Tracking experts Paul Rezendes, Charles Worsham, George Leoniak, and Dr. Mark Elbroch examined the photos. We'd be inundated with scouts in the past when newspaper articles have been written about DNA and scouts. He wore red suspenders and a baseball cap. Mistaken reports of mountain lions in Massachusetts are most commonly Bobcats. For all the men out there that don't realize it. I wasn't employed as biologists at the time of a situation that's been reported but so I started digging into this report and spoke with another wildlife biologist with the agency and said Do you know anything about this. Mountain lions became scarce in the East after a bounty system wiped out most predatory animals. I have one that's more elaborate than that. Thom Smith says it was more likely a large bobcat. You know you have to have a license and it's hard to get that license a license to own a mountain lion. Mountain lion sightings in New Hampshire have increased along with the bobcat population, said Tate. Peter Biello: But clearly you know you're saying like hoaxes people who claim to have seen a mountain lion but knowingly have not or are appropriating photos taken elsewhere of legit mountain lion say out West where they people acknowledge that they exist certainly knowingly or unknowingly in this case the person who sent it to me said hey a friend of mine sent me this photo and said he took it on his back porch also. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. Not a good idea I guess.. We had six copies printed out each. Valley News - Cougars in N.H. Hold Feline Mystique It's got a a smudge of black and bobcats and links just don't have that we don't have any other cards. Patrick Tate: While a juvenile not a juvenile I guess if you want nodes to the base of the tail for juvenile that wouldn't be small at all. What gets confusing is when you have a large adult animal and a smaller juvenile animal of a different species you can now step start beginning talking about overlapping body weights and sizes. Thanks for your call. I have no choice but to take this seriously, he told me. ), 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. Attracting the black swallowtail butterfly to your yard is as easy as planting parsley and carrots in your garden. No that's a little bit outside the range. Alleged Athol MA picture - By weather01089 September 8, 2016 at 12:35:45 PM. McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? Support NHPR by becoming a sustaining member today! I also had the vague notion that when it comes to cougars, people tend to sort themselves into one of three camps. And I think this is a really interesting story for a couple of reasons one is that it proves what Pat was saying which that basically from New York state where its traces was really picked up on a game camera around Lake George all the way down to Connecticut there was numerous. California mountain lion slaughters 27 lambs but did not eat a single one However, it is more likely to be one of the pumas that roam the country. 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. 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? 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. Many people do not realize how large a grown Bobcat is. In certain situations, the similarities in the silhouette are remarkable. It was really muscular looking cat I mean is that like a side angle to me. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. In 2011, the U.S. The unheralded hero of Apollo John Hubble the man who knew the way to the moon. Nowhere in New England is the matter definitively settled. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. Does not test random Scouts. If you dont think cougars are coming to the East, think again, she said, leaning forward for emphasis. Known to exist in the state for over well over a hundred years. But if you were to get Western dispersing mountain lions just would just sort of expanding into New Hampshire. New Hampshire Public Radio | And I would like to see more plants and even animals in future columns. I would always share potential sightings with Tom French, Ph.D., assistant director of MassWildlifes Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program for nearly 35 years, now retired. That's what we're seeing is dispersing mountain lions from the West who are just making their way through. Seeing the real thing is always possible, but a sighting of a genuine Moun-tain Lion in New England is so rare that it is the wildlife equivalent of winning a jackpot in the MegaMillions lottery. So before we get to the the the the stories of sightings we're getting a lot of calls. Think You Saw A Mountain Lion in N.H.? - New Hampshire Public Radio While State Denies Mtn Lions are in NH, Numerous Sightings Say It is a low, sprawling plant with small 1.4-inch scarlet flowers. 3. But I was riding a mountain bike not far from my house. And really whenever you hear tiny code and long rope like tale it's kind of hard to pin this sighting on any other creature rather than an outline or just nothing else really matches that description. Early in the morning. Still more confusion ensued when a lab technician said she might have gotten some samples confused, and thus the canid result was thrown into doubt. