Having been doing this since 1994, I have yet to have had a definitive, documented, indisputable, verifiable sighting of a mountain lion, Bernier said. It took a rest in the shade of our driveway for about ten minutes. Mountain Lions Living Mountain Lion Sightings in Vermont in Vermont? McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? Anyway, last week, May 2020, I was hiking in Eastern WA, Oroville WA to be exact. And if it is, it will be just a matter of time before someone gets a photo of it, he said. A rare Missouri mountain lion sighting was reported recently after one of the big cats was hit by a vehicle in Franklin County. PO Box 183 (Postal address) 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.. Johnny Lutz This indoor environmental education talk is geared to adults and children over 10. 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. Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. In June 1991 and again in July 1993, my wife Linda and I, visited Prof. Harold & wife Martene at their Maine Cottage overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where we had serious discussions on the WILD, NATIVE, FREE-ROAMING cougars-mountain lions and their ancestors who have inhabited the eastern U.S. for over the last 500 years. Like Tate, he gets a lot of photos and . I was driving yesterday (July 31st '13) around midnight on northbound I-89 about half way between Wight River Junction and Montpelier when a beautiful cat creature a size of a greyhound jumped from the midroad bushes and sped in front of my car across the road. Sign up below to receive the weekly newsletter, which also includes top trending stories and what all the locals are talking about! He drove me out to the spot. Please contact me at epuma@frontier.com or 304-749-7778. Fish and Wildlife Service unofficially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. Sincerely, John Lutz, 99 Beagle boots Lane, Maysville, WV 26833 or epuma@frontier.com, Hellomy husband and I were at our Vermont vacation home taking a furniture delivery. 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.. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. Because they are.. Fear is actually one of the most powerful ecological forces we know, and its a really important management tool., According to Laundre, the problems caused by a relatively fear-free ecosystem are not always obvious, in part because they can take decades to fully manifest. 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. So its this gathering storm. Recent reports of big cat sightings have captured the imagination of local residents eager to know what species of wild felines might be living in Waterbury. I can unsubscribe any time using the unsubscribe link at the end of all emails. In Vermont, it was 1881. This is a site for people to discuss mountain lion sightings in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. Look out for our newsletters with travel tips and special offers. 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. Though the infamous catamount has been declared extinct in Vermont since 2018, several people spotted big cats that they thought to be mountain lions on Ripley Road two weeks ago, according to posts on Front Porch Forum. John Lutz, 99 Beagle Boot Lane, Maysville, WV 26833, John Lutz (Eastern Puma Research Network, Maysville, WV). Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. It had rained previously. I thought it was a deer and slowed in case it ran in front of me. I saidholy cow, what is that? He said look at the tail, it is a mountain lion. I questioned if we even had them and quickly googled. We even enjoyed the pleasure of taking them out to dinner, then returning wiith them for a delightful 3 days with them, dicussing the big cats, while they vacationed at their Atlantic Oceanfront Cottage.. HHH was firmly convinced, wild cougars inhabited Vermont, as well as each of New Englands nothernmost states. And were one of the most densely populated states as far as humans. We watched the entire time. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. Bigger than my rottwieller/Lab cross. I am pretty sure that I saw a mountain lion yesterday around 9:00am just on my way out of Glover, Vermont heading to East Hardwick. This is a natural wildlife corridor coming down off of the Worcester Range headed over towards the Green Mountain Range. NH Fish & Game deny all reports but recently someone got a photo of one killed on the hwy before State Police told them to move on and "there's nothing here to see" as the carcass was being loaded into a Fish and Game truck. Help us document the biodiversity of the Green Mountain State. Very distinguishable nails marks in the snow. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. In some areas of the east, the absence of apex predators has led to a surplus of deer, which have then ravaged the understory and ground levels of vegetation. Because he lives among them, Harrigan understands that no one knows the woods better. 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. