There was no place to pull over and it was gone over the side of the mountain before we could get a picture. “What I set out to do was figure out habitat stability and dispersal corridors into the midwest,” said LaRue, a research assistant in the earth sciences department at the University of Minnesota who studies mountain lions. It was dark gray, about four or five feet long, and had a … “And then my second thought was ‘No, maybe not.’”. Because of the fragmentation of the Southeast, I feel that the Blue Ridge is the only place where a mountain lion population could really develop.”. Here kitty, kitty. So these sightings have been confirmed, and there is in fact at least one mountain lion roaming around in Tennessee. Neither Marchibroda nor her canine hiking companion made a peep, and as soon as the cat caught sight of its awe-struck onlookers, it scampered back into the woods, swift and silent. “We’re not taking any action to move them or kill them. And she’s not alone in that belief. Peterson said he understands the excitement around the idea of crossing paths with a mountain lion, but nearly all of the photos and videos he receives are not what they seem. With 18 native South American names, 25 Native American names, and 40 English names, this big cat has a big list of sobriquets that all boil down to the same thing: mountain lion. In November of last year, a giant cat with a long tail wandered in front of Tennessee resident Austin Burton’s deer camera on his family’s farm in Humphreys County. In the early hours of Nov. 22, a mountain lion casually walked past the camera. A Kent Street caller told police that a man stole some checks, forged, and cashed them. … Every year there were a few here and there.”. Video Sends Community Into Furor - Georgetown, DC - A very large cat reportedly was caught on surveillance … The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism said it spotted a rare mountain lion on a trail camera located in southwestern Kansas on Sunday. These cookies do not store any personal information. “We’re scared of what we don’t know,” French says. But even when a new population does begin to grow, LaRue said the likelihood of crossing paths with them will still be miniscule. Determined big cat activists have been trying to deceive state Fish and Wildlife Service agencies with false sightings and photographs from the Internet.“We’re really vulnerable to these hoaxes,” says biologist Tom French of the Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife Service. That might depend on who you ask, but LaRue, who’s been studying mountain lions for more than a decade, isn’t convinced that eastern cougars were ever any different from the western subspecies. It’s a gradual process, and especially in the early years of a repopulation, any sightings are most likely of males. “Well, then don’t dress them up like sheep,” he said with a chuckle. Float the Day Away Along the Shenandoah Spirits Trail. “They don’t go after dogs and cats or people. Females have gradually made their way into states like Nebraska, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Missouri, but according to LaRue, it turns out the midwest “largely is not a great habitat.” So it’s not unreasonable to assume that they’ll continue on and eventually end up in states near and on the eastern seaboard, where lush mountain ranges like the Blue Ridge and Smokies offer prime habitat and sustenance (deer, primarily) for the cats. Big Sky MT, big kitty (in bounds mountain lion 1.27) from skiing He commented in the thread to explain the sighting: “This was at 2:30pm between Soul Hole and Wild Bill in the trees, remarkably close to the Swifty lift line. The cougars wandering far from their original homes in the West are, naturally, searching for three things: habitat, food and mates. RELATED: Mountain lion captured in … Fish & Wildlife Resource’s recent decision to declare eastern cougars extinct, and she knew unless she was able to produce some sort of physical evidence like a photo, she’d be hard pressed to convince any wildlife expert of what she saw. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. From a wildlife biology perspective, though, it’s going to take more than a story—no matter how convincing it may be—to determine whether these cats are there and where they’re coming from. “This isn’t just hearsay.”. 2012). You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. These days, the Florida panther’s numbers are down to fewer than 200 despite the state’s protection efforts. On two occasions 911 operators have received calls from concerned residents who claim to have seen the large animal. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Fish & Wildlife Resource. This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Though the government states the species is extinct, hundreds of sightings are still reported on a daily basis, particularly after the 2011 sighting of a mountain lion in Greenwich, Conn. But she was familiar with (and disturbed by) the U.S. (WJZ) — A reported mountain lion sighting in a Prince George’s County park turned out to be a coyote. “It was great, probably one of the most exciting experiences of my life, and I feel very fortunate.”