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. These are the slides, included in a slide show on mountain lion sightings in New Hampshire. Sam. He soon developed a five-question litmus test: How far away were you? If it's someone that has an illegal captive animal that is accustomed to humans those leave a lot of evidence because they want to go around humans to find food meaning they're used to being fed by humans. Thanks very much. Peter Biello: So if they were female mountain lions here they would be more males just because that's what they're looking for. 2023 Yankee publishing, Inc., An Employee-Owned company, all rights reserved. Well let me ask maybe Pat and Rick about this. So I don't understand really how how this this idea came to be but it is the main reason why folks believe that fishing game is is covering up the fact that there are mountain lions in the state again with no evidence. Oh you saw him online. MassWildlife has only confirmed 2 mountain lion reports in the last 30 years. Give today. These tracks were fresh and well photographed. So one thing I'll add we're talking about natural dispensers but talking with the conservation officer in the 1980s they recall going to a residence telling a person you can live here but your mountain lion can't. 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. So so. Can you tell us about that story. They just end up in these places. New England Mountain Lion Sighting Bulletin Board, Mountain lion/wolf sightings in Central Ma, Re(1): Mountain lion/wolf sightings in Central Ma, Re(2): Mountain lion/wolf sightings in Central Ma, Ellisville State Park cougar killed crossing 3A in S. Plymouth, MA, Re(1): Ellisville State Park cougar killed crossing 3A in S. Plymouth, MA, Re(2): Ellisville State Park cougar killed crossing 3A in S. Plymouth, MA, Sighting just over CT border into Vista, NY, Re(1): Sighting just over CT border into Vista, NY, VideoWild cat sighting, North Scituate, RI, Re(1): VideoWild cat sighting, North Scituate, RI, Re(2): VideoWild cat sighting, North Scituate, RI, Re(3): VideoWild cat sighting, North Scituate, RI, Re(4): VideoWild cat sighting, North Scituate, RI, Re(1): Mountain lion/bobcat?/North Andover. So yeah as far as wildlife species that put deer and trees know there aren't any others that I know of that put deer in trees just just humans might be responsible for that. Had great trees behind it beautiful ferns on the ground so it brought me down on the site and the ferns on the ground matched. Let's look for other evidence. You wouldnt shake hands with a man like that, she said, and though she was smiling I could tell she was serious. So here in New Hampshire when a person turns in something that the Department believes is possible mountain lion and believes it should be investigated further. Some Suspects in On-Going Catamount Investigation Let's go now to to Kyle in Keene I believe Kyle is this Kyle Jarvis from the Keene Sentinel a former reporter and former reporter. Thank you very much for listening. In 2011, the U.S. ml central ma. People often get very emotional about it, Hawley says. New England Mountain Lion Sighting Bulletin Board's Message Board That's pretty elaborate. Today. Mountain Lion report and as a biologist for the state that's a situation where if he said to me what did I see. And even the home entries are kind of changing. Because he lives among them, Harrigan understands that no one knows the woods better. Bearded, bowler hat, expression impenetrable behind facial hair and the stoicism of an earlier era. She was having a garden party on her back porch and everybody in the party saw this mountain lion across the field down below the porch. Love hearing these stories. The Great Divide | Are There Mountain Lions in New England? The big cat has been extinct here since the mid-1800s. Lion tales: Some believe cougars occasionally roam the N.H. forests I would just suggest that in my experience as a reporter covering this covering this issue for a few years at least at what point do we reach a certain critical mass for lack of a better term of accounts where I'm not to suggest that you guys aren't taking this possibility seriously. Thank you for your website feedback! (Dont use my name as others think Im crazy). I just don't understand the mechanism for how that would happen. Were there any differences between these two that we could have noticed right off. Patrick Tate: So one thing I'd say is DNA would definitely identify an animal animal's Mark line or not. Re(1): Webster update - Misunderstanding! The nonbelievers are going to say Show us your evidence and show us prove this to us. Caller: Are probably. Peter Biello: Well hey Rob. Sam Evans-Brown: I just want to say the bang and word you just heard I think to me exemplifies why it's really hard to come up with with positive you know 100 percent certain evidence that you've that what you've got is a mountain lions. This assessment is echoed by the aforementioned Christopher Spatz, who has been studying cougars for better than 20 years. I'm gonna send you a letter that we researched this report and we spoke with those labs and the lab wrote in their letter to us that they could only say that Scott contained white Tea Party fur and that they could not say what deposited the scout because it's far too degraded listeners we'd love to hear from you about your mountain lion sightings if you have seen one or if you if you think you have give us a call we'd love to hear your story 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. The second story window through about 30 feet away from it. An adult male bobcat can reach four feet in length and 35 to 40 pounds. 