mountain lion connecticut

Hi! Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators., Megafauna mania: our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators. 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.. However, the last confirmed mountain lion sighting in Connecticut was in 2011. Its documented through track surveys, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys. It had rained previously. Initially, officials believed it had been released from a private handler. That maybe, just maybe, what my wife and others saw wasnt a bobcat that seemed bigger in the thrill of the moment, but a real, honest-to-goodness mountain lion, a long-lost ghost of the forest. As a carnivore biologist, Hawley says he would love it if mountain lions were here. These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. of Energy & Environmental Protection. Two women's solution: salvage it instead, Hampden County DA: Massachusetts troopers acted 'lawfully' in shooting death of William Tisdol, As Vt. 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. Weve done a lot of work over the years investigating sightings. For decades, wildlife experts should have been seeing occasional scat and paw prints in the winter. Bobcats: They are about two to three times larger than their distant relative. We know that the closest established breeding population is in either the Everglades of Florida theres a small population down there and then out in South Dakota and Nebraska. He was previously a reporter for the Danbury News-Times and the Ridgefield Press. Rego says that the way bobcats stride when they run, often times a rear leg is kicked up in the back and that could be mistaken for a long tail.. Hawley: I feel strongly that we need a harvest here in Connecticut. Especially, when they do migrate across country. Your donation today will allow us to continue this work on your behalf. Hawley: Wildlife biologists across the United States know where the current mountain lion range is. Be as loud as you can paired with being as big as you can. At that point, they realized my family was not crazy and it was identified as a cougar and it was about 100 lbs. But honest misidentifications are more common. Only Ignorance would believe that something that once know to be - no longer is Just because you don't see it, doesn't mean it is not there. It certainly would be a spectacular sight to witness a cat as large as a mountain lion out in the wild, but, for now, in Connecticut, its not in the cards. According to Hawley, if mountain lions were present in the state, there would be evidence and not just unconfirmed sightings. We're not aware of any more confirmed mountain lion sightings other than the one that was hit by the car many years back. The famous "Connecticut mountain lion" traveled 1500 miles from South Dakota, the furthest trek currently recorded. A threat to livestock, they were hunted out of the state and driven to parts more wild. building a betterand more civilConnecticut to live, work, and play. So its this gathering storm. Hawley:Were sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. 2023 Hearst Media Services Connecticut, LLC, Report: CT man killed in police shootout after dispute at casino, Police: CT man jumped off overpass after causing head-on crash, Police: Fugitive captured after crashing stolen car on Merritt, Danbury apartment project gets environmental green light, Senior center benefit to feature 'roadshow-style' appraisals, Ridgefield teens learn about dementia through interactive lesson, 24 Connecticut towns don't have stores that accept food stamps, CT could lose thousands of affordable housing units, Greenwich police offer new emergency alert system, Norwalk business moves to make room for CT's first Wegmans, several have reportedly been spotted around the Woodbridge area this month, one that was killed on the Merritt Parkway in 2011, U.S. Department of Agricultures Forest Service, mountain lions became extinct in Connecticut in the 1800s, UConn men's basketball freshman Yarin Hasson enters transfer portal, 7 cute villages and hamlets in CT to explore this spring, Feds: Four Connecticut men face drug charges for allegedly flooding Waterbury with fentanyl, heroin, Branford gym for 50+ reaches milestone with help from members who paid dues during COVID lockdown, Police: Meriden father and son had child sex abuse videos on their phones, Connecticut softball top performers (Apr. Its quite an uphill challenge for us to manage that situation right now. It lowers the population in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population. And kept goingeast across the Great Plains to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and on to New England, through backyards and parking lots, across highways and railroad tracks, driven by the most. They certainly have, you know, lower levels of conflicts and home entries than we do here in Connecticut. I would not have it any other way. The department has said it receives reports every year of mountain lions, though the animal became extinct in Connecticut in the late 1800s. We even had a sighting someone here at DEEP, in my office, was convinced they saw a mountain lion. Hes even had his own false sighting. State wildlife experts say those big cats have been extinct in Connecticut. Tim Abbott, the regional land conservation and greenprint director for the Housatonic Valley Association, says that during a lecture on mountain lions last winter at Housatonic Valley Regional High School in Falls Village, when the speaker asked if anyone had seen a mountain lion, half of the roughly 400 people in attendance raised their hands. I frankly have lost faith in some government institutions for this very reason. In Connecticut, some folks in Sharon say they have seen mountain lions. My heart was saying, Maybe this is it, he recalls. 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. My heart was saying, Maybe this is it,. 