I also had the vague notion that when it comes to cougars, people tend to sort themselves into one of three camps. 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. The last time a mountain lion was captured in New York was in the . Still, there are those of us who know what weve seen. 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. We got a picture of our culprit, he says, that very first night.. 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? 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. 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. Distinguished by a boxy head, big paws and a VERY long tail. 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. For instance, a favorite food for deer is the seedlings of forest tree species. my father was recently trout fishing in central Mass. Matthew Johnson/Vermont Historical Society. ), 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. He and his clients were 100% sure of what they saw, and its very difficult to imagine any other animal being mistaken for a cougar in this case. Green Mountain Lion Corp #256 34 Blair Park Road Ste. Public opinion surveys show many more would support reintroduction, than oppose. 8 Arlington (9-10) and No. The animal, I learned, is called many things: mountain lion, panther, catamount, puma, cougar and more. Especially among those who did believe. In 2011, the U.S. I live in Hopkinton, NH and saw one coming up from the Contoocook River one misty morning. Clearly, Puma concolor once inhabited the forests of the Northeast, although its difficult to say in what numbers. According to official estimates, as many as 1,000 people own, in spite of legal prohibitions, captive animals. Camel's Hump (alternatively Camels Hump) is a mountain in the Green Mountains in the U.S. state of Vermont.The north slope of the mountain borders the Winooski River, which has carved through the Green Mountains over eons.At 4,083 ft (1,244 m), it is tied (with Mount Ellen) for the third-highest mountain in Vermont.Surrounded by 10 acres (4 ha) of alpine tundra, the mountain is the most . All of which is to say that if Alexander Crowell wasnt afraid on that long-ago Thanksgiving Day, he probably should have been. By mid-19th century, forests made up only about 30 percent of New England (its notable that today that number stands at approximately 80 percent, nearer to what it was when cougars thrived here). Bill and I are full-throttle. Scat, tracks, lays, scratch mounds youll see these things.. I do this shit.. The Christian school also dropped out of the state . All those deer hunters represent a kind of ad hoc search party. People like you are the problem and cause of extinctions. We witnessed a mountain lion stalking a herd of deer. As cleared lands became reforested, many species that had been squeezed into small regions where there was still habitat,or hunted to near extinction, could be replanted in their former range. Concerned for people / pets and a school just down the street, stopped to report the sighting where dispatch told me that if I did not have proof they would not respond. That was plain, right away. Beautiful creature. Middlebury, Vermont | Could You Live Here? 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. 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). And the clincher, What would you say was the most distinguishing feature? They were also seen at other times by members of my family and other people in the neighborhood. I did call in a report to CT DEP and they basically dismissed my narrative questioning whether I made a mistake confusing the animal I saw with a bobcat or fisher cat. But right now youre dealing with top-notch guys. A wildlife camera snapped the image in late 2019 and the refuge shared it on Facebook this month, challenging followers to find the hidden mountain lion. We were about 50 feet from it and it stood taller than any labrador and we watched it tail and all slink down the side of the lawn and the rabbits being surprised out of the bushes. [Betty] and the other guys dont do this shit. Yet dozens of. I had a pair of good binoculars in my coat pocket. Females ranges are much smaller so it will take reintroduction or a few savvy wildlife biologist in the dead of night. When I came out, the cat appeared in front of me coming up a rise (incredibly close to some ski condos). I go out into the woods on the opening day of deer season every year and a lot of other Vermonters are out there with me. It has, in fact, more names than any animal in the world. And some people might decide to release them into the wild rather than keeping them in their possession. Until 2011, that question rested upon a hypothetical. When that last catamount was killed by a deer hunter, the state was paying a $20 bounty for pelts or carcasses. So yes they are here and not to sure why they dont admit to them being around ! They were also reluctant to certify that turkey and moose had returned the Quabin reservoir lands for many years after locals reported seeing them. In the few seconds that this took, I had convinced myself that I was looking at a mountain lion. Bernier gets more than 50 reports of mountain lions a year. But they would certainly pay attention if they did see one. 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). Put bluntly, Morse does not believe that New England is home to cougars. Green Mountain Lion Corp. Home; Apply Now! Maybe, I thought, but the shape seemed wrong. After 20 minutes or so, we turned and stumbled our way back to the parking lot. There was no denying that the carcass, which was examined by experts, was that of a mountain lion. Adult males may be more than 8 feet long (from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail), and can weigh between 130 and 150 pounds. Was INCREDIBLE! I was just amazed as I watched this scene in my own back yard. Provided by Touchpoints To Betty and Ottmann, the dominant narrative of the occasional itinerant cougar from the West is not particularly relevant to the facts on the ground. That it had, somehow, made a return and established residence. Id been excited to read the news that wildlife officials would be releasing wolves in Yellowstone and thrilled, a few years later, when I heard, from a campsite on Slough Creek, the music of their howling. In Vermont, it was 1881. Morse, 70, comports herself in a friendly and no-nonsense manner. Apex predators like the cougar and wolf make for a healthier ecosystem. Had trouble sleeping last night cause that was to close and I think she may have stalked me from where I was in the woods. 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. He soon developed a five-question litmus test: How far away were you? So Blodgett brought what he had learned in Wyoming and Arizona back to Vermont with him and began following up on catamount sightings. The tail, I said. [An overabundance of deer] means our forests are getting older and older and not being replaced. He also points to the influx of invasive plant species in New England as evidence of an out-of-control deer population. His mention of these encounters was so matter-of-fact that I found myself nodding along. And yet there I was, on a Saturday in early November, crammed into a booth with Bo Ottmann, 48, and Bill Betty, 72, of Cougars of the Valley, the organization that Ottmann founded in 2007 to gather evidence of and alert the public to the big cats living among us. Our wildlife biologists and enforcement agents are mostly political bureaucrats who dont often venture more than 100yards from the truck. I had seen bear, deer, coyotes, foxes, that one bobcat all the usual suspects. People could have been looking at a catamount that was not, in fact, a wild animal. 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. Because while male cougars eventually strike out on their own and occasionally wander far from home, females are, as Morse puts it, hardwired to remain close to their mothers home range. It is hard for me to believe that the big cats havent found plenty of space to roam without regular detection. And DNA analysis shows us that felis concolor is genetically the same across the USI think it is irrelevant, but interesting. Betty had driven up from his home in Rhode Island. Its not a bear, not a dog, not a deer, not a bobcat. 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. But the landowners were excited enough by the possibility that, persuaded by Blodgett, they bought a trail camera and set it up on the site. And it was this curiosity that led me to the Old Well Tavern in Simsbury, Connecticut, at a time of day (11:30 a.m.) that does not normally find me ensconced in the dim confines of a drinking establishment. Anyway I got to see that set of eyes way closer than I ever wanted, by the time my hand got on my pistol she was gone. 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? 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. Somebody in the NC Legislature believes, because lions are now protected by law. 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 16 feet), first hitting it in the leg with his shotgun, then dispatching it with a bullet to the head from a borrowed rifle. I have learned one thing in my career, and thats to never say never, she said. He worked, in Wyoming and Arizona, with other professionals, some with government agencies, like the one he works for, and others who were hunters and trappers, often employed by ranchers who had lost stock to mountain lions. Now, ocelots are critically endangered and jaguarundis might be completely gone. 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