In my mind, I went through all the nots. They have a right to exist here and they contribute to healthier prey species. He didn't want to dispute what people are saying they saw, he simply says they need proof to substantiate it. To date, Keeping Track has helped conserve 40,000 acres in 12 states and inQuebec. If seen bobcats and moose and coyotes and coy dogs ! A deer is a wild animal and it is always a pleasure to see oneunless it is in the high beams, at night. Apex predators like the cougar and wolf make for a healthier ecosystem. Instead, the responsne I heard were nonchalant, Oh, yes, lots of people have seen that mountain lion around here; pretty isnt it?. 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. I was agnostic, I suppose, on these stories which the state wildlife biologists inevitably found impossible to substantiate and, often, easy to disprove. The Christian school also dropped out of the state . Defenders of Wildlife developed funding to support wolf predation on cattle which I believe worked. This was after the department sent him out west to study the behavior of mountain lions. It may not surprise you to learn that I was quite intrigued by this third group. It jumped 28 feet across the road. That was plain, right away. my father was recently trout fishing in central Mass. I got the glasses to my eyes and focused on the animal. Id need proof if I wanted people to believe me. There was no denying that the carcass, which was examined by experts, was that of a mountain lion. 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.. 8 Arlington (9-10) and No. 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. Ive attended talks with Sue Morse. Jason. [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. 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. You cant mistake the long tail. 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. If the mountain lion is a certified killer of sheep and, sometimes, cattle, it has also occasionally attacked humans. 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. One day I most certainly watched him/her being chased up and down our chain link fence by a neighbors large dog who was barking insanely and couldnt quite catch the cougar, who finally made it away from the fence to escape the determined dog whod had him trapped up against it. 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. Lacked, almost any tail at all, for that matter. And, if those people who said they were seeing catamounts were wrong, and not just making it up, then what were they seeing? Wildlife management programs succeeded in reintroducing species to areas where they had not been seen for years. 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. 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. If you dont think cougars are coming to the East, think again, she said, leaning forward for emphasis. 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. 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. 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. Harrigan nodded. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Success stories being more fun to talk about than the other kind. I also had the vague notion that when it comes to cougars, people tend to sort themselves into one of three camps. Now that USFW has declared them extinct, why not formally reintroduce them. The combined scoring differential in those matchups was 158-77. Theres probably 100 in Connecticut, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke. Perfect conditions, then, for thinking you saw something. Winds ESE at 10 to 20 mph. No way to proveor disproveit. This was, after all, a long, long way from the nearest known population of mountain lions and virtually the heart of the suburban East. Bennington, VT (05201) Today. With the price off its head, the lion gained new stature, and in July 1965 . Our county. The cougar and the states refusal to admit it was here made the local paper. Green Mountain Lion Corporation, Inc. Business Consulting and Services Williston, Vermont 5,563 followers Boutique management recruiting firm focusing on heavy equipment manufacturing & distribution. 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! In the states where there are robust mountain lion populations, they are a threat to livestock, pets and, occasionally, humans. Phone: +1 802 448 8250. People could have been looking at a catamount that was not, in fact, a wild animal. 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. Spring Loaded to See Something It was a bright sunny summer day. As pets or for exhibit. Thank you; Blog. The real reason that they wont admit that a breeding population exists, is that listing a population of endangered species would wreak ECONOMIC havoc in a number of arenas, mostly logging/forestry. I have pictures of tracks around my car and up to the back steps of my deck in Arkville, NY . We witnessed a mountain lion stalking a herd of deer. It does NOT surprise me, you would have seen a wild, free-roaming, native 'eastern' cougar, aka puma, mountain lion in Vermont. Low 24F. He never found the evidence. 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. Refuge volunteer Dale Erz originally. Within six weeks, he continued, I was getting off the plane in Jackson Hole for a national mountain lion conference. Because they are.. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. Email: info@grnvt.com. The tail, I said. I saw an adult cougar/catamount twice within a two week period. 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. Chance of snow 90%. Lizzie Post Would Like Your Attention. We have a lot of them here in N CA. 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, for instance, a few dozen wild turkeys from Pennsylvania were released in 1969 and multiplied into the thousands we have here now. You could have 50. I wondered why he didnt just stop & cuff that pesky dog up side of his head surely he couldve held his own, tho they were about the same size. Probably are lions in western NC, too. It has nothing to do with trophy hunting, public safety, etc. 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 wished it were a camera with a long lens to document the sighting. In fact, jaguars used to be native to south Texas, as well! And, he says, if they were here, wouldnt one have been killed on one of the states highways where cars and trucks travel some 9 million miles every year? Its OK, he told me. She said it was long and thick. 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. Can they really all be cases of false identification? Predator removal was steady and unforgiving from the early 1800s . I do this shit.. Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings. These were old growth woods and the canopy had kept the ground cover down, so I could see three or four hundred yards ahead of me but not clearly, because of the gloom. We need [an apex] predator back on the land, Sue Morse told me. 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. The light was failing and I was on my way out of the woods. 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 only saw the back side, but he was huge. They are there and thriving!!!! Having retired from a career at General Dynamics, he devotes many of his waking hours to cougar research, a passion hes cultivated for nearly twodecades. The last catamount killed in Vermont was shot in 1881. 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. (The cat I saw when I was a young boy was on the Gulf Coast.). My daughter said to me thats the biggest cat Ive ever seen.