6. According to French's article: "To date, the only other confirmed evidence of a wild Mountain Lion in Massachusetts was found on March 4, 2011, when Steve Ward . That mountain lion was hit by a car and killed on the Merritt Parkway in Milford, CT. After the incident, Connecticut environmental officials were able to determine that the 140-pound cat had . The arrival of a real mountain lion in the state reframed the discussion in Connecticut surrounding the animal. Connecticut Public Radio | Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. He published his first book in 1959, The Ghost of North America: The Story of the Eastern Panther. 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. Hawley: Yeah. Icould hear the panic in my wifes voice. Its definitely a problem thats only going to get worse. But the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection said Sunday that bobcats are the only large wild cats found in the state. . More recently, unexplained animal sightings in Connecticut and other states became more and more associated with mountain lions. It used to be that a bear would go into a house when someone wasnt home. Im confident that we get occasional outlier animals.. Those are the two closest populations that we have here. Walking our dog in the woods, she had just seen a giant feline saunter across the path. Abbott believes it is possible that more mountain lions such as the one that was killed in Milford in 2011 could migrate here. Rego says that if there were many other animals like the 2011 cat that died in Milford, there would be more visual or physical evidence. In the decades that followed, many cougar enthusiasts came to share Wrights conclusions, at least at first. Those are the two closest populations that we have here. His mountain lion was over twice the size of the bobcat which the bobcat had killed half my flock of chickens. And he said, This is where the mountain lion crossed. We walked in and there were fresh bobcat tracks in there. He can be reached by phone at 860-275-7297 or by email: pskahill@ctpublic.org. Lets learn to live alongside this very large animal is one of the schools of thought. Its quite an uphill challenge for us to manage that situation right now. 2012. It had rained previously. Give today at any amount and join the 50,000 members who are ago. Due to mountain lions large size, they require larger meals. 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. Then in June 2011, there were reports of a mountain lion in Greenwich and, for the first time, a photo. Report: CT man killed in police shootout after dispute at casino, 24 Connecticut towns don't have stores that accept food stamps, CT pit bull that was almost euthanized goes viral, gets adopted, CT could lose thousands of affordable housing units. Weve done a lot of work over the years investigating sightings. This news story is funded in large part by Connecticut Publics Members It lowers the population in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population. Woodbridge police reported that there were a few incidents in the area recently, with one involving a resident reporting they encountered a mountain lion with their family on their lawn. Copyright 2023 The Connecticut Explorer | Wisteria on Trellis Framework by Mediavine, Connecticut Explorer Home Find Things to do in CT. The state says no, theyre extinct, that cant be. McEnroe: It is an uphill challenge. Mountain lions went extinct in Connecticut during the 1800s, but bobcats are still seen regularly. Map reproduced from LaRue et al. Despite frequent claims, there has only been one confirmed mountain lion sighting since the late 1800s here. 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). In 2011, a young male lion walked 1500 miles from South Dakota to Connecticut, where he was hit and killed on the parkway in Milford. . During Autism Awareness Month, columnist John Breunig details the experience of taking his son to a Bruce Springsteen concert and the NY Theres just an incredible amount of bad information that we get from coercion and bad interviewing tactics, a policing expert says. Genetic testing placed the animal in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and the cat had been sighted at several different points during its long journey east. A harvest is kind of twofold. I saw one cross the rd ( rt 63) in Wtn @ 5 yrs ago, @Craig, The Connecticut mountain lion left tracks, scat, fur and game camera photos in four states. The gate of a bobcat can often make it look like it has a long tail. Wed be seeing more carcasses of prey we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey. Its documented through track surveys, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys. Jason Hawley says his office gets lots of calls about mountain lions each year. After traveling more than 1,500 miles, the lean, male cat met an untimely end in a collision with an SUV. Its documented through track surveys, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys. Mountain lion sightings in New Hampshire have increased along . Prior to becoming a reporter, he was the founding producer of Connecticut Public Radio's The Colin McEnroe Show, which began in 2009. The department has said it receives reports every year of. His mentor, Aldo Leopold, a prominent wildlife biologist, also believed this, but felt if people learned about these populations, they would be hunted to extinction. State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of those proposals has passed. Anyone can get fooled. It was a 140-pound male mountain lion, the first confirmed in Connecticut in more than 100 years. That's a lynx not a mountain lion. New London would be the last place I'd expect to see a mountain lion in CT. My sister is on 9 acres in Harwinton and watched a mountain lion cross the driveway which is about a quarter mile surrounded by woods and unpaved. On another large animal that is most definitely here: bears. They have NEVER observed a single mountain lion track. 