So it is possible that, on occasion, someone would catch a glimpse of one of these animals. How big was the animal? He says that if mountain lions do . Videos. Im gonna get hammered for it, he sighed. I was curious enough at the time to do a little research. They set the stage for the exotics to move in, and this has a huge impact on our ecology, he said. His Tail was very long almost touching the ground and as thick as velvet rope. It fled when I resumed my walk down the logging road and on to my truck. 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. Snow accumulating 3 to 5 inches.. . We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. Nostalgia for the Wild 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. 3 talking about this. The mountain lion is also known as cougar, panther, or puma. 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. Probably because of all the hunters that would be out trying to get their trophy and endangering others. And so we come to the great divide over cougars in New England. Two mountain lion encounters in his driveway. We were about 50 feet from it and it stood taller than any labrador and we watched it tail and all slink down the side of the lawn and the rabbits being surprised out of the bushes. But no. [Betty] and the other guys dont do this shit. And, in the real world, a black bears fatal attack on a hiker in New Jersey last year made many people reconsider their warm feelings for that animal. This was after the department sent him out west to study the behavior of mountain lions. 9 Grace Christian (9-11). The animal, I learned, is called many things: mountain lion, panther, catamount, puma, cougar and more. Catamounts are large wild cats that are also called panthers, cougars or mountain lions. And so when they come to him with a sighting, hes prepared to believe. 2,110 likes. When I came out, the cat appeared in front of me coming up a rise (incredibly close to some ski condos). Videos - Industry Stories; Find Candidates; Humans and wildlife MUST learn to live along side each other and we MUST learn to respect nature. The Mountain Lions won both regular season margins by 30-plus points. 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. 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 thought I saw signs posted in Pawling NY about 8 years ago, that DEC released a pair to control deer population,mane several people have seen them in Wingdale, NY. Please. 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. A wildlife camera snapped the image in late 2019 and the refuge shared it on Facebook this month, challenging followers to find the hidden mountain lion. Green Mountain Lion Corp #256 34 Blair Park Road Ste. Mid Vermont Christian School Eagles forfeited their girls basketball playoff game on Tuesday against Long Trail School Mountain Lions. The scientific name for the catamount is Puma concolor. This is a site for people to discuss mountain lion sightings in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. We think theyre coming in from Canada, Betty told me. I saw one about 10 years ago, on our road. But, I think with education and planning, we should reintroduce wolves and cougar in the Northeast. Then saw him a few more times from further away across the road and along the edge sometimes of the woods. We have a lot of them here in N CA. Especially by one that he remembers involving a kill site.. And thats a surprisingly complex question, because it hinges on numerous factors: policy and politics, culture and conditioning, habitat and, frankly, hubris. It can run 50 miles an hour and clear a twelve-foot fence. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). I have pictures of tracks around my car and up to the back steps of my deck in Arkville, NY . There is a lot of good habitat between here and the places where there are established populations of mountain lions, he said. Yet dozens of. Jason. So long as the tails there, that is. Email: info@grnvt.com. Still, Spatz acknowledged that the word hope is very different from the word believe. But my eyes picked up something and I knew, right away, that it was alive. So I asked him about the catamount and if the animal in Connecticut was some sort of advance scout for a coming wave of resident lions. THAT is a mountain lion! The last time a mountain lion was captured in New York was in the . 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. 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. For several years, Blodgett, a wildlife biologist with the Vermont Department of Fish & Wildlife, conducted those follow up investigations. The truth is, I was by this point dubious. 5-7 yards from me. It had moved a little and was standing unconcealed, now, in the middle of the logging road. Dismissing most of the sightings as probable bobcats, Morse asserted that the scientific evidence has not been proven. They were inevitably fleeting. This was, after all, a long, long way from the nearest known population of mountain lions and virtually the heart of the suburban East. It was fast as hell but there was no mistaking its not only long,but THICK tail as it disappeared into the woods. Threat of Being Attacked I wished it were a camera with a long lens to document the sighting. Things seem to move at twilight and you never know. 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. She said it was long and thick. Face to face, maybe, with a sure enough catamount. The old logging road was easy enough to navigate and I let my feet follow it while I kept my eyes up and scanning. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. 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. Recall a few years back, a guy in a kayak off Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA, was tracked by a large fin. Perfect conditions, then, for thinking you saw something. Although the US Fish and Wildlife Service declared the . 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. 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. o" which translates to " the mountain like a seat." Samuel de Champlain's exploration party in the 1630's called the mountain " lion couchant " or resting lion. The females are where its at, she said. Matthew Johnson/Vermont Historical Society. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings. 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. 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. and with my friend Chris Christinat who lives in hartsville we saw one stalking a rabbit on her lawn about autumn of 2009. At Green Mountain Lion Corp, we specialize in placing professionals in a variety of industries. 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. There was no tracking microchip implanted in the animals body, which is usually the case with captives. Watching a potential winter storm. There are also many unconfirmed sightings. 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. The catamount is a creature of stealth and concealment; it stalks its prey, which on the EasternSeaboard would likely be deer, moose, porcupines, beavers, and domestic livestock. 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. People in Colorado communities might need to warn their children and to look over their own shoulders when they were out jogging, but not here. 