Theres tracks everywhere. I found a second scat scent both to him. So I would put this in the category of sort of like shark attacks right. So and so the idea that they can follow up on every individual sighting is just crazy right. Administrative Links. It's completely possible that it may have spent time in New Hampshire and went undetected but had it stayed in the area ultimately it would have been detected over time. And in fact in 2011 when it was announced that the eastern cougar was officially extinct the reason that announcement was made is because they said really that it never existed. I mean there was this one lady I remember and tough tomorrow. The species that once inhabited the Northeast, known as the eastern mountain lion, is now extinct. Why do people keep seeing mountain lions (which aren't here) but not Yeah 13 to 15 years ago 13 to 15 years ago. And I think a lot of folks would like them to be around. And they used to be this whole list of the different subspecies of mountain lion and it has since been reduced to just to the North American and the South American. The engineers Dan Colgan our senior producer is Allan Grimm. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. Long before NASA was asked to put a man on the moon one engineer had already figured out how to get there. Mark Elbroch doesnt think so. I mean no doubt a seen Bobcat seen his stuff. So. Caller: So I've been telling this story for five years or so and very few people believe me. While State Denies Mtn Lions are in NH, Numerous Sightings Say In my New Hampshire career I have written several, and seen at least 20, stories along the lines of "local person thinks they saw a mountain lion but there's no actual evidence aside from. Love hearing these stories. 50 feet above the most. Patrick Tate: I've from all the situations I've read and learned about wildlife. Thanks very much. The second story window through about 30 feet away from it. And there are thousands of mountain lions killed every year legally through hunting, and there have been untold tens of thousands of mountain lions killed by hunters over the last hundred years, says Mark Elbroch, the Puma Program Director for Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organization, So even the folks who live with mountain lions still have a fancy and see something thats not there to me thats incredible.. Are these big cats back?Subscribe to WMUR on YouTube now for more: http://bit.ly/1lOjX9CGet more Manchester news: http://wmur.comLike us: http://facebook.com. Thank you very much for being here. The species that once inhabited the Northeast, known as the eastern mountain lion, is now extinct. NHFG Wildlife Biologist Patrick Tate identifies this cat as a bobcat. It was in the spring flash kind of early summer and my wife looked at you look at the size of an adult bear and we were up in arms. Patrick Tate: And there's one other way to model that is the same animal. Known to exist in the state for over well over a hundred years. Wildlife biologist breaks down mountain lion sightings in CT | New We'll also hear your stories if you have them again. There's no logic for why they'd be listed as an endangered species. Peter Biello: Sam I wanted to ask you a little bit about that first and then turn to Patrick Tate efficient game. What gets confusing is when you have a large adult animal and a smaller juvenile animal of a different species you can now step start beginning talking about overlapping body weights and sizes. The way that we define species has undergone a revolution with the advent of DNA testing. As recently as 2011 there was one young male mountain lion that cruised all the way from the black hills of South Dakota, up over the Great Lakes, down through New Yorkgetting spotted all along the waykilled a beaver near the Quabbin Reservoir in Central Massachusetts, left behind prints and DNA at that site, and then was hit by a car in Connecticut. Sam. There'd be there'd be all sorts of you know basically a lot of hassle required if that were to happen. So if you were to ask me has a mountain lion ever passed through New Hampshire and been spotted by somebody who wasnt able to get hard evidence? Id personally be willing to say "probably, yes.". "Of those three to five reports,. And sometimes I've seen pictures of those where it's the question is What is that is that a bobcat. But you can continue the conversation on Facebook or at our Web site and HP Borg. Peter Biello: We at this e-mailed comment from Michael. Phone number 1 800. Email exchange it an HP fraud org or give us a call 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. You treat it as if it's a sincere situation. Copyright New Hampshire Fish and Game Department.An official New Hampshire government website. Absolutely. All they think it traveled north through Canada up you know crossed across the Great Lakes and then and then down again through New York State. If you go on YouTube and search mount lion Pat you can see people patent their hundred pound kiddie like its regular mascot cat. Peter Biello: Wow. N.H. Monday, December 5th: Mountain Lions in New Hampshire? BRADFORD, N.H. - All that snow in parts of the Northeast has more than just kids jumping for winter joy. Yes. There's always been physical evidence to prove those situations like hair or fur scat hair prints pictures of the animal print scat hair. Peter Biello: And then it ran away okay. John you're on the air. Mountain Lion | Squam Lakes Natural Science Center But if you were to get Western dispersing mountain lions just would just sort of expanding into New Hampshire. Peter Biello: This is the exchange on an HP yard today we're talking about the mysterious elusive majestic Mystic Mountain Lion. Infinite Scroll Enabled. About Lions. So for those reasons I don't believe the standards are too high the amount of game cameras out on the landscape to record images department alone through contracts had over 150 throughout the state biologists go through various deer yards throughout the year. No that's a little bit outside the range. So try to take photographs if you see something like this. So it's there was no question in my mind. I mean it wasn't your idea. Through DNA they