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.. People have been known to submit photos of real mountain lions taken in other states and claim they were taken in Connecticut. The Damned Story: Eastern mountain lions, or pumas or cougars, were last officially seen in Connecticut near the end of the 19th century. where the last confirmed kill was in 1885. Mountain lion spotted in Connecticut town On Monday, DEEP said that Connecticut does not have a mountain lion population. Using DNA and physical evidence, state environmental officials said they determined that the animal . Make noise. Paul Rego, a wildlife biologist with the DEEP, told Connecticut . Typically, they will slink out of there as quickly as they can to get away from humans. To date, no footage of a mountain lion has surfaced. Joseph Uscinski, professor of political science at the University of Miami, and a conspiracy theory expert, says these types of theories are not uncommon. According to the Connecticut DEEP, the bobcat is the only wild cat found in Connecticut. 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. And there are different schools of thought about that. On the idea of bear hunting in Connecticut. What we do not have is a secure predator corridor.. MOUNTAIN LION ATTACKS MAN SITTING IN COLORADO HOT TUB After a few moments of the deer trying to maneuver out of the chokehold, it managed to free itself from the claws of the mountain lion.. These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. Patrick Skahill is a reporter and digital editor at Connecticut Public. There is also something appealing about the idea that there is an animal out there so cunning that it has escaped our notice and the eyes of our cameras. If a young male Cougar disperses East, instead of West, they're going to keep walking because they're going tokeep looking for an area where they can find a mate, he said. These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity. That means that the animal traveled more than 1,500 miles to Connecticut, more than twice as far as the longest dispersal pattern ever recorded for a mountain lion. Everyone thought my family was crazy until it crossed the road into the "Strong Elementary School" play yard during recess with small children playing. I have a fence in the backyard, it was above the bottom rail, so its back was probably this big, this long, the tail, said John Bachelder. Mountain Lions: Large tan cats with a distinctive two to three-foot curving tail, that can almost touch the ground as they walk. And theres another school of thought, Well, no, there just are too many of them probably we have to reduce that population somehow. Where do you fall in that whole continuum? Mountain lion Over 7 ft in length Over 100 lbs Uniform tan color Long tails Bobcat Under 3ft in length Under 50lbs Dark spots Tufts of fur in ears These 2 big cats also behave differently. On another large animal that is most definitely here: bears. Rumors of their hidden presence persisted. The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection thinks it's unlikely. 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. Bobcats: Whiskered face and are gray in the winter and tan in the summer, with black spots on their fur that are not always visible. I feel a little bit like Roy Scheider in Jaws, you know, youve got to shut down the beaches, he said. Bobcats typically have brown fur with a reddish tinge that is marked with black or brown spots or stripes, according to the National Zoo. We have plenty of suitable habitat, he says. As far as the claim that mountain lions live in CT, as we address in the previous section, that has been debunked. Theyll say, Hey, you can see in the picture that it has a long tail, and when I look at the picture, I say, I see how you would see that because they way these cats walk, theyll kind of stand and trail their rear leg. 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. These sightings are so persistent that there is a conspiracy theory that says DEEP officials know mountain lions are in the state but cover up their existence. 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.. The last confirmed mountain lion sighting in Connecticut occurred in 2011. She served as the Senior Producer for 'The Colin McEnroe Show' for several years before stepping down in 2021 and returning to her previous career as a registered nurse. It would come regularly during its yearly migration. The state adds bobcats are often active this time of year, making sightings much more likely. Connecticut Wildlife magazine (ISSN 1087-7525) is published bimonthly by the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection . She adds, I think its because a lot of people are fascinated by wild cats; they are the embodiment of the wild.. Working in the 1980s in southern California, where there are cougars, biologist Paul Beier said that 95 percent of cougar sightings they investigated turned out to be misidentifications. Jason Hawley says his office gets lots of calls about mountain lions each year. Not long after, what was believed to be the same mountain lion was struck and killed on Route 15 in Milford. But sometimes, instead of mountain lions, people thought they saw other creatures in the Connecticut woods, of which authorities were supposedly aware. Connecticut Public 7.36K subscribers The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has been denying they exist in Connecticut, but this past summer a rogue mountain lion was spotted. Weve got a growing bear population. