The tail, I said. Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. While other states have their Bigfoot and sea monster sightings, in Connecticut, and throughout much of the Northeast, we see mountain lions even when were told such sightings are unlikely, if not outright impossible. State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of those proposals has passed. on the regular. Still, sightings are common. Defenders of Wildlife developed funding to support wolf predation on cattle which I believe worked. Several years ago, I was bicycling with a buddy up Quabbin Reservoirs Administration Rd. Adult mountain lions can be 7-8 feet long, including their tails. 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? I have not had the pleasure of seeing one, but have heard credible reports of them in Western Mass. The arrival of a real mountain lion in the state reframed the discussion in Connecticut surrounding the animal. For helpful information on identifying mountain lion tracks and more, visit the Missouri Department of . The Damned Story: Eastern mountain lions, or pumas or cougars, were last officially seen in Connecticut near the end of the 19th century. Mountain Lions: Large tan cats with a distinctive two to three-foot curving tail, that can almost touch the ground as they walk. The recent social media posting of what was thought to be an image of a mountain lion in Prairie du Rocher brought skepticism . Beautiful creature. Ive attended talks with Sue Morse. But further inspection revealed it was a very large coyote. 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.. 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 !! Its documented through track surveys, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys. It was definitely a cougar. Typically, they will slink out of there as quickly as they can to get away from humans. Others have seen cougar in neighboring towns . Experts need to see the body to dismiss their prejudices. Mountain lions usually retract their claws when walking. 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? Wild Turkey Brood Survey Im not surprised that various state officers deny the presence of cougars in new England. They denied it until a cougar was hit as it tried to cross the very busy Merritt Parkway. I also had the vague notion that when it comes to cougars, people tend to sort themselves into one of three camps. and with my friend Chris Christinat who lives in hartsville we saw one stalking a rabbit on her lawn about autumn of 2009. Its not my call. Middlebury, Vermont | Could You Live Here? State wildlife experts say those big cats have been extinct in Connecticut. 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Ask people who spend time outside Connecticut cities and you will hear firsthand or secondhand accounts of mountain lions. On another large animal that is most definitely here: bears. 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 do this shit.. Joseph Uscinski, professor of political science at the University of Miami, and a conspiracy theory expert, says these types of theories are not uncommon. Wright, however, didnt agree with his mentor and began writing publicly about mountain lions in the East. Lizzie Post Would Like Your Attention. Its closest living relative is the cheetah. Neither resemble a cougar! We even had a sighting someone here at DEEP, in my office, was convinced they saw a mountain lion. These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. She said it was long and thick. His mentor, Aldo Leopold, a prominent wildlife biologist, also believed this, but felt if people learned about these populations, they would be hunted to extinction. Its definitely a problem thats only going to get worse. 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. He wore red suspenders and a baseball cap. Stephen Gencarella, professor of folklore studies at the University of Massachusetts and a Connecticut resident, says, The government coverup is only the latest version of something that could stretch back in the oral tradition to precolonial times. He notes that supposed mountain lion sightings spiked in the late 1800s and early 1900s shortly after the animals disappeared from New Englands woods. The history of this theory in Connecticut and New England goes back long before our current era of fake news. And its not just Vermont. In 1978, mountain lions were listed as a state threatened species. Mountain Lions: cougars, pumas, panthers and catamounts. The animal was shot in the town of Barnard on Thanksgiving Day 1881 by a man named Alexander Crowell. Despite frequent claims, there has only been one confirmed mountain lion sighting since the late 1800s here. 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. By, Corporate Support: Advertising & Sponsorship, Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators., Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators, 'Just weird': Rash of injuries hits women's college hoops, Alex Jones' lawyer avoids discipline over records release, Grieving family members plead for CT legislators to pass Aid in Dying bill, Milder winters mean Connecticut's ticks are now active all year long, You cant plow a puddle: How warmer winters are changing snowplowing, Connecticut COVID data: Your town's infection rate, hospitalizations & vaccinations, Long COVID researchers in CT to get part of $10 million in federal funding, New omicron subvariant fuels COVID surge throughout the Northeast, Connecticut GOP lawmakers counter with their own plan to reduce energy prices. There was no mistake. Diana Marchibroda and her miniature schnauzer froze in their tracks when the mountain lion stepped out of the woods last May. Bobcats: Whiskered face and are gray in the winter and tan in the summer, with black spots on their fur that are not always visible. McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? Speaker Bill Betty presented evidence and proposed theories that could prove that Connecticut, including , is home to a native population of Eastern mountain lions. Even so, Abbott has heard of mountain lion sightings from what he deems reliable sources and believes its possible that other animals have made the difficult, some say almost miraculous trek, from the West to Connecticut. Well, I KNOW there was at least one mountain lion in NE because years ago (maybe 35 or so) I lived in Longmeadow, MA. He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. 