. But she’s also realistic. Mountain Lion Spotted on Trail Camera Todd Pittenger December 1, 2020. One subspecies of the cougar lives on in the East, although it, too, is in danger of becoming extinct altogether. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. Not glad to see it is on the Maryland Shooters page. Mountain lion spotted in Morgan Hill neighborhood On Monday, a rare sighting of a mountain lion raised concern in a Morgan Hill neighborhood. Is it a change in the regime their [sic]? One of her biggest concerns about the recent declaration of extinction is that any cats in the area (whether western migrants or otherwise) and their habitats wouldn’t be protected. The young adult male was killed by an SUV on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford, Connecticut on June 11, 2011. When Dr. Michelle LaRue began her graduate studies in 2005, the state of Nebraska had virtually no mountain lions. The lion was an adult male that weighed about 160 pounds, she said. “The likelihood of seeing one is incredibly rare, let alone interacting with them,” she said. “Why do they believe it now? The Midwest can offer two of the three, but the males don’t have much luck repopulating the area on their own. “I saw a mountain lion, and that’s just the way it is,” said Marchibroda, a dentist in her 60s living in Afton, Virginia. MORE: http://bit.ly/2LNv06d A Mountain Lion In Georgetown? Each sighting involved cougars that are not native to New York. In 2012, LaRue and her colleague Dr. Clay Nielsen published a paper in the Journal of Wildlife Management analyzing 178 confirmed sightings between 1990 and 2008 throughout the Midwestern and Eastern states and parts of Canada. “The overarching concern is whether it would be universally accepted by the folks who live, work, and play in the Blue Ridge,” says Cantrell. So far, the general consensus has been no. It was hunted to extinction last century, but throughout the Blue Ridge, there are claims from locals that the cat has returned. I really took offense to that.”. Pelosi wants to award Capitol Police officers Congressional Gold Medal: 'They are martyrs for democracy' They then have to ensure that the picture hasn’t been tampered with in any way, because Peterson said an astounding number of people—both misinformed wildlife enthusiasts and tricksters with too much time on their hands and access to Photoshop—send him shots of mountain lions that were clearly either edited or taken in a state out west. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. They exclusively populated western states for decades, but according to LaRue, some shifts in hunting regulations began to change things about 50 years ago: lions were switched from the bounty hunter category to a game species managed by the states. Photos are difficult to confirm, Peterson said—the process involves sending wildlife experts to the exact spot where the cat was allegedly seen to take another photo in order to compare it to the original and verify the location. It … “However, it is pretty well accepted that there are no cougars living in the east currently.”. “There are a lot of instances of someone trying to mess with us, or they’re messing with a buddy, and the buddy sends it to us thinking it’s real,” he said. Take a WanderLove Road Trip Along the Skyline Drive to Waynesboro. “My first thought was, ‘I gotta chase this thing,’” Marchibroda said. “Then we’ll try to figure out what kind they are and get more evidence.”. "U of U ALERT: Mountain lion spotted … “The people behind these deliberate scams claim that the state government has been keeping mountain lions a secret. Others, including the park ranger she met that day and wildlife experts she’s reached out to since the sighting, are skeptical. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. They prefer deer.”. Back in July of 2020, a mountain lion was spotted going from backyard to backyard in the Summerlin area, west of I-215. “They had their minds set and there was nothing that was going to change their minds. “When a female kitten gets big enough, she doesn’t have to go very far, because nobody’s kicking her in the butt to get far away.”