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. Can it be deleted? It was a bright sunny summer day. Recall a few years back, a guy in a kayak off Horseneck Beach in Westport, MA, was tracked by a large fin. Even after reported sightings, wildlife officials declare cougar extinct in Maine. Earlier in the year, I’d 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). I hope this spam doesn't get in the way of people posting here. “I have learned one thing in my career, and that’s to never say never,” she said. Go hiking in Big Bend National Park or on the Big Bend Ranch, and you see cougar/panther/puma/mountain lion spoor all over the place. If you look closely you can see the tail ends half way down it’s legs. You can’t mistake the long tail. No doubt of what it was; size, color and recognizable tail. I’ve missed the New England Mountain Lion bulletin board that was shut down about 10 years ago, where people posted stories of their sightings and experiences with alleged mountain lions. Nowadays, no known, viable population of mountain lions lives in the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, according to Mass Wildlife. A resident spotted the big cat about 6:45 a.m. Saturday on … Obviously, this is the reason why the “experts” are loathe to admit that the species is here. It may not surprise you to learn that I was quite intrigued by this third group. Check out “4 Seconds Until Impact” by Bruce Hemming, or Cat Urbigkit’s books about predator attacks in “unlikely” places . Roland’s trivia question of the week: Name the six teams the New England Patriots have defeated in their Super Bowl victories. We really must establish first that these beautiful animals SHOULD be in every state that was once THEIR habitat. Mountain Lions in New York. N.H.'s Fish and … If and when another mountain lion sighting is confirmed in New England, it will almost certainly be a male. A mountain lion that visited a San Mateo backyard was captured on video, police said Saturday. Fish and Wildlife Service unofficially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. Officially, there are no documented mountain lions living in New England but Fish and Game says it's possible. I lived in Woodstock, CT in 2005/2006. Having retired from a career at General Dynamics, he devotes many of his waking hours to cougar research, a passion he’s cultivated for nearly two decades. This assessment is echoed by the aforementioned Christopher Spatz, who has been studying cougars for better than 20 years. It was his great coolness and daring (either that, or fear) that enabled Crowell to shoot the animal at a distance of “one rod only” (roughly 16½ feet), first hitting it in the leg with his shotgun, then dispatching it with a bullet to the head from a borrowed rifle. Bill Betty, a Rhode Island resident who researches and records mountain lion sightings, spoke at Greenwich Audubon Friday, March 23, 2012. Whether you believe it or not, evidence is continuing to mount, along with eye witness accounts from people who seem credible and sincere, that the mountain lion has made a comeback in the state of Maine. By mid-19th century, forests made up only about 30 percent of New England (it’s notable that today that number stands at approximately 80 percent, nearer to what it was when cougars thrived here). He’s also unafraid to take unpopular positions when he deems it necessary: Shortly before our meeting, he’d signed a petition in favor of keeping ATVs off public roads. Sure, New England has their share of Bigfoot sightings. “I don’t ever say to people, ‘That’s not what you saw.’ I say, ‘I hope you saw one,’” Spatz told me when I called him at his home in upstate New York. There are even signs on the trails that your “pet or your child” are essentially potential prey for said feline. I lived in great Barrington mass and I took photos of tracks in a field in April of 2009 (and of course lost them). The scientific name for the catamount is Puma concolor. She IS, perhaps, the most knowledgeable and experienced person in this arena and I listened intently to her presentation (Richmond, VT 2018). A mountain lion was spotted on private property in Rowlett more than 100 miles away from where Whiteley was killed, but the agency said the sighting was considered unrelated. But wildlife officials say even if the sighting is substantiated, there is no state or federal law that would come into play. I’ve seen tracks (Downeast Maine) and others have seen them, plain as day. Another sighting involved a wild cougar that traveled through New York as it trekked nearly 1,800 miles east from its native population in South Dakota.” “One cat will leave more than 10,000 tracks per day. The cougar and the state’s refusal to admit it was here made the local paper. The second occasion was on the way to work when I saw the cougar/catamount crossing Route 44. Beautiful creature. Not only does Alexander believe mountain lions are present in New England, he wants to see them re-established in the state. I do this shit.”. Rumors of their hidden presence persisted. According to the Department of Environmental Conservation, “mountain lions do not have a native, self-sustaining population in New York State. Part of this belief is rooted in his journalistic experience, which across the decades has cultivated his nose for sincerity. Given the long, shared border between these provinces and New England, along with plentiful evidence that other species cross this border regularly, it seems entirely possible that cougars would also engage in international travel. A mountain lion was spotted in Brentwood on Tuesday morning, police said. Respect predators, protect them but don’t worship or try to hug them! There, too, is Crowell’s photograph, grainy and old: the hunter leaning against a tree stump, his head propped casually on his left hand, elbow to stump, shotgun cradled in the crook of his right arm. Don’t forget, south Texas also used to home to two other species of cats – ocelots and jaguarundis. Height. Can they really all be cases of false identification? You don’t even have to go out and look for it.”. Length of body. 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. She favors plaid shirts, green Dickies work pants, and hiking boots, and she chided me for shaking her hand too gently. I have heard several accounts from sober, sane, intelligent people who have seen them (especially a latre, good friend who was a very competent spokesman and hunter.). The debate rages in Maine, where the last confirmed cougar kill occurred in 1938, and in New Hampshire, where the last confirmed kill was in 1885. Still, Spatz acknowledged that the word hope is very different from the word believe. It provided absolutely irrefutable proof that a wild Mountain Lion, at least occasionally, can make its way to New England. The first time was in the yard which was surrounded by woods. It can run at speeds of up to 50 mph. I started asking a lot of questions, and realized there’s only one explanation for the answers I was getting: They are here.”, “You could have 30 in Connecticut alone. The animal was spotted around 7:20 am and the reporter was able to … Snowy winter AM just before us neighbor kids were heading to catch the bus, we (myself, my dad and neighbor) all watched a large cat cross the yard and leave huge prints and a distinct tail drag mark in the snow! Still, there are those of us who know what we’ve seen. We met for lunch on a Sunday morning in early March, and it didn’t take long for me to understand why Harrigan is such a popular columnist. You could have 50—”. 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. 5-7 yards from me. Roland’s trivia question of the week: Name the six teams the New England Patriots have defeated in their Super Bowl victories. 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