I live in New Milford and I saw one crossing the road in front of me when I stopped to get my mail from my mailbox. Our Mission. To answer these and other questions about sightings of mountain lions, I turned to DEEPs Rego, who has investigated many purported cougar sightings over the past three decades. Please. One cat will leave more than 10,000 tracks per day. And theyre not going to find one, because the females don't disperse like that. July 20, 2022. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. Rumors of their hidden presence persisted. He coined the term landscape of fear to describe the relationship between predator and prey in the wild. We lived off of Mountain Rd in Granby, Ct for 8 years and I can say that without a doubt I am 100% sure that there are mountain lions living there. Hawley, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, says data dont support a breeding population of mountain lions in Connecticut. 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. And its not just Vermont. I have learned one thing in my career, and thats to never say never, she said. They have a right to exist here and they contribute to healthier prey species. The Mountain Lion will return to feed on the prey for up to 10 days. building a betterand more civilConnecticut to live, work, and play. Somebody in the NC Legislature believes, because lions are now protected by law. Wednesday, November 25th 2020. But perhaps an even larger portion is the product of his enduring faith in the men and womanloggers, hunters, trapperswhose vocations and avocations have instilled in them a deep familiarity with wild places and the creatures who inhabit them. LINCOLN, Neb. What we do not have is a secure predator corridor.. 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). He drove me out to the spot. And the last confirmed sighting prior to the 2011 instance would be a couple hundred years ago, according to Hawley. Betsy started as an intern at WNPR in 2011 after earning a Master's Degree in American and Museum Studies from Trinity College. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. Although there are numerous reported sightings of mountain lions in Connecticut every year, the animals have actually been extinct in this state for more than a century. State conservation officials believe this photo, taken in Greenwich in 2011, shows a mountain lion. Theres also the lack of visual evidence, more glaring each passing year as so many hikers and hunters now carry phones with cameras. As a carnivore biologist, Hawley says he would love it if mountain lions were here. 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. It was a spotless cat she estimated at close to 100 pounds. We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. Mountain lions are carnivores (meat eaters) and prey mostly on deer. Body coloration can range from tan to gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots. Or at least theyre not supposed to be. 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. 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. The journey is chronicled in the 2016 book Heart of a Lion: A Lone Cats Walk Across America by William Stolzenburg. 02:02. 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.. Females ranges are much smaller so it will take reintroduction or a few savvy wildlife biologist in the dead of night. Because they are.. , located in the golf course community of Coyote Lakes. The tails gotta be there. Prior to becoming a reporter, he was the founding producer of Connecticut Public Radio's The Colin McEnroe Show, which began in 2009. Of course no dash cam or accessible phone camera at the time! They reside in all eight counties, however, they exist in greatest number in the northwestern corner of the state. My heart was saying, Maybe this is it, he recalls. The truth is, I was by this point dubious. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. So theres fresh mud. She said it jumped up on the neighbors stone wall which was pretty high and walked across it. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. Today, instead of focusing on cougar sightings in Eastern states, many cougar enthusiasts want to protect the animal from being hunted in the regions in which they are currently found. 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. Additional samples were collected and are pending DNA analysis. 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. Listen & Learn. 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. A few years later, though, the scat was retested with DNA analysis and found to be canid, rather than feline, in origin. Part of this belief is rooted in his journalistic experience, which across the decades has cultivated his nose for sincerity. This assessment is echoed by the aforementioned Christopher Spatz, who has been studying cougars for better than 20 years. Earlier in the year, Id attended one of these presentations, and even in the tiny village of Woodbury, Vermont, on a stiflingly hot summer evening, nearly 100 people showed up to hear her speak and see her photographs (Morse is a magnificent wildlife photographer). Our hunter friend was hunting in central NH when they came upon an adult deer carcass way up in a tree. They are much larger than bobcat and lynx, young adults can still have spots too. These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. In Florida, where mountain lions are known as panthers, dozens are killed each year by cars. My heart was saying, Maybe this is it,. 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. The big cat traveled some 1,100 miles before his life came to a tragic end after being hit by a SUV on Route 15 in . Morse introduced me to her cat, Allister, whom she referred to as her portable puma. Then she fetched me a beer. There is a big difference between Tuesday when none of us saw a moose in our region and then Thursday we did, Morse says. My mother always said she saw one across the street from our house one night in the late 50s early 60s. Indeed! Published: Dec 17, 2022 SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom issued the below statement today after the California Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that mountain lion P-22 has been humanely euthanized following a comprehensive medical evaluation that found severe injuries and chronic health problems. He can be reached by phone at 860-275-7297 or by email: [email protected]. "Connecticut is cougar heaven . CT Style. My wife is not a wildlife expert, but is not prone to flights of fancy. As I looked at my daughter and then turned to follow the direction she was looking, I saw the animal in my side mirror. The cougar and the states refusal to admit it was here made the local paper. But no. Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Not a bobcat 100% mountain lion and anybody that tries to think a bobcat as any resemblance to a mountain lion clearly has no idea about wildlife there are a lot of false reports because of this however they are without a doubt in part of New England and fish and game has as usual covered up despite coming out and following mountain lion tracks in the snow through the woods in Central Mass and finding a deer carcass 20 feet up in a tree and said to the landowner yep you probably have a mountain lion passing through and asked for the homeowner not to speak much about it furthermore DNA confirmation of a horse that was attacked in Petersham Massachusetts in the last several years and also the Quabbin Reservoir DNA were mountain lion without a doubt they are here. Icould hear the panic in my wifes voice. Not long after, what was believed to be the same mountain lion was struck and killed on Route 15 in Milford. Black panthers, which are not found in the U.S., are actually black jaguars or leopards. Hawley: That animal was documented. Theyll say, Hey, you can see in the picture that it has a long tail, and when I look at the picture, I say, I see how you would see that because they way these cats walk, theyll kind of stand and trail their rear leg. vital part of this countries ecosystem. Mountain lions have been dispersing away from these population areas, and researchers recently mapped all confirmed mountain lion observations from 1990-2008 (LaRue et al. DEEP believes their numbers have increased in recent years. The big cat has been extinct here since the mid-1800s. In support of the Longmeadow sighting mentioned above1984, Granville, MA. 