. As for what a new population of mountain lions would mean for nearby residents, education is crucial. “For years everybody in every state wildlife agency has gotten reports of sightings, but we had never had anything in Tennessee that we could really verify as a cougar,” Peterson said. Blood samples from the arrow revealed that the cat had originated in South Dakota—and that it was a female. Female cougars will raise a litter of kittens up until the age of about 20 months, LaRue explained, and then the young cats are “kind of kicked out and left on their own.” The males, especially, are forced to disperse away from the family, partly to avoid inbreeding, and partly because male cougars are territorial and won’t tolerate any other males in their domain. “They initially didn’t want to admit that I saw one, and they were calling it a UFO—an unidentified furry object. Fish and Wildlife Service help set the record straight. Blue Ridge Outdoors is your guide to fly fishing in the Southeast, moutain biking in the Blue Ridge and adventure travel from the Highlands to the Piedmont. Maryland Mountain Lion Research Division. News outlets picked up the story and the video went viral, and it’s easy to understand why—according to TWRA regional manager Alan Peterson, that video marked only the second confirmed cougar sighting in Tennessee in more than 100 years. Some of the cats have been spotted multiple times, including the Kiowa County mountain lion, so it’s unclear how many mountain lions there have been. GREENBELT, Md. Fish and Wildlife Service’s declaration of extinction moot? “We were really focused on the males, because obviously they can’t ensure populations with just males,” LaRue said. Page 3 of 10 Hey! Experts in Tennessee don’t know exactly how many mountain lions are roaming the area, but they do know one thing for sure: at least one of them is a female. “We get a lot of photographs from trail cameras that are actually domestic cats,” says Asheville-based Fish and Wildlife biologist Mark Cantrell. We have no intentions, but if they show up, they show up.”. Fish and Wildlife Service removed eastern subspecies of cougars from the endangered species list last year and declared them extinct. There are occasional sightings, and there may possibly be the rare traveler that passes through. This is cool! This website uses cookies to improve your experience. Aside from the chance Florida panther making its way to the Blue Ridge, Cantrell says that Fish and Wildlife does come across the occasional cougar that has escaped from captivity, either from a zoo or the home of a negligent pet owner, but that’s not reason enough for people to think the puma population is back. Like most eastern states, Maryland was once home to the eastern mountain lion but none remain today. Eastern cougars (mountain lions) do not have a native, self sustaining population in New York State. “TWRA has had their collective heads up their cloacas for a very long time in denial of these sitings [sic] and reports,” reads a comment on a December 2015 article about the video footage. Her views represent another twist in the ecological controversy. Mountain Lion Spotted. The Connecticut Mountain Lion is the best documented wild Mountain Lion in New England. But these cats are on experts’ radars, and the TWRA has even established a Cougar Response Committee to answer questions and sift through reported sightings—of which Peterson said he expects to see an influx later in the year. “The Eastern cougar was once a big predator in the Blue Ridge,” Cantrell says. 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. The Susquehannock Wildlife Society wrote an article about a potential cougar photograph submitted to them and discussed their process of investigation, in the end they deemed it was not a mountain lion. The Florida panther typically roams in the south of Florida, but the occasional dispersing cat has found its way into Georgia and parts of Alabama. But according to University of Minnesota research associate and wildlife expert Dr. Michelle LaRue, it’s a little more nuanced than that. “The likelihood of seeing one is incredibly rare, let alone interacting with them,” she said. Two years ago authorities received a report of “large cat” prowling near Rock Creek Park. A mountain lion was spotted and it's not the first time these big cats have been reported in the Peninsula. That’s My Stuff. Residents terrified as MOUNTAIN LION is spotted in quiet Washington, DC neighborhood. Being that the Eastern Mountain lion is extinct so I doubt the validity of this, but even if true, do we really need some trophy hunters going out and trying to kill it, just "cause". They don’t know that, they’re not genetically testing these animals.”. But recent expert-confirmed sightings—which have involved photographs, videos, and DNA—in Tennessee support a theory that mountain lions, whose populations out west have continued to expand, are slowly making their way back to this side of the country. Mountain lion spotted in Vegas neighborhood. Then what? LaRue is the first to admit that she’d love to see a mountain lion in the wild, and she of all people understands the fascination with them. The massive mammal was spotted on film in Newell Creek, Calif., just 8 miles north of Santa Cruz, where another mountain lion was spotted a few days ago, according to a Facebook post from Wildlife Emergency Services. There are “just too many of these stories” for her to believe that the cats are extinct. But she’s also realistic. It has to be a good, clear photo, and we get all kinds of fuzzy stuff that could be a bobcat, could be a yellow lab, but it’s so far away or so fuzzy we can’t tell.”