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. Mountain lions, however, arent seen much in the Nutmeg State, even though several have reportedly been spotted around the Woodbridge area this month. They certainly have, you know, lower levels of conflicts and home entries than we do here in Connecticut. It was a 140-pound male mountain lion, the first confirmed in Connecticut in more than 100 years. My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. He was previously a reporter for the Danbury News-Times and the Ridgefield Press. We clearly have migratory male cougars coming through. Weve done a lot of work over the years investigating sightings. 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. I was deer hunting with my father, it was in the fall about 7 years ago, in Barre Ma towards the Templeton Ma lines. Emaileditor@connecticutmag.com, or contact usonFacebook@connecticutmagazine orTwitter@connecticutmag. I came across a dead adult deer carcass high up in an oak tree. You wouldnt shake hands with a man like that, she said, and though she was smiling I could tell she was serious. Hawley: Yeah. It was a spotless cat she estimated at close to 100 pounds. Mountain lions weigh 105 to 140 pounds and can be up to eight feet long from the nose to the tip of the tail. 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. 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.. And theyre not going to find one, because the females don't disperse like that. I could hear the steady rush of traffic on Route 315. Bobcats and a possible mountain lion have been mentioned within the past few weeks. 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. This is part of the cougar business. "There's no evidence of breeding pairs," he said. We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. We get a lot of pictures sent to us, and people say, I took this picture of a mountain lion in my backyard. And Ill look at it, and to me, its clearly a bobcat, Hawley said. 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. 2439 Adams Farm Ct, Snow Camp, NC 27349 $299,000 MLS# 2479163 PRICE REDUCTION!! Wright, however, didnt agree with his mentor and began writing publicly about mountain lions in the East. 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. We know that the closest established breeding population is in either the Everglades of Florida theres a small population down there and then out in South Dakota and Nebraska. 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. Even in the controlled environment of a lab, the truth about Eastern cougars seems to be almost willfully eluding its seekers. October 12, 2020 10:47 pm ET. The mountain lion is believed to have had an encounter with a family on their lawn. 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. For mountain lions in Connecticut, a lack of evidence is very good evidence. 75-170 pounds. This is the second mountain lion sighting in North Texas in less than a month. Its not a bear, not a dog, not a deer, not a bobcat. McEnroe: It is an uphill challenge. My parents friend in Deposit, NY, posted a young catamount sitting on the front porch on Facebook. They usually either don't disperse at all or they'll kind of overlap their mother's home range, or they'll disperse very short distances.. But that was OK. Bo Ottmann, A Lobster Trap Menorah Shines in Gloucester, Massachusetts, Chips Off the Old Block | Knowledge & Wisdom, Yankee Candle | New England by the Numbers, First Christmas | Krissy OSheas Scandinavian-Inspired Holiday Cottage, The Sweet Life | Holiday Baking with Dorie Greenspan, 2019 Yankee Magazine Editors Choice Food Awards, In the Kitchen at Mayfair Farm | Weekends with Yankee. 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.. Box 1896 Sacramento, CA 95812 916-442-2666 info@mountainlion.org. A full-sized mountain line was photographed on the campus of the Brunswick School in Greenwich on Sunday, along with a matching paw print and a 9-inch lion dropping that seals the scientific deal. Over time, Wright became convinced Eastern cougars lived in small pockets in the deep woods. 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. Walking our dog in the woods, she had just seen a giant feline saunter across the path. Prior to becoming a reporter, he was the founding producer of Connecticut Public Radio's The Colin McEnroe Show, which began in 2009. Prior to becoming a reporter, he was the founding producer of Connecticut Public Radio's The Colin McEnroe Show, which began in 2009. Mr. Betty and Mr.Ottomans passion and efforts are impressive. 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. Could UConn women's basketball be back to 'square one' with seven available players at Seton Hall? For decades afterward, there were reported sightings of the mythical creature prowling the woods around town. Mountain Lion Update - May 8, 2020, by Sam Wilson, Furbearer and Carnivore Program Manager. 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.. Bill and I are full-throttle. And Im assuming whatever were doing right now, its not working. Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. Hawley: I feel strongly that we need a harvest here in Connecticut. So all the other states in the Northeast that have bear populations have a harvest on their bears. Weve got a growing bear population. Dismissing most of the sightings as probable bobcats, Morse asserted that the scientific evidence has not been proven. The department has said it receives reports every year of. 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. 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