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. Re (1): Bobcats in Feeding Hills - By weather01089 October 6, 2014 at 06:44:20 PM. but won big 2night. But it also sort of instills that fear, a healthy fear of humans and bears. And so maybe before I go to you recommend I ask you Patrick Tate is the standard too high. I've had a number of people call up and say I found a scout in the woods and I want it DNA identified. The tails gotta be there. Michael Brindley is our program manager our producers our Jessica Hunt and Christina Phillips and our theme music was composed by Bob Lord. I don't see the hoaxes anymore at that level. My wife and I saw a mountain lion. Ottmann and I walked farther. Pat ruse and he was sampling doing DNA samples from cats in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Wildlife do really crazy things, and you just never know.. Sam Evans-Brown: You know the North America had a number of large predator species when humans first arrived in the continent. but won big 2night. We will use this information to improve this page. Those are the two closest populations that we have here. Peter Biello: Hmm. He has also reported for the Marketplace Morning Report. It's unfortunate that that kind of thing happens as often as it does. We send out DNA samples to the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. The mountain lion is believed to have had an encounter with a family on their lawn. Theres probably 100 in Connecticut, Ottmann interrupted, rolling a cigarette as he spoke. You treat it as if it's a sincere situation. but won big 2night. It was a 140-pound male mountain lion, the first confirmed in Connecticut in more than 100 years. Big cats used to be kept as pets in the U.K . Someone's got to see one they're very secretive. This isnt to say she believes none of these animals has stepped foot on New England soil over the past century. I saw that had this giant the bobcat had this giant sweeping which is John Bobcat don't have big sweeping tails. brings a lot of. Which which I think Pat and I have both experienced. If it's just in the middle of a greenfield you can't prove anything. Peter Biello: And that will make identification for a layperson rather difficult. A .mass.gov website belongs to an official government organization in Massachusetts. 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? I noticed it had a really big sweeping tail that kind of curled up behind it and all but still at that point because everyone says there's no mountain lions here. ml central ma. A NatureWatch reader asks if a big cat they saw during a recent walk on October Mountain could be a mountain lion, like the one seen in this image from Pixabay. Im not an expert on human psychology, but if youre looking for something, you have a greater chance of actually seeing it. The states beautiful wilderness and mountainous terrain are prime mountain lion habitats. Caller: Hi. They're the generalists that made it through both the arrival of the Clovis people with their with their spears and then the Europeans with their guns. Mass.gov is a registered service mark of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. I looked at the picture and asked me what do you see in the picture and I wrote back. Yes and you want to share what you learned. Im gonna get hammered for it, he sighed. Even in the controlled environment of a lab, the truth about Eastern cougars seems to be almost willfully eluding its seekers. So I will just say this is a big reason why there have not been confirmed sightings I think is that the evidence required first. Peter Biello: This is the exchange on an HP yard today we're talking about the mysterious elusive majestic Mystic Mountain Lion. Re(1): ANOTHER female disperser in addition to the one BELOW! Thanks also to Rick van de Poll naturalist and founder of ecosystem management consultants of New England and Sam Evans Brown host of an HP podcast outside in about the natural world and how we use it. Peter Biello: This is the exchange on an PR. Hawley: I feel strongly that we need a harvest here in Connecticut. They set the stage for the exotics to move in, and this has a huge impact on our ecology, he said. Hawley: Wildlife biologists across the United States know where the current mountain lion range is. A:I have hoped to see a big cat, that is bigger than a bobcat, since NatureWatch began getting reports in the 1980s. No doubt in my mind it was. I mean they're a survivor. It used to be that a bear would go into a house when someone wasnt home. If you would like to continue helping us improve Mass.gov, join our user panel to test new features for the site. Caller: It had just left that field and was out. I'm Peter Biello. So so in 2011 a mountain lion was killed in a car accident in Connecticut a car hit a mountain lion and killed it. Peter Biello: This is the exchange on an HD PR fine Peter Biello and today we're talking with folks who can tell us about the mysterious elusive mountain line and whether or not it is actually here in New Hampshire. Thank you. Do they travel. If you have them email exchange at an HP board or give us a call to tell us your story. Now and then MassWildlife gets a report with a photo of a mountain lion. But other hard evidence of the big cats presence is elusive. Peter Biello: We mentioned that the eastern cougar and the Western cougar are they were separate eastern cougar believed to be extinct. Think you've seen a mountain lion. She lives near the end of a gravel road in a modest, low-slung house tucked into the flanks of the Green Mountains. Please limit your input to 500 characters. Thanks for a great thanks. Sam Evans-Brown: Well and I think and the last takeaway here is everyone I think probably agrees that any possible sightings that have been seen. Re (1): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct - By russ January 30, 2016 at 05:10:25 PM. Any sense of of whether or not mountain lions are sort of wary of more population dense areas like like the one he was describing Rick. We mentioned that one cat that was hit by a car where it has it that it was a male looking for me. Caller: And then there's the Lily Pond Road and then there's a six foot tall fence. Just one quick point I think I think when we we talk about these conspiracy theories the real story is that fish and game is an agency that that is short on budget and staff. Through DNA they approximate area in the United States or North America where I was born. Sheep Found Skinned Sparks Fears of 'New Indigenous Species' Weve got a growing bear population. A: It is less common than many other invasives but is found here in the Berkshires. Patrick's reporting has appeared on NPR's Morning Edition, Here & Now, and All Things Considered. Peter Biello: And then it ran away okay. Overview and Background There's a lot of photographs that you can see that it's very clearly a tabby cat that someone has thought was a mountain lion. However, there have been two confirmed reports of mountain lions in the state in the last 30 years. 