. “We’ll deal with a lot of the same stuff that’s related to bears in Virginia. Misidentification is typically caused by poor lighting conditions at the time of the sighting. They have been absent from this state since the late 1800s; however, there have been a few isolated sightings. Now, it is genetically and geographically extinct.”. (CBSDC) — Police in the District say they have received reports of a mountain lion roaming freely in Southeast. SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Dec. 14, 2020 (Gephardt Daily) -- A mountain lion was spotted in the area of the University of Utah Monday morning. Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. Black Cougar/Mt Lion? “We have plotted models for mountain lion habitats, usually in areas with fairly big pieces of forest and good numbers of deer,” but those models, and the overwhelming increase in the deer population, aren’t enough to convince the general population. We’re not that good. A seasoned hiker who’s lived in Virginia since the 1970s and is deeply familiar with the area’s wildlife, she’s confident in what she saw. Heart still pounding, Marchibroda tracked down a ranger near Mathews Arm Campground to report what she had just witnessed. Being in a residential neighborhood does nothing for a cougar.”. The folks with the U.S. A lot of people don’t know they’re around until they show up and start feeding on their bird feeders, and then all of a sudden it’s ‘What are you gonna do about these bears?’”. “And that’s being done without, from what I understand, any real proof. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. While driving east on WV 66, my nephew and I spotted what had to be a mountain lion crossing the road. “Male cougar territories are pretty big, and that’s why they have to disperse farther than females,” LaRue said. “There are at least 10 different subspecies of white-tailed deer, and it doesn’t make a bit of difference in the grand scheme of things.”. On November 22, about 20 miles north of Rowlett there was another mountain lion sighting. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. With two sightings confirmed just last week, TWRA wildlife officers said cougars are back in Tennessee. Employment: Jobs at Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine. Latest Stories. If the Eastern mountain lion is extinct, what are these people seeing? “Last year the U.S. There’s no guarantee that cougars trekking from South Dakota will stick around, or that the female in Tennessee will have kittens. For a solid four seconds, Marchibroda watched as a large, sleek cat standing about three feet tall with a long, curled tail crossed Skyline Drive near Gavel Springs Gap less than 100 feet in front of them. “The animal has been determined extinct, and that’s just a shame,” she said. The 1st Annual Maryland Coast Bike Festival! There’s no way in hell we could have kept that quiet.”. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Which could be a pretty big deal, because up until now, the confirmed sightings in the east have been of male cats. Oh maybe some of the lazy hacks have finally retired.”, Another commenter speculated that the agency may have intentionally downplayed past sightings “as they result in new study and staffing expenses.”. Marchibroda wasn’t under any illusions that she could catch or in any way interact with the mountain lion she saw on her hike. Float the Day Away Along the Shenandoah Spirits Trail. Even with all these numerous sightings they still dug their heels in, and that was pretty frustrating,” she said of the officials at agencies like the U.S. Biologists and wildlife specialists speculate that cougars will reestablish themselves in states like Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia within the next 25 to 50 years. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website. The populations are doing well enough in the west that when young males get old enough, they don’t have anywhere to go,” she said. But the thing about mountain lions is that females don’t travel as far or as often, and when they disperse they don’t go very far or very well.”. “Females need to show up. “Eastern cougars are not a distinct species genetically. The 1st Annual Maryland Coast Bike Festival! Reddit user u/pillageinyourvillage (what a name) spotted a rather large mountain lion at Big Sky on 1/27/21:. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. (Shooting a mountain lion is illegal in Tennessee, given that there’s no hunting or trapping season for the animal, but Alan Peterson said the hunter didn’t believe he’d mortally wounded the animal, and the case has been turned over to a District Attorney’s office to determine whether or not the hunter will be charged.). “They prefer habitats where it’s difficult for people to go,” LaRue said. The Tennessee Wildlife Resource Association (TWRA) confirmed that the cat, which sniffed around on the ground and in a low-hanging tree branch before looking square into the camera with its mouth wide open, was in fact a mountain lion.

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