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. But further inspection revealed it was a very large coyote. In the second camp, there are those issuing the denials, pointing to the lack of photographic evidence, or the absence of tracks, or the simple truth that many people dont seem to know the difference between a cougar and a bobcat and a lynx and even, in some cases, a golden retriever. Theres something in human nature to overestimate the size of wild animals we see, especially if we get a brief glance and if the animal is moving. He adds, Bobcats can get pretty large and some people believe they should have pretty visible spots and very often theyre pretty uniform in color. This is especially true in the summer, when my wifes sighting occurred. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. Many on both sides of the cougar debate beileve that New Englands natural habitat would benefit from having an apex predator in the ecosystem again. My encounter was in Middlesex, VT along the river road (Route 2) just below I89. There is no shortage of deer for all apex predators whether they are canine, feline, or human. I was driving to work in Greenfield heading south on 10 and had just taken a right hand turn at the junction when the big cat crossed the road in front of me. And theres another school of thought, Well, no, there just are too many of them probably we have to reduce that population somehow. Where do you fall in that whole continuum? 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 police and everyone else just shook their heads but she to her dying breath said she saw a mountain lion in Lexington MA. Instead, the responsne I heard were nonchalant, Oh, yes, lots of people have seen that mountain lion around here; pretty isnt it?. Weve got a growing bear population. Colorado and California have the highest estimated populations of mountain lions in the United States. Sue Morse, the founder and science director of Keeping Track, a Vermont-based organization dedicated to protecting wildlife habitats, has studied mountain lions over her career as a naturalist, and says the majority of cougar sightings in the Northeast are misidentifications. I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. In another version, its about habitat protection and the onerous federal regulations the state would have to follow if we found a mountain lion within the state. Dont forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats ocelots and jaguarundis. When a group of officers arrived at a neighborhood in Loveland, Colorado . This is always been a debate however as someone who is an avid Outdoorsman I can say with certainty I know of at least 12 people that have personal accounts of seeing mountain lion in Central and Western Massachusetts. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. And DNA analysis shows us that felis concolor is genetically the same across the USI think it is irrelevant, but interesting. I reported it to Connecticut DEEP, only to be told there are no cougars in Connecticut. When you look at a state like Connecticut, with all the people we have here, all the trail cameras we have in the woods, all the cars we have driving you can imagine if we had an established population here in Connecticut, we would know about it pretty quickly. Check out 4 Seconds Until Impact by Bruce Hemming, or Cat Urbigkits books about predator attacks in unlikely places . Abbott believes it is possible that more mountain lions such as the one that was killed in Milford in 2011 could migrate here. March 20, 2022; Bob Dylan is Staying Busy in Isolation May 5, 2020; An Argument Against Gen Eds February 18, 2013; Forgive or Forsake: When an Artist Messes Up April 6, 2018; Computer Science and ESPN: An Interview with Christine Chung February 18, 2015; The Emperor Has No Clothes: Trump and COVID-19 April 22, 2020 P.O. 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. Weve had coyotes misidentified. What to know about unconfirmed mountain lion sightings in CT. Nicole Funaro was formerly a statewide trending reporter for Hearst Connecticut Media Group, covering everything from the most fascinating properties for sale in the Nutmeg State to the latest movie filming in the state. That's not to say that pits are not formidable dogs, they are. The discussion of whether federal lands should be a place to subsidize cattle ranching is another question. 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. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. We also had bobcats that we saw quite often but I am positive that these were mountain lions! If you believe you have seen a mountain lion and want to report it to NH Fish and Game, please contact the Wildlife Division at (603) 271-2461 or [email protected] to request an observation report form. We told him what we saw, and he confirmed other sightings on the property. 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. [Betty] and the other guys dont do this shit. The young typically remain with their mother for 2 years. She was also the voice behind the weekly Connecticut Real Estate newsletter by CT Insider. It was huge! 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. Anyone can get fooled. 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. Dismissing most of the sightings as probable bobcats, Morse asserted that the scientific evidence has not been proven. Mountain Lions: They are officially extinct. I started asking a lot of questions, and realized theres only one explanation for the answers I was getting: They are here., You could have 30 in Connecticut alone. But a high-profile sighting in 2011 stirred up renewed interest in the animals here, when a mountain lion from South Dakota was hit and killed by a car on a Connecticut highway. He wore red suspenders and a baseball cap. I wasnt the only one to see the big cat. 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. They were also reluctant to certify that turkey and moose had returned the Quabin reservoir lands for many years after locals reported seeing them. When you look at a state like Connecticut, with all the people we have here, all the trail cameras we have in the woods, all the cars we have driving you can imagine if we had an established population here in Connecticut, we would know about it pretty quickly. 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. Several years ago, I was bicycling with a buddy up Quabbin Reservoirs Administration Rd. The map from that publication is shown below, with the current mountain lion range in green and confirmed mountain lion locations as black dots. Now the bears, they dont even care if people are home, theyll go right in the house. But sometimes, instead of mountain lions, people thought they saw other creatures in the Connecticut woods, of which authorities were supposedly aware. About This Home This charming 2 bed, 2 bath home, sits on a large lot facing north/south. Respect predators, protect them but dont worship or try to hug them! A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. 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