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. We all feel so blessed to have sighted them, and have no doubt we saw cougar. It was just before dark and it crossed in front of me probably 20 yards in front, it was tawny colored, mid tan like and had long legs and long tail and was trotting. Mountain Lions: cougars, pumas, panthers and catamounts. Big and Fast. But one day. 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. Put bluntly, Morse does not believe that New England is home to cougars. We need our apex carnivores in a big way, Morse says. Betty had driven up from his home in Rhode Island. All reports are the wee hours of the morning. I have seen a bobcat as I had one that hung around one of the places I lived-I believe he may have been hurt because he hung around for about a month which is uncharacteristic of them if I remember correctly, and I also believe he same one was hit by Harpoon Brewery in Windsor and boy do they clean up wild cats fast. I pulled over along Rt 30 to walk down to a swimming hole. 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. 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. However they put out a statement that IF there were to be a wild cat such as this it was illegal to shoot it. At first my husband thoughtwow huge dog and it turned its head and it was a cat. I started this blog for people to discuss mountain lion sightings and reports in the Green Mountain State of Vermont. The Grandfather of eastern Cougar Studies, began investigating big cat sightings in the 1940s. McEnroe: It is an uphill challenge. Tickets at the door will be $10 until sold out. The lion three feet away crouched down and screamed in my face, at that point i have never been so scared in my life i thought this is it i am a dead man. Eastern bobcat. 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. sunnyside village cohousing; federal halfway house rules and regulations; Owners. I was proud to acknowledge the fact, of being a CLOSE friend to both the Professor & his wife Martene. And the clincher, What would you say was the most distinguishing feature? There are also many unconfirmed sightings. And even the home entries are kind of changing. See more at:Here, Phone & Fax: In many cases, what people may think is a mountain lion is actually an Eastern bobcat, a species with a breeding population in Vermont. The cougar was so close I could smell it. Mountain Lions Not Just a Tall Tale in Adirondacks. We have a lot of bear traffic through here, and deer, Snow said. Its documented through track surveys, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys. Li mistaking that long swaying tail. I was with Barnaby and my 4 year old daughter in a place we jokingly call Cougar Canyon. Please email us at editor@staging.mountaintimes.info thank you!! After 20 minutes or so, we turned and stumbled our way back to the parking lot. Half the sightings have been of a black cougar, however, all CREDIBLE sources. Ive seen bobcats before, this wasnt a bobcat. And its a lose-lose situation, because theres really not a whole lot you can tell them in most cases thats going to change their mind.. It took the animal down, held the animal in its paws, laid on its side and kicked it /gutted it with its hind legs (I have seen my cat do this). 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. Despite frequent claims, there has only been one confirmed mountain lion sighting since the late 1800s here. Running into a mountain lion can be a scary experience. I think they never left, Ottmann piped in. Bernier gets more than 50 reports of mountain lions a year. It took me by fantastic surprise! About 70 feet from the table, appeared to be a very large cat standing . Bill and I are full-throttle. I have no doubt but that cougars have been spotted all over the East Coast. The dam is a protected area from hunting. 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? Waterbury Roundabout is an online news site launched in May 2020 as a volunteer effort in collaboration with the University of Vermont's Reporting and Documentary Storytelling program to cover local news in and around Waterbury, Vermont. Mountain lions are not likely to pass through Vermont, according to Fish & Wildlife biologist Chris Bernier. Anyway, I hope you see this message. I know what they look like and this silhouette was very much the same as that cat last summer. Massachusetts and several other New England states have bear hunting, or harvest, seasons, which proponents say help control populations. Weve got a growing bear population. http://www.unionleader.com/pda-articrespectful+way. I never say never to people who are calling with a sighting, he said. About a few miles from the covered bridge. If you have any pictures you can post them here too! I know it wasnt a Bob Cat, as I have seen them a few times in the wild, while hiking in the woods in southern Connecticut. Im gonna get hammered for it, he sighed. I never told anyone but family. Thank you for reading. He was very, very shook up. These are rare, single events, and in such cases, the cat will leave a prominent trail of evidence wherever they go: indisputable game camera photos, camera photos, scat, tracks, sightings, Bernier said. He ran right in front of me and I almost hit him. 