mountain lion in ct 2020

Its definitely a problem thats only going to get worse. Unlike male cougars, the femaleslike this Montana cat with her cubdont tend to strike out for new territory, which makes it unlikely that a breeding population would establish itself far from the cougars current habitatsbut not impossible. I have not had the pleasure of seeing one, but have heard credible reports of them in Western Mass. I started to get nervous so I was scanning the area low and high in the trees. 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). Because he lives among them, Harrigan understands that no one knows the woods better. The mountain lion occurs throughout the Western Hemisphere and has one of the most extensive ranges of any land mammal, from the southern tip of Argentina in South America to northern British Columbia in North America. It used to be that a bear would go into a house when someone wasnt home. Hear the full interview: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators, Connecticut Dept. Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. In New Canaan, residents reported seeing mountain lions in 2016 and in 2018. And even the home entries are kind of changing. She was calling from a trail in Pootatuck State Forest, the 1,200-acre strip of nature occupying the hills above Squantz Pond in New Fairfield. It was a flooded area. And Im assuming whatever were doing right now, its not working. Whenever I drive up and through my home state of Vermont, I look into the hills that surround me that have no sign of development for miles and miles. Mountain Lion Sightings in CT Was the animal a pet set free? Mountain lions are nocturnal hunters, mostly going after deer. DEEP believes their numbers have increased in recent years. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. 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. There are an estimated 3,000 - 7,000 Mountain lions in Colorado. But that was OK. Bo Ottmann knew they were out there. Within six weeks, he continued, I was getting off the plane in Jackson Hole for a national mountain lion conference. Then in June 2011, there were reports of a mountain lion in Greenwich and, for the first time, a photo. My daughter said to me thats the biggest cat Ive ever seen. A few years later, though, the scat was retested with DNA analysis and found to be canid, rather than feline, in origin. 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? Box 1896 Sacramento, CA 95812 916-442-2666 info@mountainlion.org. 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. We need cougars and we need wolves back in the Northeast, because a landscape of fear is a well-balanced landscape.. Theyre here. . 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 !! Indeed, one of her steadiest sources of funding for Keeping Track is a presentation on cougars that has been known to draw more than 500 audience members. Still, sightings are common. If theres a middle ground in the cougar debate, it belongs to John Harrigan, a veteran outdoorsman, newspaper reporter, and widely read syndicated columnist. Its definitely a problem thats only going to get worse. A harvest is kind of twofold. Length of body. It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. Beautiful creature. 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. Im confident that we get occasional outlier animals.. We need [an apex] predator back on the land, Sue Morse told me. Zillow has 20 photos of this $299,000 3 beds, 2 baths, -- sqft single family home located at 2439 Adams Farm Ct, Snow Camp, NC 27349 built in 1999. Today marks the date of our inception. For anyone stuck with using Mountain Lion, I can recommend without hesitation Waterfox Classic web browser. An attack is verified only when a physician, law enforcement officer or CDFW personnel determine the injuries were caused by a . In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. We have people eating dinner in their kitchen, they hear a noise, all of a sudden a bear walks in, so they run into their bedroom to get away from the bear, while the bears out ransacking their refrigerator. Eastern cougars (mountain lions) do not have a native, self sustaining population in New York State. The tavern was quiet except for some hard-rock music playing on the radio, the murmur of a handful of men at the bar, and us. When a group of officers arrived at a neighborhood in Loveland, Colorado . Young pumas dispersing from Western habitats are being killed at the source, compromising the Easts critical opportunity for ecosystem health and the return of an apex carnivore., Regardless of where they are found, or whether people want to hunt or protect them, people are enchanted by mountain lions. . 5-7 yards from me. