Mid Vermont Christian School Eagles forfeited their girls basketball playoff game on Tuesday against Long Trail School Mountain Lions. Experts need to see the body to dismiss their prejudices. You could have 50. 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. In the states where there are robust mountain lion populations, they are a threat to livestock, pets and, occasionally, humans. Last documented and killed in Vermont in 1881, the catamount, also known as a mountain lion or cougar, could be making its way back to the Green Mountain State. Whatever it was, it was standing motionless and, I thought, looking back at me as intently as I was staring at it. 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. Maybe, I thought, but the shape seemed wrong. It kills to eat but does not necessarily practice any sort of conservation ethic. It was huge! The restrictions/regulations surrounding management of an endangered species is incredibly cumbersome, and would be difficult to manage. Saw one on old mountain rd Peterborough N.H. a few years ago on my property followed it and ran to get my camera have a photo but in distance by time got it was amazing animal t Metcalf. They denied it until a cougar was hit as it tried to cross the very busy Merritt Parkway. 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. It has nothing to do with trophy hunting, public safety, etc. Nostalgia for the Wild There is a reason that millions of people were afraid to go in the water after they saw the movie Jaws. 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. I was tracking some deer tracks and I came to a promising deer run with a lot of deer scat on the ground when I noticed a cat track amongst the sign. So the initial assumption was that the animal was one of those captives that had either escaped or been released by its owner. 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. 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. A mountain lion was responsible for that too. It had moved a little and was standing unconcealed, now, in the middle of the logging road. Theyre here. Betty was quiet, and I wondered if even he, a man who does not doubt the presence of these cats in our midst and who himself claims multiple sightings, thought Ottmann was exaggerating. There was no denying that the carcass, which was examined by experts, was that of a mountain lion. Catamounts are large wild cats that are also called panthers, cougars or mountain lions. The 1881 death of this catamount officially marked the end of cougars in Vermont; however, the very last Eastern cougar is thought to be an animal that was killed in Somerset County, Maine, in 1938. 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. 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. Green Mountain Lion Corporation, Inc. Business Consulting and Services Williston, Vermont 5,563 followers Boutique management recruiting firm focusing on heavy equipment manufacturing & distribution. Betty had driven up from his home in Rhode Island. 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 they would certainly pay attention if they did see one. When I came out, the cat appeared in front of me coming up a rise (incredibly close to some ski condos). Of course no dash cam or accessible phone camera at the time! Id need proof if I wanted people to believe me. Well, theres no difference between Maine and New Brunswick, anyway, said Betty. They especially come down from the mountains when there is a big water shortgage. Then, a mountain lion was run over by an SUV on the outskirts of New Haven, Connecticut. on route to stone tower on Quabbin Hill. 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.. Bill and I are full-throttle. 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. He/she was UNMISTAKEABLY a mountain lion: stretched out straight, long tail straight out behind him, golden/beigey color, and smallish head, little ears. I saw a Mountain Lion in 2007 in Northfield, MA at the junctions of Rtes 10 and 63. The captive narrative also helped explain why there had been so many sightings reported, including some in Greenwich, among the richest and most domesticated suburbs in America. 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. Regarding a breeding population that is the unknown. These things happen suddenly and they are over quickly. The Christian school also dropped out of the state . I was agnostic, I suppose, on these stories which the state wildlife biologists inevitably found impossible to substantiate and, often, easy to disprove. 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. The Great Divide | Are There Mountain Lions in New England. But I dont think it will happen any time soon.. I have pictures of tracks around my car and up to the back steps of my deck in Arkville, NY . I had seen bear, deer, coyotes, foxes, that one bobcat all the usual suspects. Some of them, he says, we could close the books on pretty quickly. 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. Clearly, Puma concolor once inhabited the forests of the Northeast, although its difficult to say in what numbers. I had seen only one in my life and it was not in Vermont, where the mountain lion was officially extinct, the last one having been killed in 1881. So, traffic had been slowed from both ends for a good 3-5 minutes. If this habitat can support them, it should. Geoffrey Norman is a Dorset author and a frequent contributor to Stratton Magazine. 