Though the infamous catamount has been declared extinct in Vermont since 2018, several people spotted big cats that they thought to be mountain lions on Ripley Road two weeks ago, according to posts on Front Porch Forum. Until recently, it was thought that the last mountain lion (a very big cat -- aka a catamount) disappeared from our state decades ago. If you have any pictures you can post them here too! 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. He coined the term landscape of fear to describe the relationship between predator and prey in the wild. Massachusetts and several other New England states have bear hunting, or harvest, seasons, which proponents say help control populations. About a few miles from the covered bridge. 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. Cris Ericson 802-289-1000. After registering, I can manage my newsletter subscriptions by visiting my Profile Settings page. In 1994, scat collected after a sighting in Craftsbury, Vermont, was found to contain cougar hair (the animals are prone to ingesting their hair while grooming), and the commissioner of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department circulated a memo with the following line: It is possible that cougars of unknown origin may be breeding to a limited extent in Vermont. Amazing sight. Kimberly King. She will also discuss the latest confirmations of cougars in the East, including the recently documented suitability of a substantial amount of wild habitats from Manitoba to Louisiana and Maine to Georgia. He was also convinced, wild pumas were traveling South from the eastern Canadian Provinces of Ontario & Quebec, into northern Maines vast wilderness.I have an assortment of reports from across Vermont, if interested in copies. Curious if anyone has spotted any cougars in the area? 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. The tails gotta be there. Hawley: That animal was documented. It may not surprise you to learn that I was quite intrigued by this third group. This was a large tan colored cat with a long tail. After an unfortunate past of over hunting, Montana's mountain lion population has made a comeback. And somebody hollering. All reports are the wee hours of the morning. To date, Keeping Track has helped conserve 40,000 acres in 12 states and inQuebec. Hey, I know what I saw. It wailed just one time but it woke me from a sound sleep. I think the only reason the lion did not attack was because of the dogs. If you dont think cougars are coming to the East, think again, she said, leaning forward for emphasis. Betty, for instance, has presented on Eastern cougars more than 300 times, gathering many hundreds of sighting reports in the process. If yes, like most state Highway Agencies, they should have a record of both the pickup of its carcass, as well, as to where they dumped it. They set the stage for the exotics to move in, and this has a huge impact on our ecology, he said. He honked his horn to scare them off, and the cats made their way into Snows yard. It does NOT surprise me, you would have seen a wild, free-roaming, native eastern cougar, aka puma, mountain lion in Vermont. They usually don't wanna be around you anyways. You need to understand that every biologist that works for the state has a duty to deny mountain lions. 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. Body coloration can range from tan to gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots. 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. 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). hen 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. And its not just Vermont. 2023 The Mountain Times, Outer Limits Publishing LLC | All rights reserved. Patrick Skahill is a reporter and digital editor at Connecticut Public. In the 37 years Ive been working, things have changed in ways Id never have predicted. 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. So long as the tails there, that is. My wife Linda and I, spent several days with the Hitchcocks at their Atlantic Ocean-front Cabin overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, from high up on a cliff, where you could hear the screams of at least 1 of Vermonts wild cougars, in both 1991 and again in 1993. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); aint seen none yet, them wind turbines scarin em off, I have been following the eastern mountain lion mystery since the mid-1960s, in every state, east of the Mississippi River. I noticed that there were many great websites, blogs, and discussion boards devoted to mountain lion sightings in other states of New England, but not one just for Vermont. It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. Mountain Lions Living Mountain Lion Sightings in Vermont in Vermont? Were getting more and more home entries every year. There is no question about it: cougars are not only being seen in eastern North America, some are attempting to recolonize their former habitats. They're out hunting for deer and where there's deer, there's people. E-mail it to epuma@frontier.com We are pretty sure there's a large actin our vicinity. State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of those proposals has passed. 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. She still produces shows with Colin and the team when her schedule allows. When a cats around, its not hard to find evidence. These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Ottmann grew up and still lives just minutes from the tavern; his familiarity with the establishment was obvious (after we met in the parking lot, he led me into the building through the kitchen, greeting each of the staff by name). And thats a surprisingly complex question, because it hinges on numerous factors: policy and politics, culture and conditioning, habitat and, frankly, hubris. It crossed the road and went into the woods. Johnny Lutz According to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department, only four confirmed sightings occurred in the state from the late 1700s to the early 2000s. Sign up below to receive the weekly newsletter, which also includes top trending stories and what all the locals are talking about! He set down his cigarette and looked me in the eye. He was big. Also the hotel keeper at top of Mt. There are also many unconfirmed sightings. Its not my call. I can unsubscribe any time using the unsubscribe link at the end of all emails. I know what they look like and this silhouette was very much the same as that cat last summer. I have been investigating big cat reports across the eastern U.S., since 1963, have collected over 11,000 sightingsThis message is NOT a joke!! E-mail address: epuma@frontier.com, I saw a mountain lion in 2010, in March in Hartland Vermont during a horrendous snow storm. I worked in wrj,VT. Betty had driven up from his home in Rhode Island. [The catamounts] movements were so noiseless that Mr. Crowell found himself in this dangerous proximity before he was aware of it, and it was only by great coolness and daring that he severely wounded the animal and perhaps saved his own life, reads a placard attached to the display case. But one day. Those calls continue today; a local Milton business owner said she's heard of three puma sightings in Milton just this summer. 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 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. 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). 4 . Mountain Lions Are Back in Vermont! Prof. Hitchcocks experienced led him to believe, a minimum of 10 wild cougars, inhabited the various forests of Vermont. These are huge animals that make a lot of distance to the day. 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). 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. They have not received any reports of large cats in Waterbury so far. 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