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. Well let's talk a little bit about that. Peter Biello: Listeners give us a call if you have a question or a story of a sighting 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. We'll hear more about the mountain lions impact and the role it plays in the ecosystem. Okay. 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). M from Tree Hill author series presenting Diane lay back. It traveled all the way from from you know Minnesota to New York without being so seen Patrick take. The Connecticut mountain lion is the best documented wild Mountain Lion in New England. But before I go any further I want to say we do not have sufficient game. (I don't get the daily Eagle but I get The Berkshires in Brief [online newsletter] and read it daily.). Coyotes have been mistaken for mountain lions. So what I'm getting back is the verifying and confirming of evidence what that was not there. And I just said I saw I saw they from behind the shoulder all the way past the long tail. This mountain lion was documented by DNA samples from Minnesota and Wisconsin between December 2009 and early 2010. Case 1 Well thanks for sharing. Most of the reports I would not consider; a few from experienced hunters and outdoor people were hard to discount, although none of them had photographic proof or any footprints or scratch markings except for one naturalist that I have known for years. It doesn't happen as much anymore. So Pat you field a lot of calls about people seeing or reportedly seeing mountain lions. It was in the spring flash kind of early summer and my wife looked at you look at the size of an adult bear and we were up in arms. Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators., Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators, Manchester installs monitors to track air quality disparities. Despite this fact, Massachusetts residents continue to report mountain lion sightings. And so far we have not had any positive mark lion scats or any DNA. Now that to me seemed to indicate that they had done the secondary workup that in my opinion proved the existence of probably a disperse or possibly from South Dakota like the one in 2011. We'll be right back. For mountain lions in Connecticut, a lack of evidence is very good evidence. Mountain lion sightings in New Hampshire Whether mountain lions are in the Granite State has long been the subject of debate and conspiracy. But if you do if you think you're looking at a wild Puma their tail is very thick and especially in the winter is very thick and ponderous looking. People have asked me about the genetics of eastern mountain lion. So I think in that story there's there's something for the believers and the nonbelievers and I and you know Mark L. Brock is who is a gentleman with the cougar Network told me this story is evidence that that if they were here we would know about it. New Hampshire Public Radio | And that the Florida panther was more closely related to the eastern outline than the western mountain lion was. We'll also hear your stories if you have them again. Ecosystem Management Consultants of New England, Ask Sam, and recently fielded question about mountain lions, Manchester installs monitors to track air quality disparities. Peter Biello: I did mention four feet nose to tail would be kind of small for a mountain lion. 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. Thanks for taking my call. What kind of animal is that. It seems like nothing will kill them! Give us a call if you have a question or comments or story about perhaps seeing a mountain lion here in New Hampshire. We're going to talk a little bit more about habitat first but then we'll get into sightings. I hope she's listening and she had spoke to a lot of different people ended up having a couple of sightings of her alone without sort of by accident. Lets learn to live alongside this very large animal is one of the schools of thought. After 20 minutes or so, we turned and stumbled our way back to the parking lot. I can't tell you what you saw but it sounds like a mountain lion. Is that typically what was happening there. Many people do not realize how large a grown Bobcat is. And last year, Ben Tanner, a Lady's Island resident, captured video footage of what appears to be a large cat stalking a deer. Rick van de Poll: Oh yeah absolutely. Are the mountain lion sightings in Monterey for real? Major news! Rick van de Poll: 80 90. I pull it up but may not have done so soon enough. 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. In March 2011, DCR forester Steve Ward photographed a track trail in the snow near the Gate 8 boat launch area of Quabbin Reservoir. So all the other states in the Northeast that have bear populations have a harvest on their bears. Well they are the same. It is also called Poor mans Weatherglass because it needs a sunny day to open (similar to chicory, another plant, only much larger with blue flowers that were brought here from Europe). Betty, for instance, has presented on Eastern cougars more than 300 times, gathering many hundreds of sighting reports in the process.