Have a map downloaded. Im not an expert on human psychology, but if youre looking for something, you have a greater chance of actually seeing it. Canton and Simsbury have also had about 70 sightings. But its also a great story that lays out how an animal this large, at 150 pounds, traveling through even rural areas, leaves signs and is detected. Conserving Tolland President and founder Roseann Kellner Gottier said that the issue has become important for the region and is glad the lecture was well-attended. Weight: 160 lbs. This one cat left DNA and/or photographic evidence of its presence in at least four states Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are Hawley: Wildlife biologists across the United States know where the current mountain lion range is. But Bachelder stresses he knows what he saw. From sightings of wolves and moose to brown recluses and mountain lions, people in CT have made some wild (pun intended) claims about what animals theyve spotted. I couldnt tell you how happy I would be if mountain lions were actually recolonizing the state of Connecticut, Hawley says, but its just not happening., Hawley spoke about bobcats, mountain lions and bears on The Colin McEnroe Show: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators.. Somebody needs to take charge of this outfit and do something about the interactions with the citizenry. According to authorities, the mountain lion was reportedly seen on Friday including on. However, the National Wildlife Federation notes that the mountain lions range spreads all across the Americas, from the Canadian Yukon to The Strait of Magellan, making it the greatest range of any living mammal in the Americas.. He can be reached by phone at 860-275-7297 or by email: pskahill@ctpublic.org. Are there any mountain lions in CT? Eastern Cougar Sightings Mountain Lions in New York. Re (2): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct - By Ryan January 31, 2016 at 11:16:51 PM. By, March 2023 Fund Drive Rules and Regulations, Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org. It was found, though, that this particular big cat had traveled all the way from South Dakota a distance of 1,500 miles. 4:30 PM. Running joke in the family when we see one is "But of course it wasn't a Mountain Lion, because there are no Mountain Lions in CT". Mountain Lion Sightings in CT. Was the animal a pet set free? Email editor@connecticutmag.com. The nearest known populations of mountain lions are in Wyoming, Colorado, North . The state says no, theyre extinct, that cant be. Body coloration can range from tan to gray and cubs are usually covered with blackish brown spots. There is a big difference between Tuesday when none of us saw a moose in our region and then Thursday we did, Morse says. There are mountain lions in connecticut. It is the only confirmed presence of a cougar in recent years. Ask people who spend time outside Connecticut cities and you will hear firsthand or secondhand accounts of mountain lions. Top Speed: 50 mph. You can subscribe to Connecticut Magazine here, or find the current issue on sale here. A harvest is kind of twofold. Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators., Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators, For the first time in decades, The Old Farmer's Almanac is looking for a new editor, NSC-131 members say they can't find a NH defense lawyer for pending civil rights case, Cautiously optimistic: Maple syrup producers expect a good season this year, In Spokane, Washington, officials test a housing strategy rejected by NH lawmakers. Are these elusive cats prowling the East once again? They are also known as pumas, cougars and panthers. Its important to stand your ground and not run or hide. (UPDATE, JANUARY 19, 2022) The Great Falls Police Department said on Wednesday morning that the mountain lion that has been lurking around town for the last . For over 30 years the CT DEEP has been tracking reported sightings and maintain it has never observed or found proof that mountain lions are still here in the state. If you follow local news outlets and local social media pages, youll notice a common theme when it comes to wildlife sightings people often mistake one type of animal for another. Sometimes people feared fishers (erroneously attributing the blood-curdling screams of foxes to these hard-to-spot creatures), and in the late 1930s, after several animals were slain under strange circumstances in Glastonbury, the Hartford Courant dubbed the lion-like creature supposedly responsible, the Glawackus. Dashboard for displaying mountain lion reports to the public. We even had a sighting someone here at DEEP, in my office, was convinced they saw a mountain lion. The police department decided to put out a warning to those in town. Many people do not realize how large a grown Bobcat is. Hawley, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, says data dont support a breeding population of mountain lions in Connecticut. 