more New England mountain lion rumors

[Papa Bear]

A big article in the New York Times today about the mountain lion hit by an SUV in Milford, Connecticut on June 11th.

Wild Cougar Traveled East 1,500 Miles, Tests Find

DNA analysis shows it had traveled from the Black Hills, So, Dakota, with stops in Minnesota (in 2009) and Wisconsin (2010). Officials and experts were amazed at the distance traveled by this animal.

Oops, another thread just started on this: Cougar came from South Dakota

 

[rup]

Also in Hartford Courant:

http://www.courant.com/news/breaking/hc-mountain-lion-dna-20110726,0,3798831.story

 

[Mac]

Rare eastern cougar article

Interesting article.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/08/18/cougar-attack-horse.html

 

[Little Rickie]

Pretty brave or hungary cat to attack a horse when smaller meals may be around?

 

[DougPaul]

Pretty brave or hungary cat to attack a horse when smaller meals may be around?

Domestic animals are often pretty easy prey...

Doug

 

[Tom Rankin]

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Really!

Lions and Tigers and Bears! Really!

http://news.yahoo.com/lions-bears-wolves-found-loose-ohio-exotic-animal-054246902.html

 

[Tom Rankin]

Just saw on the Catskill 3500 Club Yahoo group, a report of a 'black mountain lion' on, what else, Panther mountain!

It's being questioned, as a coyote/dog, bear, or fisher sighting as well.

 

[rup]

Can't wait to see how long it takes a tiger to get to the ADKs.

 

[peakbagger]

For whats its worth, a moutain lion photo represented as being taken by a game camera in NH near Peterborough/Dublin line.

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/sho...n-Spotted-in-NH!-Photo-Taken-with-Game-Camera

 

[johnranta]

Annoying Post

This post redirects us to WhiteBlaze, where we can only see the photo if we have a login and a password. Why not just post the photo here, directly? JR

 

[DougPaul]

This post redirects us to WhiteBlaze, where we can only see the photo if we have a login and a password. Why not just post the photo here, directly? JR

The photo may be copyrighted--if so permission is required.

Doug

 

[Stan]

The Lions of Jasper Ridge (California)

This article appears in the latest Stanford Magazine and describes mountain lions (pumas) in Jasper Ridge, an 1189 acre biological preserve 5 miles west of the Stanford campus.

The article describes how camera traps in "undisturbed" areas have captured 15,000 photos of animals ... coyotes, bobcats, humans but no lions ... but newer technology cameras placed on trails and paths have captured an abundance of photos of a pride consisting of one male, one female and several cubs.

A study determines that the lions are present in the preserve 24% of the time with peak activity between sunset and sunrise.

Here's that link: http://alumni.stanford.edu/get/page/magazine/article/?article_id=45332

It raises some biological/philosophical questions, which are equally relevant to mountain lions in New England, in my mind:

1. The success in capturing photos along paths and trails reinforces a lot of experience and contradicts the politically correct notion that roadless and wilderness areas are essential to recovery of large mammals where they've been previously extirpated. No matter how you feel about that, it does beg the question of safety when said large mammals are as high or higher than humans on the food chain!

Highways, powerline easments and the like are new migration routes of large animals of all sorts ... often offering a path of less resistence than the traditional routes associated with rivers, and, perhaps more important, a source of prey.

2. The risk assessment/management described in the article points out that "California state records confirm 15 mountain lion attacks and six fatalities since 1890 ... yet hundreds of lions have been killed, legally and illegally, during that period." That statement reflects a certain bias by the author. The article describes some safety protocols.

I suppose we all must evaluate how many lions a human life is worth. As much as I love cats I do not believe there is an equal standing yet I also feel that this unequal standing is accompanied by a responsibility for the "lesser" species. One thing that is clear is that a healthy prey population, in this case deer, must be monitored and maintained lest a more attractive target becomes children, pets, joggers, bikers and hikers!

Meanwhile, congratulations to Fred for this long-lived and read thread!

... and here's a song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvivVVYFsiQ to accompany your contemplation of the big cat.

 

[TCD]

Nice pics.

It's been my long time observation that lots of wildlife uses human trails. Even though they can bushwhack much better than we can, they're not stupid; why not use a trail if there is one?

(The discussion in the article about game camera technology is broken and incomplete - it compares the flash function of one camera to the sensor function of another camera...? Do you know if there is any more information? I ask because sometime soon I will be shopping for a game camera. I know all about IR flashes, motion sensors, wireless, etc. I just can't make sense of what worked, and didn't work, from the article. Thanks.)

TCD

 

[TDawg]

This post redirects us to WhiteBlaze, where we can only see the photo if we have a login and a password. Why not just post the photo here, directly? JR

Orrrrrrrrrrrrrrr...

If it is a big deal to you how about ya quit complaining, take 5 minutes, and register on Whiteblaze. Boom. Done. You can see the picture now.

 

[TrishandAlex]

in response to Peakn (closed thread)

Peakn asked (on another, recent thread that was closed by mods since this thread is still open and active) about recent mountain lion sightings around Welch-Dickey. He said he'd heard about five independent sightings and asked if anyone on VFTT knew anything about it.

Yes -- I've a good friend who lives close to the Welch-Dickey trailhead. She is a very intelligent woman who is not prone to exaggeration. She knows exactly what a mountain lion looks like -- and she says both she and her husband saw one close to their house. The sighting was a few weeks ago, she told me about it last week (after I had already taken the girls up W-D).

She says she called Fish and Game to report the incident.

 

[Maddy]

It appears that there just might be "A Beast in the Garden" in our very own neighborhood.

http://www.amazon.com/Beast-Garden-...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322827740&sr=1-1

Kitty...kitty....seems to be closing in.

IMHO...this book gets 5*+ A great read for anyone interested in the "up and coming" catamount in New England.
(Or perhaps it's just another pet or release lurking about.)
I have a very strong suspicion that someone right here in our own backyard will be writing "The Beast in the Garden, Part 2" in my lifetime.

 

[funkyfreddy]

I was told of mountain lion sightings in the Sandwich/Wonalancet area of NH in the late 90's. I'm not too surprised to hear of more, especially knowing as we do that a male cougar can wander from the Dakotas to CT.....

Keep those cards and letters coming and TYVM Stan

 

[hikingmaineac]

Not in my back yard: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R1i7_vPp9Wc&feature=related

 

[mtnpa]

Canada Lynx Documented in Northern New Hampshire

http://www.wildnh.com/Newsroom/News_2011/news_2011_Q4/lynx_documented_120911.html

 

[Billy]

There are snow leopards in Rhode Island........well, at the zoo anyway. In the second photo, he/she was staring at a group of small children (aka lunch) walking by.