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. Of course no dash cam or accessible phone camera at the time! In Florida, where mountain lions are known as panthers, dozens are killed each year by cars. "There's no evidence of breeding pairs," he said. However, the population declined in the early 1900's due to unregulated hunting and bounties were placed on mountain lions until 1966. Several years ago, I saw what was definitely a cougar walking along a street. There was no mistake. In the first, there are those such as myself, whove maybe heard a few second- or third- or fourth-hand stories as well as official denials from state agencies or professional biologists, and therefore find themselves betwixt and between, neither believing nor disbelieving. In 2011, genetic testing confirmed that a mountain lion originated in South Dakota and traveled more than 1,500 miles before being struck by a car on the Merritt Parkway, according to Reuters. We hadnt seen a cougar, nor any evidence to suggest a cougar had traveled these woods recently. ), or someones coworkers mother had seen one from the back porch of a summer camp back in 07 or maybe 08, and shed tried to get a picture but this was before she got her first iPhone, and by the time shed retrieved her camera from the living room, the cat was long gone. However, many of their claimsespecially Mr. Bettys contention of roughly a dozen personal sightings in New Englandare hard to take seriously. However, the National Wildlife Federation notes that the mountain lions range spreads all across the Americas, from the Canadian Yukon to The Strait of Magellan, making it the greatest range of any living mammal in the Americas.. The Department of Environmental . Humans and wildlife MUST learn to live along side each other and we MUST learn to respect nature. And its not just Vermont. According to the Connecticut DEEP, the bobcat is the only wild cat found in Connecticut. My heart was saying, Maybe this is it,. We think theyre coming in from Canada, Betty told me. So all the other states in the Northeast that have bear populations have a harvest on their bears. Got a question or comment? There was a tin of American Spirit tobacco on the table (Ottmanns), a laptop (Bettys), a notebook (mine), and a tumbler of Bacardi and Coke (Ottmanns again). They were also reluctant to certify that turkey and moose had returned the Quabin reservoir lands for many years after locals reported seeing them. 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. Connecticut For a solid four seconds, Marchibroda watched as a large, sleek cat standing about three feet tall with a long, curled tail crossed Skyline Drive near Gavel Springs Gap less than 100 feet in front of them. The journey is chronicled in the 2016 book, Abbott, of the Housatonic Valley Association, is equally skeptical of the vast majority of mountain lion sightings. Hey, I know what I saw. It was a 140-pound male mountain lion, the first confirmed in Connecticut in more than 100 years. Weve had coyotes misidentified. It had rained previously. But what about the sightings in Connecticut that are made by experienced outdoorsmen and women, people who know the difference between bobcats and mountain lions? Our Mission. The mountain lion is also known as cougar, panther, or puma. However, the captive lion theory was also wrong. And he said, This is where the mountain lion crossed. We walked in and there were fresh bobcat tracks in there. There have been several sightings of mountain lions in New Hampshire recently. They certainly have, you know, lower levels of conflicts and home entries than we do here in Connecticut. At least once a year thered be a story from somewhere, but I only ran the absolute best, he told me. The cat is dead. Its OK, he told me. As they watched in amazement, the cat casually moved off and disappeared into the surrounding woods. 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. What would motivate DEEP officials to do this isnt clear. listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information. Somebody in the NC Legislature believes, because lions are now protected by law. The photos were time-stamped December 7, 2020. But it also sort of instills that fear, a healthy fear of humans and bears. The restrictions/regulations surrounding management of an endangered species is incredibly cumbersome, and would be difficult to manage. Residents of Greenwich, Conn., have reported seeing a mountain lion roaming the woods -- even though the species is extinct in the region, MyFoxNY.com reports. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. She IS, perhaps, the most knowledgeable and experienced person in this arena and I listened intently to her presentation (Richmond, VT 2018). They have a right to exist here and they contribute to healthier prey species. Yes, of course they are here, transients. Adult mountain lions can be 7-8 feet long, including their tails. I always hold out the possibility of a sighting to be genuine, but at the same time, over decades of experience, we know that the vast majority are misidentifications and a small number are actually hoaxes, he says. There are no breeding cougars in New England and we do not need any. Black panthers, which are not found in the U.S., are actually black jaguars or leopards. . Thats only a fraction of the supposed sightings. And follow us on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag. Experts need to see the body to dismiss their prejudices. We also had bobcats that we saw quite often but I am positive that these were mountain lions! 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