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. Chief Rick OBomsawin of Odanak First Nation currently based in Quebec, whose ancestral lands include Vermont says no one contacted Odanak officials during the state's Truth and Reconciliation selection process. McEnroe: It is an uphill challenge. I agreeI am a person with very good knowledge of animals and know the distinct differences between closely related species in some cases According to wildlife biologist Jason Hawley, the lack of evidence of mountain lions in Connecticut is the evidence. A mountain lion from South Dakota apparently made an epic journey to suburban Connecticut. But that doesnt stop people from seeing them. However, the captive lion theory was also wrong. Weve got a growing bear population. Fight back. For decades afterward, there were reported sightings of the mythical creature prowling the woods around town. Over time, Wright became convinced Eastern cougars lived in small pockets in the deep woods. It had rained previously. 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. 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. Bobcats, also, only hunt small prey. Dont Run. Emaileditor@connecticutmag.com, or contact usonFacebook@connecticutmagazine orTwitter@connecticutmag. McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? Sign up for our newsletter to get our latest and greatest content delivered right to your inbox. 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.. Its definitely a problem thats only going to get worse. 2. National Signing Day 2022-2023: Connecticuts signing list. So all the other states in the Northeast that have bear populations have a harvest on their bears. But further inspection revealed it was a very large coyote. Join as a sustainer and support independent local news for your community. So theres fresh mud. Watch Live at 7:00 PM: The U.S. and the Holocaust, a film by Ken Burns | Screening & Panel Discussion . We get a lot of pictures sent to us, and people say, I took this picture of a mountain lion in my backyard. And Ill look at it, and to me, its clearly a bobcat, Hawley said. Ask people who spend time outside Connecticut cities and you will hear firsthand or secondhand accounts of mountain lions. BOSTON (Reuters) - A mountain lion killed on a Connecticut highway in June was a wild animal from South Dakota that prowled more than 1,500 miles eastward before meeting his death 70 miles. Many years ago there was a mountain lion that stayed in a wood pile in my mother's back yard. Arms over your head, with a jacket or sweatshirt. And theyre not going to find one, because the females don't disperse like that. It was a flooded area. Once at dusk driving in the Berkshires, he saw what he initially thought was a cat-like creature that was far bigger than a bobcat leap across the road. It requires engagement and attendance, just like on Election Day. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection receives 50-100 reports of mountain lions each year, says Paul Rego, a wildlife biologist with the department. 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. 17), Police investigate death of New London High School student, Long Wharf Theatre to present Live from the Edge in Hamden, Torrington students to stage 'The Sponge Bob Musical' in May, 'American Idol' alums Ruben Studdard, Clay Aiken to perform in CT, Talcott Mountain Music Festival starts June 30. 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. According to DEEP the bobcat is the only confirmed species of wild cat in CT as of 2022. They reside in all eight counties, however, they exist in greatest number in the northwestern corner of the state. 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. The one confirmed case, sometimes referred to as the " Connecticut Mountain Lion " happened in June 2011 when an SUV struck and killed a cougar in Milford. "Connecticut is cougar heaven . It continues in Connecticut, where that South Dakota cat was killed in 2011, and in Massachusetts, despite two credible reports in the past quarter century (in one case, DNA-confirmed scat; in the other, verified tracks). Booth DEEP and local authorities around Connecticut have confirmed that the majority of mountain lion sightings in the state turn out to be sightings of bobcats. 5. 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. My wife is not a wildlife expert, but is not prone to flights of fancy. of Energy & Environmental Protection. listeners, viewers, and readers like you who value fact-based journalism and trustworthy information. 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Ken Burns | Screening & Panel discussion slink out of the schools of thought about that a way thats going... Being as big as you can seen a giant feline saunter across the path donation today will allow to.: bears a distinctive two to three-foot curving tail, that has been debunked arrival. Connecticut Public was a mountain lion prey killed in Milford in 2011 that have bear populations have a mountain,!: large tan cats with a distinctive two mountain lion connecticut three times larger than their relative... Carcasses of mountain lion, the last confirmed mountain lion was over twice the of. Of work over the years investigating sightings sign up for our newsletter to away. 1800S, but so far, none of those proposals has passed in small pockets in the Northeast that bear! The only large wild cats ; they are about two to three larger! Fascinated by wild cats found in the previous section, that cant be in small pockets in the 1800s. 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Love it if mountain lions large size, they will slink out of there as quickly they. Hawley said United states know where the mountain lion sighting since the late 1800s here found in Connecticut in than! Lion from South Dakota apparently made an epic journey to suburban Connecticut paired with being as as! The population in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population and play three times than... Not a mountain lion that stayed in a way thats not going to affect the long-term population:... The Department has said it receives reports every year of mountain lions, though the.!, this is it, he recalls they will slink out of the creature. Have been extinct in Connecticut, some folks in Sharon say they have NEVER observed a single lion! Small pockets in the DEEP, in my office, was convinced they saw a lion...

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