60-108 inches. Contrary to traditional thought, population studies have shown that mountain lions prefer rolling hills and more heavily developed areas to remote mountain regions. of Energy and Environmental Protection. Im always amazed at the sheer volume of people who are interested in cougars, more even than wolves, she says. COMPARED TO A HOUSE CAT Bobcats: They are about two to three times larger than their distant relative. "Mountain lions are considered extinct in the northeast." Bobcats are not uncommon in Connecticut, according to the state, although their population is limited throughout the state, with the. Its definitely a problem thats only going to get worse. And there are different schools of thought about that. The state adds bobcats are often active this time of year, making sightings much more likely. Copyright 2023 The Connecticut Explorer | Wisteria on Trellis Framework by Mediavine, Connecticut Explorer Home Find Things to do in CT. Mountain lions also have tails that can grow up to 3 feet. For more information on cougars in Connecticut, visit theCougars of the Valley siteor theConnecticut Department of Energy & Environmental Protection. Rego has many reasons why a conspiracy to conceal mountain lions by his colleagues at DEEP is impossible. Ive seen bobcats before, this wasnt a bobcat. And its a lose-lose situation, because theres really not a whole lot you can tell them in most cases thats going to change their mind.. State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of those proposals has passed. A couple things to keep in mind if you come across or see a big cat like a Mountain Lion: 1. They are very bold. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. Hawley: That animal was documented. Young pumas dispersing from Western habitats are being killed at the source, compromising the Easts critical opportunity for ecosystem health and the return of an apex carnivore., Regardless of where they are found, or whether people want to hunt or protect them, people are enchanted by mountain lions. Eastern cougars (mountain lions) do not have a native, self sustaining population in New York State. Today, instead of focusing on cougar sightings in Eastern states, many cougar enthusiasts want to protect the animal from being hunted in the regions in which they are currently found. A fourth cougar sighting in recent days was reported near the New Canaan border Thursday, according to Animal Control officer Allyson Halm. All rights reserved. Live Now All times eastern. 3. Mountain lions were hunted to extinction near the end of the 19th century. Rumors of their hidden presence persisted. And he said, This is where the mountain lion crossed. We walked in and there were fresh bobcat tracks in there. There also should have been evidence of animals killed by the predators and roadkill. The Mountain Lion is a large, slender cat with a smallish head and noticeably long tail. She had seen an animal on foot in broad daylight. Stephen Gencarella, professor of folklore studies at the University of Massachusetts and a Connecticut resident, says, The government coverup is only the latest version of something that could stretch back in the oral tradition to precolonial times. He notes that supposed mountain lion sightings spiked in the late 1800s and early 1900s shortly after the animals disappeared from New Englands woods. So why does the conspiracy theory that theyre here in significant numbers persist? NHPR is nonprofit and independent. Tandmlally@yahoo.com. Inevitably, the New England states will acknowledge that they have some mountain lions.. Sometimes in our shock and excitement at seeing wildlife we see what we want to see. Connecticut Public Radio | Beautiful trail! Woodbridge police shared tips for if you encounter a big cat: On Friday July 8, 2022 there was a few reported Mountain Lion sightings the last few days one actually involving an encounter with ones family in their lawn. I've damn near run over the things. McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? Based on this blurry photo and pawprints, confirmed it was likely a mountain lion. Walking our dog in the woods, she had just seen a giant feline saunter across the path. Wright, however, didnt agree with his mentor and began writing publicly about mountain lions in the East. Mistaken reports of mountain lions are most commonly bobcats. Black panthers, which are not found in the U.S., are actually black jaguars or leopards. Betty said that, according to officials, it's thought that there has been no reproducing, native population in the state since the 1920s. According to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, mountain lions became extinct in Connecticut in the 1800s, and bobcats are the only large wild cats found in the state. Mountain lions are about half the size of lions, but they can run up to 50 mph while lions can run only 37 mph. So, there you have it an answer to the question of whether or not there are mountain lions in CT. It went through my yard, went up behind, I have some property, past my barn, went into the woods, east, lots of woods back there, just disappeared.. I reported it to the DEP and they said they dont exist, he said. It was a 140-pound male mountain lion, the first confirmed in Connecticut in more than 100 years. The gate of a bobcat can often make it look like it has a long tail. Bobcats, also, only hunt small prey. In the 1930s, Bruce Wright, an influential wildlife manager from New Brunswick, Canada, began gathering reports of sightings of mountain lions in the East and searching for their tracks. State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of those proposals has passed. Report a Moose Sighting Select the link above to report your sighting. However, lions are unpredictable and can be dangerous. Jan. 6, 2016 Updated: Jan. 6, . Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. NOW - 4:30 PM. They certainly have, you know, lower levels of conflicts and home entries than we do here in Connecticut. Im Shelton Lively, a Connecticut resident, and an avid outdoors person. On another large animal that is most definitely here: bears. Mountain Lions: They are officially extinct. On a mountain lion that died on a Connecticut highway. Yet we see nothing about what is being planned except how to scare them away if one sees them. But further inspection revealed it was a very large coyote. To answer these and other questions about sightings of mountain lions, I turned to DEEPs Rego, who has investigated many purported cougar sightings over the past three decades. This might serve as proof to some that there, in fact, might still be mountain lions in CT. As I said previously, Ive been doing this for 40 years. An adult male bobcat can reach four feet in length and 35 to 40 pounds. Over time, Wright became convinced Eastern cougars lived in small pockets in the deep woods. A month after the cat was struck and killed, researchers confirmed it had traveled more than 1,500 miles from the Black Hills of South Dakota. WOODBRIDGE, CT (WFSB) Police in Woodbridge said they have received reports of mountain lion sightings in town. We have people eating dinner in their kitchen, they hear a noise, all of a sudden a bear walks in, so they run into their bedroom to get away from the bear, while the bears out ransacking their refrigerator. Its fur is a light, tawny brown color which can appear gray or almost black, depending on light conditions. Betty recommended that anyone who encounters a cougar should make themselves large, raise their hands and yell. Since then, there have been no confirmed cases here, with the state saying: People very often mistake bobcats for mountain lions. It was a lion-like cat with a tan coat and no spots that was about three times the size of our 30- to 35-pound dog. (https://wildlifeinformer.com/what-to-do-if-you-encounter-a-mountain-lion/). No, there are no mountain lions in CT, and there havent been for quite some time. Or at least theyre not supposed to be. 4. Ive seen bobcats before, this wasnt a bobcat. And its a lose-lose situation, because theres really not a whole lot you can tell them in most cases thats going to change their mind.. Many, many times, in many different ways along its travel up through Minnesota, Michigan and to Canada, down through New York, through hair samples, blood samples, trail camera photos. Wait a minute--there was a sighting in New London County a few years back, and my wife read an article about a mountain lion or cougar being struck by a vehicle in Milford a few years back. As unlikely as it sounds, it was a more believable theory than some of the alternatives, among them that the cat was evidence of a breeding population in the state that was being kept secret by DEEP. When you look at a state like Connecticut, with all the people we have here, all the trail cameras we have in the woods, all the cars we have driving you can imagine if we had an established population here in Connecticut, we would know about it pretty quickly. Connecticut Dept. Anyone can get fooled. Hawley:Were sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. Its a cool story with how far that animal walked. Copyright 2022 WFSB. Re (1): Mountain Lion sighting in Brookfield ct - By russ January 30, 2016 at 05:10:25 PM. In general, the audience members seemed to agree with Bettys views. Sign up for our newsletterto get the latest and greatest content fromConnecticut Magazinedelivered right to your inbox. Breweries in New Haven, CT you MUST Visit! From family fun to restaurants and everything in between, everything you need to know about CT is right here. The current editor of the publication, which is based in New Hampshire, explains why the job is worth sticking around. Dashboard for displaying mountain lion reports to the public. A threat to livestock, they were hunted out of the state and driven to parts more wild. Especially when pictures are blurry which happens a lot in trail cameras or youll get pictures taken at night or something on Ring cameras that hind leg really does often look like a tail kind of curling up behind the animal.. Using DNA and physical evidence, state environmental officials said they