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 other, a utility worker checking the meter on Ripley Road, claimed he saw two mountain lions when describing the encounter to Ripley Road resident Russell Snow. 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. State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of those proposals has passed. It could simply mean someone who had an illegal pet or captive animal released the cougar into the wild. Sill Editor. In 2011, a cougar was hit by a car and killed on a Connecticut highway. 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.. Ottmann and I walked farther. Glen Gunelic Vermont Mountain Lion Sightings. One time a found a perfect mt lion print in the soft silt by the bull run stream only 70 yards from my front door. dr bondra fremont, ohio obituary; is francis leo marcos related to ferdinand marcos 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. Fax: (802) 422-2395, Mailing address 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. Morse founded Keeping Track in the belief that getting citizens interested and engaged in wildlife will have the knock-on effect of getting them interested and engaged in how land-use decisions affect wild populationsand might provide the impetus for conservation efforts. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. Yet I also remembered something Sue Morse had told me months before, as we sat in her living room drinking beer and chatting cats. Or click the map itself. In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. "Several sightings have occurred at the site of a known animal crossing in the park." Besides reviewing the sighting reports, Linzey seeks other evidence of mountain lions. He can be reached by phone at 860-275-7297 or by email: pskahill@ctpublic.org. Two mountain lion encounters in his driveway. She favors plaid shirts, green Dickies work pants, and hiking boots, and she chided me for shaking her hand too gently. I am an analytical person and I would say regardless of what they think it is-it was clearly a large cat of some sort. E-mail it to epuma@frontier.com 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. The deer dont eat the exotics, but they eat the competitors. Just adding my two cents to the discussion. If its not, you just thank the person and say good-bye.. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Those are the two closest populations that we have here. So special. 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. At least once a year thered be a story from somewhere, but I only ran the absolute best, he told me. Back in 2002 I saw a full grown mountain lion in Dummerston Vermont on east/west road. The cat was huge and tail was at least 3 feet long and thick. I am here to tell you I was stalked by a mt lion in vt and was lucky to get away with my life. He also collects sighting reports on his blog, simply dubbed, "New Hampshire Mountain Lion." The blog still gets sightings, most recently on Aug. 3. Cat. Well when it turned its head and then got up and walked away I knew immediately what it was. John A. Lutz There was the vaguest of trails, crisscrossed by deadfalls and a sharp-thorned bush that soon drew blood from Ottmanns right hand. They were huge. Skip to content. It was on a hill beside the road looking across, when I looked at it better I saw the long tail and cat ears. You know, weve had so many home entries this year. Reported catamount sightings all over Vermont MyNBC5-WPTZ 16.6K subscribers Subscribe 15 Share 4.5K views 10 years ago Reported mountain lion sightings are popping up all over Vermont. I must have looked doubtfulwe were within spitting distance of a heavily traffickedroad 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. He waves me over and shows me an animal lying in our driveway. Was getting ready to let the dog out but I thought it was a big dog that was loose. Required fields are marked *. Back in the 60s a traveling zoo lost their black panther, and denied it. Cris Ericson 802-289-1000. 2023 Yankee publishing, Inc., An Employee-Owned company, all rights reserved. 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). We watched it for nearly 10mins trying to figure out what it was (not thinking for a second that it could possibly be a mountain lion). Yet dozens of. Interesting history. And its not just Vermont. 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? To find your loons, consult this interactive map of Common Loon sightings in the current year from Vermont eBird, a project of the Vermont Atlas of Life. 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. I want emails from Fodor's Travel with travel information and promotions. When seen in Florida, they are of approx. 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. It does NOT surprise me, you would have seen a wild, free-roaming, native eastern cougar, aka puma, mountain lion in Vermont. Wildlife do really crazy things, and you just never know.. He says that if mountain lions do . Both the front (left) and rear paws of this animal . We saw cougar a natural Wildlife corridor coming down off of the Worcester headed... 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