approximate area in the United States or North America where I was born. I think as Pat was saying you know 35 to 50 pounds on a male be reasonable range whereas mountain lions you're up to 100 110 maybe even 130 pounds on a big male. There is some information that suggests that it spent a portion of its time in Massachusetts near the Claiborne reservoir. So it's six months of a large large predatory animal that moves great distances on the landscape that is not known if it went northeast west Salt and how many circles it did. Windham Life and Times - November 15, 2019 We send out DNA samples to the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. Some of the reports that I looked into that were actually on file at the local fish and game office were even from people who did not live locally. My wife and I saw a mountain lion. Mountain Lion Population (In Each U.S. State) - Wildlife Informer Had great trees behind it beautiful ferns on the ground so it brought me down on the site and the ferns on the ground matched. Early in the morning. There's never, ever, ever, ever been a documented case of a black mountain lion. And so. Sort of dropped onto the SD card of a camera he'd set up out in the wild. Less successful males roam further. This is not the same as saying that there has never been a mountain lion seen in New Hampshire. Patrick Tate: My line being a large predator a cat watch ambush his prey animal that hasn't been. We'll hear more about the mountain lions impact and the role it plays in the ecosystem. So take care of this problem. Mountain Lions in NH - Facebook So so they're just a very resilient species and they're pretty they're pretty neat. Select image for larger view. So and so they so they do get pretty involved. He studied Politics and Spanish at Bates College, and before reporting was variously employed as a Spanish teacher, farmer, bicycle mechanic, ski coach, research assistant, a wilderness trip leader and a technical supporter. Absolutely there are a lot of folks out there who for some reason need to create something that raises a stir and gets the attention of the media etc.. If you missed part of today's program listen to the exchange. I have one that's more elaborate than that. And it's not really strong. So when we talk about the threshold of evidence required to say for sure you have seen a mountain lion it is rather high. Mike Guyton pressure was almost Greyhound like very muscular large back legs on it and the coloration on it was almost an orange brownish orange color and so I stop and I look at this thing in the field and as the animal looks at me the face was very chiseled definitely not a bobcat. Mike you're on the air. Sam Evans-Brown: Well and I think and the last takeaway here is everyone I think probably agrees that any possible sightings that have been seen. And to anyone listening I would just say you know fishing game who wants proof right. Peter Biello: Nice to be here. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. But I do think that it's appropriate that a fishing game agency would recognize verifiable proof if they could. NH Fish and Game Wildlife Biologist Patrick Tate reports that so far, mountain lion reports accompanied byphotographs have been misidentified bobcats or housecats, or pictures of mountain lions taken from the Internet and reported as being recorded in New Hampshire. But Absence of Evidence Is Not Evidence of Absence, Right? So we tossed these terms around but really the term subspecies has been sort of redefined in our lifetimes. So you want identifiable backgrounds. Thank you very much for that story really appreciate it. So Marty can you see what I'm getting at is the public sees different names and thinks that they're different animals but it's all the same animal. Is there something particularly hospitable about New Hampshire Forests that make them want to come here. nh.gov | privacy policy | accessibility policy The number 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7 so promised a discussion about conspiracy theories. Caller: It had to be a mountain lion convinced I was about 30. Yeah I did. 1,470 likes. We live around Cold Springs Campground and it was undeniably a mountain lion. Good morning guys. Some argue that it's a leap of faith. Almost all species disperse greater distances than females. So so. From came from out west they tracked it all the way back to the Black Hills in the Dakotas. But you've done some reporting on this. On a dirt road. So I hate the idea that there's some sort of upward you know downward pressure from the bosses saying Don't you know don't tell about the mountain lions because it'll scare away the tourists. Rick van de Poll: Rick van de Poll so I was a non-believer as well. The report came in from a conservation officer. Do you get a lot of these these these things that end up being hoaxes. 19 Your support makes this news available to everyone. Peter Biello: Well I want to ask Patrick about one of these stories a few years ago you had a story about someone who claimed to. The western mountain lion lives in a more of a grassland open area now so to blend in with a very lighted situation here in the Northeast we are very shadowy dark situation because of the forest and our cats wear a darker brownish reddish color than what they were and they were also smaller than what the western mountain lion is. Mountain Lions | Wildlife | New Hampshire Fish and Game Department And that the Florida panther was more closely related to the eastern outline than the western mountain lion was. There's these animals aren't coming with a map saying oh I want to go here. Well thanks for sharing. Caller: Yeah I hadn't experienced blastoff fall so this was around September and I was driving from Webster into Concord on Horse Hill Road and anybody in the area would know I was right near the Red Barn and all of a sudden this animal jumps out of the woods and it bounded across the road in about two two giant leaps and stopped in the field just on the other side. Patrick Tate: Same here in New Hampshire too. Sam Evans-Brown: So Tim so this cat's been been referenced a couple of times I think we should talk about it specifically lay the whole story out for folks who haven't heard the story because it's actually I think really indicative of a lot of stuff for talking about. The brother and sister big cats have lived . If so that's for us as an agency. And there's there's no evidence of that cat's movement in that entire you know 12 hundred miles stretch of its journey. Okay. I wanted to get your thoughts on the mystique of the mountain lion start with you Rick. So Pat you field a lot of calls about people seeing or reportedly seeing mountain lions. So the whole media hype about how scary mountain lions are should should go away immediately and that would be that I think the major thrust of educating folks about these casualties vs.. Sam Evans-Brown: Sam go ahead. And listeners this has been a lively conversation we're sorry we didn't get to all the the e-mailed comments and the phone calls your stories are appreciated even if we didn't get a chance to hear them today. The Connecticut Mountain Lion is the best documented wild Mountain Lion in New England. So you know until I found those two scats I didn't think that mountain lions were here in the east. The nonbelievers are going to say Show us your evidence and show us prove this to us. So what those ranges. However, as far as I can tell theres no Deep State Conspiracy to cover up a breeding population of cougars in the Granite State. Tell us your story. Let us know your story and share your photos. So we're fixated on natural but there's other possibilities. and territorial animals are much more inclined to create a problem with passer bys than dispersing animals in fact I'd be totally shocked if a dispersal would encounter with a human purposefully unless they had already had some type of training to do so. It was not a bobcat. The big cat has been extinct here since the mid-1800s. Is there a way we can learn more about these dispersing mountain lions that may travel through the Granite State and that I would ask you certainly part about whether or not a he's spending too much time chasing down these kind of false leads or B would rather be doing something else that is more informative to whether or not we actually have or can prove that we have dispersing mountain lions in the state. And just one more note about this danger question when even when you look at the states that have extended populations stable populations of mountain lions attacks are relatively rare. I noticed it had a really big sweeping tail that kind of curled up behind it and all but still at that point because everyone says there's no mountain lions here. How many mountain lions are in New Hampshire? - AnswersAll The best documentation we have in New Hampshire suggests there hasnt been a mountain lion killed by a hunter in this state since 1885. To date most of the pictures that have been sent in have been bobcats and other species Ive received pictures of house cats. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. We'd be inundated with scouts in the past when newspaper articles have been written about DNA and scouts. I've collected scat samples I've got several in my collection. Caller: And the more I thought about it the color of it it was definitely not a bobcat. And today we're talking about the mysterious elusive mountain line with folks who know something about it. He played a pivotal role and he battled for recognition. Can we go to the site. Peter Biello: Yeah well what do you think Pat is. The females disperse a shorter range and once they find a vacant home range they stay in that location and live there. And you know all that. Ecosystem Management Consultants of New England, Ask Sam, and recently fielded question about mountain lions, 10 things to do in NH this weekend: Dartmouth Dance, Hamilton De Holanda & more, Turkish restaurant in the Upper Valley aims to help those affected by recent earthquakes, RFK Jr. tells NH crowd hes considering a presidential run, Epping woman pleads guilty to threatening Michigan election official in 2020, We also hear excerpts from an interview with, Read about the most recent cougar "sightings". We'll be right back. The unheralded hero of Apollo John Hubble the man who knew the way to the moon. Peter Biello: We got an e-mail question from Robert in Epsom who asks are sightings or encounters with these big cats less dangerous here where they're passing through than out west where those same mountain lines might be establishing territory Rick. But you won't find evidence of their existence in paw prints in the snow or a deer carcass in a tree. Mountain lion or cat running across. But I was riding a mountain bike not far from my house. If it's someone that has an illegal captive animal that is accustomed to humans those leave a lot of evidence because they want to go around humans to find food meaning they're used to being fed by humans. But are there mountain lions living in New Hampshire? But before I go any further I want to say we do not have sufficient game. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. Peter Biello: Well John thanks very much for the story really appreciate it. John thanks. Course like Sue said you have to see it and it's not always that visible. Patrick Tate: I would say well when social media first started they picked up the hoaxes became much more prevalent in the last four or five years hoaxes have died down completely. That's pretty elaborate. Tim Yeah. We had six copies printed out each. And maybe it's a no holds barred nostalgia for a better world a wild or Fuller world not a world that's constrained by our boundaries and our taxes and our highways. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference. We want answers. History of Mountain Lions in New Hampshire | NH Wildlife Caller: I got home to my wife that a gene that you should have seen the cat. But but I've also seen it cited the opposite way that look they're very secretive. And those are not the same things. DNA from scat or from fur, a clear track that is confirmed by an expert, or a photo that clearly shows a mountain lion. So one thing I'll add we're talking about natural dispensers but talking with the conservation officer in the 1980s they recall going to a residence telling a person you can live here but your mountain lion can't.