Eastern Mountain Lion Declared Extinct

[LouNY]

Proof;nothing concrete just dozens of sightings by reliable out-doors people;including NYS employees.
We had one across the road from my house;I personally didn't see it,several neighbors did;it had a black radio tracking collar on.Around that same time I had an under-cover(plain wrapper) state car with all kinds of antennas parked just off my yard.
Again;if they don't exist in New York state why are they protected?We don't protect elephants or rhino.
NY won't admit because of liability issues.

Are you saying that NY DEC would lie to us.
I can't say for certain what I saw a year ago moving into a hedgerow but it was real long with a long tail and it moved like an oversized cat, but it couldn't have been, right. :drink::laughing:

 

[brown40]

There have been sights on the Eastern Cougar in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and even in Ontario for years. Not too many, but enough to know that it is not extinct as it was thought, but in very very low numbers. I'm sure that this species is the same as in the Eastern US as they don't recognize borders or homeland security. There is hope, but only if we manage it properly

+1 on having "unofficial sightings" in Maine throughout the period. I've seen three between 1979 and now.Have to kill it to prove it--conservation is funny that way.

 

[Jim Nelson]

This topic reminds me a lot of a situation I encountered shortly after moving from Co. to Riverside county Ca. in the mid '80's. There was a huge building boom getting started and someone slammed on the brakes because of a little pest known as the Stephan's Kangaroo rat which was ,according to them ,endangered.There are K.rats all over that area and after stopping many large projects and delaying many more it was decided there needed to be preserves set up for these little critters. These "preserves" needed land ,of course , so the powers that were started imposing K rat fees on all construction projects in the area and hired a whole herd of inspectors to determine if there was any chance of a K rat in the area so they could determine how much to charge. Land was purchased to establish these preserves and little stone walls with fences about 18" high were built around these preserves.
To add to the absurdity it was finally announced that the only way to tell the difference between the Stephan's k rat and all the millions of others in the area was to kill the suspect rat and disect it's brain to find some tiny anomaly to differentiate between it and it's cousins who all lived together in harmony.
I moved a little farther South so lost track of the rat fiasco and I don't know if they are still collecting these fees.
This experience and another with a tiny bird called a Least Bell's Verio which was also supposedly "endangered" even though there are millions of them a little farther South in Mexico, make my B.S. meter go to twitching when I hear about something like this "Eastern Mountain Lion" thing.
I guess getting old causes this lack of trust.

 

[goeduck]

When I was back east a few months ago I thought I saw an eastern mountain lion hiding under some pallets that I left stacked in a field in an inverted V.

 

[bcp]

Mountain lions aren't so tough.

Bruce

 

[goeduck]

Smart cougar if you have ever been sprayed by a skunk.

 

[s219]

There are supposed to be more deer in N.Y. than before white men came; I don't know who did the counting back then, but I do know that there seem to be a heck of a lot more deer than 20 or 30 years ago. Hardly anyone hunts anymore; there are no predators other than 4 wheeled ones, and we not so affectionately refer to deer as rats on stilts as they eat a few thousand dollars of profits annually. We could use some large predators.

According to records around here, when the English settlers arrived in 1607, there were so few deer that the local Indians sometimes had to travel for days to hunt a deer. Now there are loads of them -- I probably see 5-10 every day without even trying.

 

[check]

I hope to live long enough to see wolves ( Come on, Canada. Send a few down. ) or cougars in N.Y. Until recently bears were only in the most remote parts of the state, now they're getting common enough that they barely make the news when visiting suburbia. There are supposed to be more deer in N.Y. than before white men came; I don't know who did the counting back then, but I do know that there seem to be a heck of a lot more deer than 20 or 30 years ago. Hardly anyone hunts anymore; there are no predators other than 4 wheeled ones, and we not so affectionately refer to deer as rats on stilts as they eat a few thousand dollars of profits annually. We could use some large predators. I can't wait for the hysteria when a serious predator nails a Shi-tzu or cat from a backyard some evening. It's just nature, but I'm a parent and grandparent too who doesn't want to lose a kid to a big, bad, whatever either.

Already done that. Yellowstone park is populated with Canadian wolves.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Mountain lions aren't so tough.

Bruce

The old saying is true..."You can't win a piss fight with a skunk".

 

[dmccarty]

When I was back east a few months ago I thought I saw an eastern mountain lion hiding under some pallets that I left stacked in a field in an inverted V.

You are a bad, bad man.... :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan