yes. To learn more about "lion country" in Colorado check here. He soon developed a five-question litmus test: How far away were you? Peter Biello: This is NHK PR Good morning and HP are summer car raffle is back and now's the time to get your early bird tickets. Because he lives among them, Harrigan understands that no one knows the woods better. Open MF, 8 a.m.4 p.m. (closed noon12:30 for lunch). The young adult male was killed by an SUV on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford, Connecticut on June 11, 2011. These tracks may have been made by the mountain lion documented in Greenwich, Connecticut on June 5, 2011, and killed by a vehicle six days later. Give today. They sent it already. We'll be right back. 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. Something along those lines. They get a lot of media attention but compared to the the amount of times that a mountain lion could attack a person but doesn't because they don't typically view us as prey. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. You treat it as if it's a sincere situation. New England Mountain Lion Sighting Bulletin Board's Message Board Patrick Tate: While a juvenile not a juvenile I guess if you want nodes to the base of the tail for juvenile that wouldn't be small at all. Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. So I would put this in the category of sort of like shark attacks right. It's bigger but bigger and better world. New England Mountain Lion Sighting Bulletin Board's Message Board Seal pup cuteness best observed from a distance, 70% ineligible in start of NH Medicaid unwinding, We also hear excerpts from an interview with, Read about the most recent cougar "sightings". Caller: It had just left that field and was out. A .mass.gov website belongs to an official government organization in Massachusetts. So when we hear mountain lion there's also cougar there's wild cat there's Bobcat which is not a mountain lion maybe Patrick could you sort of spell out the different terms which are synonymous and which are completely different animals. While State Denies Mtn Lions are in NH, Numerous Sightings Say Otherwise. You know you have to have a license and it's hard to get that license a license to own a mountain lion. There was the vaguest of trails, crisscrossed by deadfalls and a sharp-thorned bush that soon drew blood from Ottmanns right hand. I noticed it had a really big sweeping tail that kind of curled up behind it and all but still at that point because everyone says there's no mountain lions here. MassWildlife cannot investigate or confirm mountain lion reports without any evidence. Mountain lions remain an enigmatic animal for residents of New Hampshire, with New Hampshire Fish and Game reporting three to five sightings per week. 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? So when we talk about the threshold of evidence required to say for sure you have seen a mountain lion it is rather high. Residents from Bedford to Berlin have been reporting sightings for years. Japanese knotweed and phragmites are the bane of my existence on our road. Im not an expert on human psychology, but if youre looking for something, you have a greater chance of actually seeing it. I couldnt tell you how happy I would be if mountain lions were actually recolonizing the state of Connecticut, Hawley says, but its just not happening., Hawley spoke about bobcats, mountain lions and bears on The Colin McEnroe Show: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators.. Today on the exchange we discuss what residents may have been seeing and what breeding mountain lion pairs would mean for our ecosystem. Were there any differences between these two that we could have noticed right off. 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. M from Tree Hill author series presenting Diane lay back. I pull it up but may not have done so soon enough. It was not a bobcat. Sam Evans-Brown: You know the North America had a number of large predator species when humans first arrived in the continent. The views expressed in this program are those of the individuals and not those of an HP are its board of trustees or its underwriters. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Further, it is already illegal to kill a mountain lion in Massachusetts. So what a neat experience. Over a period of a year and a half, this mountain lion left DNA evidence in at least four states. It is a low, sprawling plant with small 1.4-inch scarlet flowers. Well just that I have evidence and it was not it was denied by fishing game at the time and I you know there's I don't need to prove to anybody that I saw one just like some of your callers said okay. Pat do they typically just move around a lot. Yeah 13 to 15 years ago 13 to 15 years ago. A couple of summers ago I found it in our yard and was happy to see it by cultivating it into a small patch. The deadline for fuel assistance applications is Sunday, but most state emergency funds are still unspent. Email exchange it an HP fraud org or give us a call 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. Peter Biello: So a little bit of nostalgia maybe for it for a better world embodied in the mountain lion. Tracking experts Paul Rezendes, Charles Worsham, George Leoniak, and Dr. Mark Elbroch examined the photos. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. There have been several sightings of mountain lions in New Hampshire recently. Mountain Lions | Wildlife | New Hampshire Fish and Game Department I live pretty much on the town line of Greenfield just a couple of miles down in the Greenfield. Here are some things to keep in mind if you come Multiple mountain lion sightings have been reported in . An official website of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, This page, Are there mountain lions in Massachusetts?, is. Jason Hawley says his office gets lots of calls about mountain lions each year. It was a flooded area. 172. Here's where sightings have occurred since. 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). Here it is. Cougar truthers are certain that the big cat is living and breeding again in New England. Patrick Tate: So I'm not sure what subspecies of cat they're using to differentiate by those markings but once she was describing the White other face in the black. Rick shaking his head so Rick now correct me please. Thom Smith answers readers' questions about mourning dove sounds, when bird feeders can be put out again and where bats go during the colder months. It lowers the population in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population. 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. Well within there. You've got you've got biologists right who are trying to make their make their way in the world make a career if you are the biologists who confirmed a sighting of mountain lions in the state that would be very good for you like you would be all over the news. What do you think that. Known to exist in the state for over well over a hundred years. Sam Evans-Brown: What he would have stopped as well I think is way way that the reason that mountain lion kept moving is because he wasn't finding anybody. Today she talked with us a little bit before the show about why the mountain line is so compelling and why we want it to be part of our world. Peter Biello: There have been several alleged sightings of mountain lions in New Hampshire recently. Im gonna get hammered for it, he sighed. Caller: Yeah I hadn't experienced blastoff fall so this was around September and I was driving from Webster into Concord on Horse Hill Road and anybody in the area would know I was right near the Red Barn and all of a sudden this animal jumps out of the woods and it bounded across the road in about two two giant leaps and stopped in the field just on the other side. As a carnivore biologist, Hawley says he would love it if mountain lions were here. Thanks for a great thanks. Now again I don't know that there's anything to that. And there's there's no evidence of that cat's movement in that entire you know 12 hundred miles stretch of its journey. There are no mountain lions in Connecticut, so why do we keep seeing them? How far were you from this cat. And that the Florida panther was more closely related to the eastern outline than the western mountain lion was. Does not test random Scouts. Learn more about the two confirmed reports of mountain lions in Massachusetts atmass.gov/dfw/mt-lions. Patrick Tate: So the individuals can say that but for an agency that's based on science and what not to to go off with no evidence and then get into that giant debate and all these other issues and put credibility at risk I don't think that would be a great path to take. He can be reached by phone at 860-275-7297 or by email: [email protected]. On a dirt road. ghost, Re(2): didnt win the pwrball. I mean that so many of them are false sightings we. Patrick Tate: Exactly I was gonna bring that up juvenile male of. 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. Patrick Tate: I would say well when social media first started they picked up the hoaxes became much more prevalent in the last four or five years hoaxes have died down completely. Caller: And the more I thought about it the color of it it was definitely not a bobcat. But I do think that it's appropriate that a fishing game agency would recognize verifiable proof if they could. Betty folded his arms across his chest, where they rose and fell and rose again with his breathing.