East Coast Mountain Lion

[dex3361]

Our DNR has a history of reintruducing species and denying it all the while.

[creekbend]

Thanks for posting. Enjoyed the picture.

[woodchuckie]

Same story here in Alabama. I've seen two myself and heard of others.

[bigtiller]

The cops just killed one friday in a Des Moines residential area that has 2 schools. A DNR official said it was a young male looking for new territory.

[Tollster]

P a Game commision is still in a state of denial up this way too. Nice catch! I saw one years ago (2 of us), but still cannot really confirm it, riding in a CJ-5 and somthing leaed off the bank at 10 o'clock at night, trouble is, it leaped over both lanes and was only about 30' in front of us. It moved so fast I did not have time to say "LOOK" to the passenger. But he was looking.
We thought about it many times, trouble is, there is nothing that size nor that fast in the state, and to leap that fast was another. It is a very desolate area for mile and miles.
We always heard the stories on lions up on red rock mountain,but that was a timei will never forget.

[Dr Dave]

The cops just killed one friday in a Des Moines residential area that has 2 schools. A DNR official said it was a young male looking for new territory.

This was the sixth one killed in Iowa, they said it was 6 feet long. About 5 years ago one was killed just over the boarder in South Sioux city, Nebraska, it was in a tree, some kids spotted it on there way to school. A good reason to be armed.

Dave

[cqaigy2]

we were told in Wisconsin they were not in the state till they were caught on camera,now all of a sudden they are here,and they are protected.

They wouldn't need to be protected if they weren't there.

[forgeblast]

Just wondering if it didnt escape from a zoo or an owner let it go.

[patrick_g]

i hope they can explain this in a way that it is an escaped pet

There is some credence to the escaped (released) animal stuff. Here in Oklahoma we have been hearing claims about mountain lions (AKA cougar, panther, etc) from just plain folks and getting pooh poohed by "the authorities."

Seems that folks legally or otherwise will get exotic critters for "pets" and big cats are a favorite. Then they cost too much to keep, are too hard/dangerous to handle, or the law intervenes and these animals may end up at an exotic animal rescue operation. One exotic animal rescue operation not too far from here (had lions, tigers, etc.) ,fell on hard times, and (stupidly) just released them into "the wild." A reliable lady friend saw a young male African lion looking starved and walking down the side of her section line (country road on 1 mile grid.) Later she saw it trying to take down a cow but not doing too good as the cat was nearly starved. State office pooh poohed her. At a large outdoor/gun store in OKC I overheard some county sheriffs deputies discussing (bragging?) among themselves their "big game" hunts using their night vision goggles.

My wife and I have had close encounters of the Cougar kind while backpacking in Baja California del Norte Mexico. We know what they look like and know the difference between the large cats (Cougar, African lion, leopard, jaguar, etc, and also the smaller cats like jaguarundi, ocelot, bobcat lynx, etc. We have had two juvenile Cougar playing in our back yard, We have a breeding population of bobcats on our property (and adjoining neighbors.) One day my wife saw an adult cougar walk across the dam of one of our backyard ponds, It was about 125 yds away and she got a good look. There is no doubt. A couple days later it was screaming a blood curdling scream for several minutes off and on sounding like it was just behind the dam.

For a few weeks she would not venture out in the back yard to refill the bird feeders without her .357 mag revolver in her pocket. A female jogger was eaten by a cougar while running our all time favorite hiking trail a bit east of San Diego. A man was killed by a grizzly sow and fed to her cubs on the same trail we hiked (unknowingly) just a few days later on vacation at Glacier Nat Park. The daughter of a business associate of mine went camping with two college friends. The three were on the ground in sleeping bags. A grizz grabbed one by the head, dragged her into the brush, and killed her (Glacier Nat Park).

I just recently read in one of my science journals that coyotes are the vanguard predator. There are many coyotes living in cities. The thesis of the paper I read was that other predators like cougar and bear would be next due to habitat encroachment etc.

Southeast Oklahoma (not far from Louisiana) has an indigenous alligator population which historically has sporadically sent envoys up river as far as Norman (home of O.U. and just a few miles from OKC.) It is a jungle out there and most often the state authorities ignore or hush up any claims of sightings that they aren't comfortable with.

I set up two trail cams and have some nice family photos of a litter of coons, an armadillo and not much else. I guess I will have to try again.

A lady near us got pix of a cougar in her front yard only 100 yds from the highway. Unfortunately in a move of a couple miles to another house, she lost it.

Patrick

[vtsnowedin]

we were told in Wisconsin they were not in the state till they were caught on camera,now all of a sudden they are here,and they are protected.

There is your answer to all the denial. As soon as you have proof they are here they have to protect them as an endangered species and the anti hunter people would use them as an excuse to ban hunting over the whole area. Not good for hunting license sales.