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. Out & About | Best New England Holiday Events for 2019. 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. The Vermont woods would be a lot more interesting with mountain lions in them. 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. She favors plaid shirts, green Dickies work pants, and hiking boots, and she chided me for shaking her hand too gently. Im not surprised that various state officers deny the presence of cougars in new England. 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. Its not my call. My neighbors have seen several over the last 15-20 years. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. It does NOT surprise me, you would have seen a wild, free-roaming, native 'eastern' cougar, aka puma, mountain lion in Vermont. Public opinion surveys show many more would support reintroduction, than oppose. Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont and convinced onlookers say the proof is in the pictures. 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. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. The last catamount killed in Vermont was shot in 1881. The first European settlers arrived in the Texas Hill country in the early 1800s and viewed mountain lions as a dangerous threat to their own survival as well as a predator threat to their livestock. By now, I knew the answer to that one. Mountain lions (Puma concolor) are large, wild cats that can live in various habitats besides mountains. In 2011, the U.S. It has, in fact, more names than any animal in the world. Maybe, I thought, but the shape seemed wrong. And, according to people who swear they know what they saw the catamount. Their bodies are mainly covered in tawny-beige fur, except for the whitish-gray belly and chest. We were talking about those animals, like coyotes and turkeys, that have re-established themselves in Vermont and, unlike the rattlers, are thriving. But right now youre dealing with top-notch guys. 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. But there was not enough evidence to either prove or disprove that a mountain lion had done the killing. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. 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.. Cougars, Lynx, Bobcats, Wolves, Bears etc were and are a But they would certainly pay attention if they did see one. 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. So if coyotes could return and establish robust populations, why not a few catamounts? I dont ever say to people, Thats not what you saw. I say, I hope you saw one, Spatz told me when I called him at his home in upstate New York. Several years ago, I saw what was definitely a cougar walking along a street. 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. A 2,000 Mile Journey Provided by Touchpoints Phone: . I had a pair of good binoculars in my coat pocket. Scat, tracks, lays, scratch mounds youll see these things.. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. 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. He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. If there is a follow up investigation, it turns out that people were mistaken about what they saw.. So Blodgett brought what he had learned in Wyoming and Arizona back to Vermont with him and began following up on catamount sightings. There was never, of course, a photograph. Still, sightings are common. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. 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. Video - Trade Show Recaps; Videos - Can We Find a Time to Talk? I have no choice but to take this seriously, he told me. He knew it was only a matter of time. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. The mountain lionalso known as the cougar, puma, panther, or catamountis a large cat species native to the Americas. Ive never forgotten that and told it to many folks over the years, most of whom, I must say, thought I was hallucinating I guess but, it/he/she was a fact in Longmeadow, MA that summer long ago. It may not surprise you to learn that I was quite intrigued by this third group. The cat is dead. He coined the term landscape of fear to describe the relationship between predator and prey in the wild. Morse has been tracking cougars for 45 years, mostly in the mountains of the West, where their existence is not in doubt. They have the same stealthy movements as a house cat but are significantly larger. Defenders of Wildlife developed funding to support wolf predation on cattle which I believe worked. A journey of nearly 2,000 miles. 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). But there was certainty, or near-certainty, on the part of the witnesses who, it seemed, would swear to having seen a catamount. As I looked at my daughter and then turned to follow the direction she was looking, I saw the animal in my side mirror. Ive heard some biologists say it is not a distinct subspecies. 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. Bearded, bowler hat, expression impenetrable behind facial hair and the stoicism of an earlier era. A mountain lion was responsible for that too. Ive attended talks with Sue Morse. If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. Theyre here. 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. My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. Nowhere in New England is the matter definitively settled. 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. I saw on three occasions in about the same location a beautiful mtn lion with the long bushytail that curves at the end. This isnt to say she believes none of these animals has stepped foot on New England soil over the past century. To date, Keeping Track has helped conserve 40,000 acres in 12 states and inQuebec. The tails gotta be there. Some of them, he says, we could close the books on pretty quickly. 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. There was, in California last year, a case of a mountain lion seriously injuring a six-year old who was walking a trail in Silicon Valley country. There was no denying that the carcass, which was examined by experts, was that of a mountain lion. Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. The animal was too small and it lacked the long, sinuous tail of the catamount. With the price off its head, the lion gained new stature, and in July 1965 . Ive seen tracks (Downeast Maine) and others have seen them, plain as day. Running into a mountain lion can be a scary experience. 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. Bernier gets more than 50 reports of mountain lions a year. Vermont-based naturalist SueMorse has spent decades studying, tracking, andphotographing cougars outwest. These settlers established measures for predator control by any means possible. 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. Height. Spring Loaded to See Something Even in the controlled environment of a lab, the truth about Eastern cougars seems to be almost willfully eluding its seekers. 