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. Especially among those who did believe. 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. 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). 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). I knew it had to have been from a mountain lion Ive seen bobcats and their tracks and from the size of the deer carcass Im convinced there are mountain lions amongst us in Massachusetts! 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. As pets or for exhibit. The mountain lion can weigh upwards of 200 pounds and it can move like well, like a cat. Blodgett and I were returning from a day spent looking forand finding timber rattlesnakes, a species that is endangered in Vermont. But there was not enough evidence to either prove or disprove that a mountain lion had done the killing. He worked, in Wyoming and Arizona, with other professionals, some with government agencies, like the one he works for, and others who were hunters and trappers, often employed by ranchers who had lost stock to mountain lions. They may get here, Doug Blodgett said to me one afternoon. It was fast as hell but there was no mistaking its not only long,but THICK tail as it disappeared into the woods. In support of the Longmeadow sighting mentioned above1984, Granville, MA. She said it was long and thick. Even though the experts say there arent any mountain lions in CT, there are. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. 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. In the few seconds that this took, I had convinced myself that I was looking at a mountain lion. I saw one about 10 years ago, on our road. One summer I saw what I assumed was the same cougar several different times in my neighborhood which was near a long strip of woods along I 91 and used to be a large open field across the road from our home. I wasnt the only one to see the big cat. The light was failing and I was on my way out of the woods. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. 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. 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. 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. 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. How did I know? It is healthy to have respect and caution, but fear shouldnt drive ecological decision making. Neither resemble a cougar! Theres probably 100 in Connecticut, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke. 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). But examination of the carcass raised suspicions. Sue Morse, a professional animal tracker, believes that means cougars will, eventually, return to Vermont. His mention of these encounters was so matter-of-fact that I found myself nodding along. Several years ago, I was bicycling with a buddy up Quabbin Reservoirs Administration Rd. But my eyes picked up something and I knew, right away, that it was alive. Some with cameras. In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. These things happen suddenly and they are over quickly. In fact, jaguars used to be native to south Texas, as well! Escapes by these animals were not impossible. Anticipating, perhaps, a moment like this. Our county. Regarding a breeding population that is the unknown. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. Wildlife is unpredictable (and several people go missing in wild areas, parks especially, every year -Probably not because of alien abduction). 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. Saw one on old mountain rd Peterborough N.H. a few years ago on my property followed it and ran to get my camera have a photo but in distance by time got it was amazing animal t Metcalf. Morse has been tracking cougars for 45 years, mostly in the mountains of the West, where their existence is not in doubt. 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. He didn't want to dispute what people are saying they saw, he simply says they need proof to substantiate it. However, many of their claimsespecially Mr. Bettys contention of roughly a dozen personal sightings in New Englandare hard to take seriously. The last catamount killed in Vermont stands under glass just inside the doors to the Vermont Historical Museum in Montpelier, a hop, skip, and a jump down the block from the statehouse. Also moose. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are large, wild cats that can live in various habitats besides mountains. 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. Before I departed the Old Well Tavern, Bo Ottmann offered to lead me on a walk into an adjacent stretch of woods, where, he assured me, cougars might be found. The animal was shot in the town of Barnard on Thanksgiving Day 1881 by a man named Alexander Crowell. Low 24F. As land was cleared for farming and the cats prey species declined in number, it went after livestock. I live in Vermont and have seen, in broad daylight, a mountain lion (catamount, cougar, puma). My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. And, if those people who said they were seeing catamounts were wrong, and not just making it up, then what were they seeing? 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. Around 7:10 pm this evening August 02, 2022 my wife entered our Oakwood Farm business off 6 Weed Road in Essex Center with headlights on. Nostalgia for the Wild If the mountain lion is a certified killer of sheep and, sometimes, cattle, it has also occasionally attacked humans. Fish and Wildlife Service unofficially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. What time of day was it? 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. I think I may have pissed her off since I was up in that area X2 this week. Ive heard some biologists say it is not a distinct subspecies. 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. Spatz and Sue dont want to go where were going.. 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. It can run 50 miles an hour and clear a twelve-foot fence. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. I was driving to work in Greenfield heading south on 10 and had just taken a right hand turn at the junction when the big cat crossed the road in front of me. It fled when I resumed my walk down the logging road and on to my truck. Inslerman said the DEC received about a half-dozen calls reporting sightings of mountain lions last year; two calls this week. Yes, of course they are here, transients. So if coyotes could return and establish robust populations, why not a few catamounts? I moved very carefully to get my hand in my pocket and my fingers around the glasses. There was never, of course, a photograph. It is hard for me to believe that the big cats havent found plenty of space to roam without regular detection. As they watched in amazement, the cat casually moved off and disappeared into the surrounding woods. It was a striking animal, certainly, but it was no mountain lion. And there have been fatal attacks. As I looked at my daughter and then turned to follow the direction she was looking, I saw the animal in my side mirror. Instead, the responsne I heard were nonchalant, Oh, yes, lots of people have seen that mountain lion around here; pretty isnt it?. 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 Vermont, in the late 19th century, this meant, especially, sheep. You could have 50. I saw on three occasions in about the same location a beautiful mtn lion with the long bushytail that curves at the end. [Betty] and the other guys dont do this shit. Wildlife biologists, as professional scientists, require a higher level of documentation and proof. near Greenfield with an experienced guide that hed worked with several times. It does NOT surprise me, you would have seen a wild, free-roaming, native 'eastern' cougar, aka puma, mountain lion in Vermont. They were inevitably fleeting. Especially by one that he remembers involving a kill site.. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. And its not just Vermont. You need breeding pairs and theyd probably settle down long before they got here.. All with eyes to see and spring loaded to see something. 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. 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. Still, I wanted to believe those sightings were real. There are many officials in denial up here, but we know what we saw and there are too many sightings by the local folks to be ignored. Long Trail beat Arlington 62-40 on Feb. 7. And DNA analysis shows us that felis concolor is genetically the same across the USI think it is irrelevant, but interesting. There is no shortage of deer for all apex predators whether they are canine, feline, or human. 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. 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. In March of 1965, the Colorado legislature repealed the old mountain lion bounty of $50, which was first enacted in 1924. If theyre in one, theyre in the other.. 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. 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 . We witnessed a mountain lion stalking a herd of deer. Height. I started asking a lot of questions, and realized theres only one explanation for the answers I was getting: They are here., You could have 30 in Connecticut alone. Coyotes, for instance, found their way into Vermont with no help. Actually, Blodgett says, something of the opposite was true. And it was this curiosity that led me to the Old Well Tavern in Simsbury, Connecticut, at a time of day (11:30 a.m.) that does not normally find me ensconced in the dim confines of a drinking establishment. I saw one yesterday in Windsor Cty Vermont. Then, follow-up DNA researchmatching samples from the carcass with those from scat and hair collected in other locationsestablished that the animal had come to Connecticut from the Black Hills of North Dakota. At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. 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. 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 the late 20th century, the range of the catamount was confined to several western states and a small remnant population along the Gulf Coast that was eventually squeezed down into the Everglades/Big Cypress area of Florida and reduced to a couple of dozen animals of poor genetic quality due to inbreeding. It has nothing to do with trophy hunting, public safety, etc. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. And the clincher, What would you say was the most distinguishing feature? No doubt of what it was; size, color and recognizable tail. 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. This is always been a debate however as someone who is an avid Outdoorsman I can say with certainty I know of at least 12 people that have personal accounts of seeing mountain lion in Central and Western Massachusetts. 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. But some sightings were more promising and some seemed exceedingly so. This was, after all, a long, long way from the nearest known population of mountain lions and virtually the heart of the suburban East. According to official estimates, as many as 1,000 people own, in spite of legal prohibitions, captive animals. 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. I was deer hunting with my father, it was in the fall about 7 years ago, in Barre Ma towards the Templeton Ma lines. Raised them carefully to my eyes. 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. Bill and I are full-throttle. 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. They are most definitely here. When we reached tower, a ranger arrived in a pickup. my father was recently trout fishing in central Mass. Besides, Ottmann had revealed that hed been charged by a bear in this same piece of woods, and I felt conflicted about diverting my gaze from the underbrush. Videos - Industry Stories; Find Candidates; Bearded, bowler hat, expression impenetrable behind facial hair and the stoicism of an earlier era. And, according to people who swear they know what they saw the catamount. She IS, perhaps, the most knowledgeable and experienced person in this arena and I listened intently to her presentation (Richmond, VT 2018). If someone described seeing a black panther, for example, then you knew right away and you didnt need to do any more investigating.. Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont and convinced onlookers say the proof is in the pictures. 3 talking about this. The Mountain Lions won both regular season margins by 30-plus points. Then saw him a few more times from further away across the road and along the edge sometimes of the woods. But this requires a breeding pair. Ordinary, the lone males do not range much more than 100 miles. Its not my call. 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. 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. They are there and thriving!!!! 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