determined that the animal . They usually either don't disperse at all or they'll kind of overlap their mother's home range, or they'll disperse very short distances.. Grandson of an old swamp Yankee, trapped, hunted , fished my whole life. Two mountain lion sightings have been confirmed in Tennessee. Weve got a growing bear population. But honest misidentifications are more common. The history of this theory in Connecticut and New England goes back long before our current era of fake news. In the wild, they live 8-13 years, but in captivity they can live into their 20s. When we lived in Suffield, we had MANY Mountain Lion sightings.probably 4-5 sightings (which qualifies as many to me) and they were definitely not Bobcats, @Craig, what town is Wtn? This article appeared in theNovember 2019issue ofConnecticut Magazine. Sometimes people feared fishers (erroneously attributing the blood-curdling screams of foxes to these hard-to-spot creatures), and in the late 1930s, after several animals were slain under strange circumstances in Glastonbury, the. Adult males typically weigh between 18 and 35 pounds and measure from 32 to 37 inches in length. The Damned Story: Eastern mountain lions, or pumas or cougars, were last officially seen in Connecticut near the end of the 19th century. Watch Live at 7:00 PM: The U.S. and the Holocaust, a film by Ken Burns | Screening & Panel Discussion . We're not aware of any more confirmed mountain lion sightings other than the one that was hit by the car many years back. Bobcats don't shy away from human habitats, while mountain lions tend to only be found in very isolated areas. Make noise-- be as loud as you can while you make yourself as big as you can. The New Hampshire Department of Justice is pursuing civil charges against two members of the hate group for allegedly hanging a racist banner in Portsmouth last summer. The whole trail is very . Give today. Were getting more and more home entries every year. She was also the voice behind the weekly Connecticut Real Estate newsletter by CT Insider. After all, if one mountain lion had wandered here, didnt that mean that others could have? Im watching it, its big, its got the body, and the thing that really gave it away was the tail, had that mountain lion long tail that goes down to the ground and comes up at the end, saw that and was like, thats a freaking mountain lion.. Have you seen a puma or bobcat in your neighborhood? More recently, unexplained animal sightings in Connecticut and other states became more and more associated with mountain lions. We hope their support inspires you to donate so that we can continue telling stories that inform, educate, and inspire you and your neighbors. This young male cougar was found to . According to wildlife biologist Jason Hawley, the lack of evidence of mountain lions in Connecticut is the evidence. When we lived in Suffield, we had MANY Mountain Lion sightings.probably 4-5 sightings (which qualifies as many to me) and they were definitely not Bobcats. TPWD Confirmed Mountain Lions. Its a cool story with how far that animal walked. These tips include carrying safety equipment and walking . Tolland resident Loren Gerber said that he and his wife have both seen cougars in the area. Its documented through track surveys, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys. Hear the full interview: Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators. It was a flooded area. It is also the most common wild cat found in North America. Since May 21, three other lion sightings were reported in the Chubbuck and Pocatello areas and one in Inkom. Bobcats typically have brown fur with a reddish tinge that is marked with black or brown spots or stripes, according to the National Zoo. Despite frequent claims, there has only been one confirmed mountain lion sighting since the late 1800s here. Since cougars are the second largest cat in North America and a natural predator, they can pose a threat. My heart was saying, Maybe this is it, he recalls. Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Not really, Rego says. New Hampshire Public Radio | Hey, I know what I saw. "We have yet to see anything that suggests they're around here." Prior to becoming a reporter, he was the founding producer of Connecticut Public Radio's The Colin McEnroe Show, which began in 2009. Youll get the answer to this question in this article. Mountain lions inhabit the badlands and Missouri River breaks regions of North Dakota. McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? Connecticut is the only confirmed presence of a cougar in recent days was reported the! Hunting season for years, but in captivity they can pose a threat to livestock, they were hunted of. No mountain lions, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys are also known as pumas, cougars and.... Dakota a distance of 1,500 miles more heavily developed areas to remote mountain regions more than years! With a smallish head and noticeably long tail who are interested in,... 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