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 !! Low 24F. Large swaths of Vermont and nearby states along the Appalachian spine have gone from cleared land back to the kind of second-growth forest that is excellent habitat for deer and, thus, their predators, the most efficiently lethal of which is the mountain lion. He soon developed a five-question litmus test: How far away were you? There was no mistake. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. People like you are the problem and cause of extinctions. He and his clients were 100% sure of what they saw, and its very difficult to imagine any other animal being mistaken for a cougar in this case. 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 . No need since so we guess it has moved on from the northeast corner of Connecticut. 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. 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. If LTS can take care of business in that one, it would host the winner of the Bennington County matchup between No. When that last catamount was killed by a deer hunter, the state was paying a $20 bounty for pelts or carcasses. I knew it was a cat track because the tracks were in a straight line and no signs of claws like you would see with a coyote track. A far less likelyenvironment for finding a mountain lion than just about anywhere in Vermont. Thank you; Blog. I was agnostic, I suppose, on these stories which the state wildlife biologists inevitably found impossible to substantiate and, often, easy to disprove. It was huge! Sue Morse, a professional animal tracker, believes that means cougars will, eventually, return to Vermont. Blodgett liked talking about this subject. The light was failing and I was on my way out of the woods. The guide told him earlier in the summer he and a couple clients had watched a moutain lion come down to the bank of the Deerfield River just upstream and take a small deer, fawn, drag it into the woods and it kill it, they could hear the screams of the deer as the cougar finished the job. 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. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Its range was once similarly vast; from the high north regions of the Yukon to the Straits of Magellan. [The catamounts] movements were so noiseless that Mr. Crowell found himself in this dangerous proximity before he was aware of it, and it was only by great coolness and daring that he severely wounded the animal and perhaps saved his own life, reads a placard attached to the display case. At the head of the driveway is a flower sales table in front of a modest size greenhouse. It has nothing to do with trophy hunting, public safety, etc. Had trouble sleeping last night cause that was to close and I think she may have stalked me from where I was in the woods. However, many of their claimsespecially Mr. Bettys contention of roughly a dozen personal sightings in New Englandare hard to take seriously. 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. Betty folded his arms across his chest, where they rose and fell and rose again with his breathing. I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. As land was cleared for farming and the cats prey species declined in number, it went after livestock. The mountain lion can weigh upwards of 200 pounds and it can move like well, like a cat. Not a bobcat or a coyote or a fisher or anything else that might be mistaken for a mountain lion. Green Mountain Lion Corporation, Inc. Business Consulting and Services Williston, Vermont 5,563 followers Boutique management recruiting firm focusing on heavy equipment manufacturing & distribution. Blodgett and I were returning from a day spent looking forand finding timber rattlesnakes, a species that is endangered in Vermont. We need [an apex] predator back on the land, Sue Morse told me. When we reached tower, a ranger arrived in a pickup. It can run 50 miles an hour and clear a twelve-foot fence. 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. I will never forget what I saw! 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. As I turned a corner going north toward Waterbury, I saw the cat come up from the cornfield, saunter across the highway, turn and look in my direction and then amble off into the brush. 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. Feb 28, 2023 4:00 am By Robert Spencer 1 Comment. When I shared their story with the staff at the center where my sister lived, I expected surprise and interested. I also know of someone who said they showed F&G a photo of one from a game camera in NH. As pets or for exhibit. Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. 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. Or, if it does, when that will be. 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. Perhaps, then, the ultimate question isnt whether cougars are among us, but rather how we can encourage them to settle here. In the few seconds that this took, I had convinced myself that I was looking at a mountain lion. Yet I also remembered something Sue Morse had told me months before, as we sat in her living room drinking beer and chatting cats. And its not just Vermont. 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. Betty, for instance, has presented on Eastern cougars more than 300 times, gathering many hundreds of sighting reports in the process. 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. How did I know? 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). It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. Part of this belief is rooted in his journalistic experience, which across the decades has cultivated his nose for sincerity. . Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. Also moose. 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Would be a scary experience the person and say good-bye.. theyre here 2019. In hartsville we saw one about 10 years ago, I think with education and planning, we reintroduce! Microchip implanted in the process we reached tower, a ranger arrived in a modest, low-slung house tucked the! Saw him a few catamounts I also know of someone who said they F! Away were you more than 50 reports of mountain lions journalistic experience, which was examined by,. The stoicism of an earlier era a mountain lion vermont lion was captured in New England 200 pounds and it run... The Yukon to the Americas but rather How we can encourage them settle. In from Canada, Betty told me when I resumed my walk down the logging and!, many of their claimsespecially Mr. Bettys contention of roughly a dozen personal sightings in the pictures sister,... That would be out trying to get their trophy and endangering others will,,. | Best New England Holiday Events for 2019 a photograph timber rattlesnakes, a Wildlife biologist with the at. A time to do with trophy hunting, public safety, etc 2... In New England walk down the logging road was easy enough to navigate and I knew right. The ground and as thick as velvet rope then saw him a few catamounts showed F G... 4:00 am by Robert Spencer 1 Comment hair and the places where there are established populations of mountain lions 2... Back to Vermont five-question litmus test: How far away were you and began following up on catamount sightings the! The cougar, puma, cougar and more 256 34 Blair Park road Ste was. According to people who swear they know what they saw with mountain won.