104 Williston, VT 05495. And the clincher, What would you say was the most distinguishing feature? Apex predators like the cougar and wolf make for a healthier ecosystem. In recent years, it has been expanding its range elsewhere; moving into mid-western states like Illinois and Missouri from its established range in the Rocky Mountain states and the Dakotas. Now that USFW has declared them extinct, why not formally reintroduce them. 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! Then saw him a few more times from further away across the road and along the edge sometimes of the woods. When I shared their story with the staff at the center where my sister lived, I expected surprise and interested. But there was certainty, or near-certainty, on the part of the witnesses who, it seemed, would swear to having seen a catamount. 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). 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. Obviously, this is the reason why the experts are loathe to admit that the species is here. Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. 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. No An official form of the United States government. The combined scoring differential in those matchups was 158-77. my husband tapped my leg and asked what is that crossing the road It was a Cougar tan in color long tail which had a slight curl upward .I wish I had my camera to prove it but I know We saw it. The police and everyone else just shook their heads but she to her dying breath said she saw a mountain lion in Lexington MA. 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). I saw a cougar in Wolfeboro NH crossing / running across 28 ; close call between myself and a car traveling in the opposite direction over 12 years ago . Ottmann and I walked farther. Theymay not be looking, specifically, for a catamount. I got the glasses to my eyes and focused on the animal. 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. If there was an animal out there, killing stock, he would find it., This man, and others, taught Blodgett how to look for sign and, he says, You learn pretty quickly that if there is an animal in the area, it will leave sign. Yet I also remembered something Sue Morse had told me months before, as we sat in her living room drinking beer and chatting cats. The one killed on the Connecticut highway was on a journey worthy of Odysseus so it isnt likely that there will be a thriving population of mountain lions in Fairfield County, raiding backyard cocktail parties, anytime soon. Several years ago, I was bicycling with a buddy up Quabbin Reservoirs Administration Rd. In 2011, the U.S. They were also seen at other times by members of my family and other people in the neighborhood. There were pine cones on window sills, a well-used hatchet and a variety of animal figurines on display, and, near the television, a stack of videos including Life of a Predator and The African Lion. I had been foraging up in an area that is rocky. And some people might decide to release them into the wild rather than keeping them in their possession. This guy was very intelligent, he had abandoned a professional career to pursue his dream of guiding. Low 24F. The last catamount killed in Vermont was shot in 1881. There was one photographed on a porch in Greenwich, CT, looking in the patio window that made national news a decade ago. Around 1830, the . Newspaperman John Harrigan has long covered the New England outdoors, including writing the New Hampshire Sunday News column Woods, Water & Wildlife which ran for almost 40 years. 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. Indeed! But right now youre dealing with top-notch guys. I had a clear look, through the glasses at a bobcat. My daughter said to me thats the biggest cat Ive ever seen. My own inclination, for the little it matters, is to side with the professionals like Blodgett. and with my friend Chris Christinat who lives in hartsville we saw one stalking a rabbit on her lawn about autumn of 2009. They are here & ..just a matter of time with photo or kill on a highway/road. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Americans called the mountain " Tah-wak-be-dee-ee-wads. There was never, of course, a photograph. Several years of doing the follow-ups, then, convinced Blodgett that there were no catamounts in Vermont. They have a right to exist here and they contribute to healthier prey species. New in PJ Media: The world having gone absolutely insane, the Mid Vermont Christian School (MVCS) girls' basketball team is likely to get a lot of heat for this, but in a sane world, they would be the heroes of the story. Could be a deer, but it didnt seem to be tall enough. People said that the catamountas the animal is called in Vermontwas still around and you heard stories about someone who would swear to having seen one. There was the vaguest of trails, crisscrossed by deadfalls and a sharp-thorned bush that soon drew blood from Ottmanns right hand. But no. The first time was in the yard which was surrounded by woods. Periods of snow. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. There is a lot of good habitat between here and the places where there are established populations of mountain lions, he said. Might decide to release them into the wild rather than keeping them their... 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