Peter Biello: When did you allegedly see a mountain lion. She quotes a biologist in Lyme New Hampshire who who is keeping two mountain lions himself so in the not too distant past in the early nineteen hundreds it was perhaps more common and still in Maine. Rick shaking his head so Rick now correct me please. Can you look into this picture. Peter Biello: So Patrick today Fish and Game no downward pressure on you to deny the existence at all costs of mountain lions here in New Hampshire. N.H. Think you've seen a mountain lion? Do you want to see real, living mountain lions that do exist in New Hampshire. Today on the exchange we discuss what residents may have been seeing and what breeding mountain lion pairs would mean for our ecosystem. We live around Cold Springs Campground and it was undeniably a mountain lion. 1957. He says when youve got a mountain lion in town, its kinda obvious. I was at the Sentinel as a reporter there for about four years and during that time I probably wrote close to a half dozen stories or so on this topic including a lengthy feature at one point that in which I spoke to several people from around the banana region claimed to have seen mountain lions that at one time or another. And there's there's no evidence of that cat's movement in that entire you know 12 hundred miles stretch of its journey. Theyve always said when we have verifiable evidence to say a mountain lion has been, is, or was in the state that wed acknowledge that and give that information out, says Pat Tate, the furbearer biologist with New Hampshire Fish and Game, who insists theres no conspiracy. Well within there. Can you tell us about that story. New Hampshire Fish and Game Department says there's no proof. We'd be inundated with scouts in the past when newspaper articles have been written about DNA and scouts. Sam Evans-Brown: I just want to say the bang and word you just heard I think to me exemplifies why it's really hard to come up with with positive you know 100 percent certain evidence that you've that what you've got is a mountain lions. Mountain Lions in New Hampshire-Fact or Fiction. Peter Biello: Yeah. And it came out we could see it had and we could see its long swooping tail. The trouble with accepting every reported sighting as a confirmed mountain lion is that there are so many mistaken identifications. Caller: It had just left that field and was out. Okay. They get a lot of media attention but compared to the the amount of times that a mountain lion could attack a person but doesn't because they don't typically view us as prey. Reviewing the evidence, the U.S. As I tried to get a picture of it so there was it was definitely we looked up all the pictures and it was definitely not a bobcat or anything else being it looked just like a mountain lion. Peter Biello: From New Hampshire Public Radio I'm Peter Biello in for Lark Knoy and this is the exchange. The species that once inhabited the Northeast, known as the eastern mountain lion, is now extinct. Want to put this to to Patrick Tate who may have heard some some info or info from listeners like you about these these these cats. The panther, Fells concolor, is a beast of many names, most frequently referred to in New Hampshire history as catamount, but sometimes known locally as "Indian Devil" or "Carcajou", under which . If you believe you have seen a mountain lion and want to report it to NH Fish and Game, please contact the Wildlife Division at (603) 271-2461 or wildlife@wildlife.nh.gov to request an observation report form. And when provoked no animal could stand before him elegantly put. Well thanks for sharing. There was a lot of DNA evidence. Updated: 9:53 AM EST Dec 6, 2016. The term is because mascots notwithstanding right that they're referred to with a lot of different terms and sometimes they can be confused with a lot of different terms. brings a lot of. 1957. Peter Biello: This is the exchange on an HD PR fine Peter Biello and today we're talking with folks who can tell us about the mysterious elusive mountain line and whether or not it is actually here in New Hampshire. But you've done some reporting on this. 1,470 likes. Many people in New Hampshire have claimed to have seen mountain lions. Sunny today high temperatures low to mid 80s it'll be clear tonight overnight lows in the 50s for tomorrow sunshine with high temperatures mid to upper 80s. It's you know I recognized their report and. Peter Biello: So if they were female mountain lions here they would be more males just because that's what they're looking for. Thanks for taking my call. And the second question is this a behavior mountain lions exhibit. Mountain Lion | Squam Lakes Natural Science Center All exhibit and hiking trails are CLOSED for the season. I found a second scat scent both to him. So there's even debate about that very subject. 19 So what counts as verifiable evidence? 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. We'll also hear your stories if you have them again. And they asked me about the tail which I just did not remember that tail out of that whole experience. You've got you've got biologists right who are trying to make their make their way in the world make a career if you are the biologists who confirmed a sighting of mountain lions in the state that would be very good for you like you would be all over the news. You know perhaps poke around where you saw it and see if you can find a track. Some argue that it's a leap of faith. We've met Fish and Game's BURDEN OF PROOF. If so that's for us as an agency. The Lions of New Hampshire: MD44 Links. Patrick Tate: It became a very interesting investigation over time because it started becoming. But also I think it proves the opposite point which is that sometimes they're pretty secretive because all the way from Minnesota where the where was the first time was picked up on a game camera to New York. We'd love to have you in the queue. Is this kind of a typical story. John. I mean so what what is the practical change that it would bring to New Hampshire if any. Here she is talking about how to identify a mountain lion. Peter Biello: And that will make identification for a layperson rather difficult. Anyways after three weeks I finally found the image on line on a field and stream photo contest and the explanation in the end was the person that set the camera out with another individual and they believed that someone who knew of the camera location saw the similarities put the can't picture on their SD card so it looked like that camera recorded the image that is. Join as a $8 per month sustainer and get our brand-new owl umbrella! So this whole illegal pet trade black market pro trade thing does does exist in a situation like that can happen. Patrick Tate: While a juvenile not a juvenile I guess if you want nodes to the base of the tail for juvenile that wouldn't be small at all. Sam Evans Brown. So you want identifiable backgrounds. Okay. I just want to tell you a story that I read. John thanks. However, as far as I can tell theres no Deep State Conspiracy to cover up a breeding population of cougars in the Granite State. I was a Bobcat we saw it and I have a picture of it. Patrick Tate: No downward pressure at all I think actually Sean turned up and we found the evidence there a number of people would finally say finally we can put this debate to bed. People were calling the New Hampshire Fish and Game director's office saying why are you dragging your feet on this. Yes. I live pretty much on the town line of Greenfield just a couple of miles down in the Greenfield. 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. No that's a little bit outside the range. 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. WMUR NH Chronicle Mountain Lions in NH Part I and Part II. nh.gov | privacy policy | accessibility policy
And boy it was big it had to be at least 200 pounds the thing was you and and it just made a little bit of noise and it was gone. I'm Peter Biello in for Laura NOI. Information online ad an age student loans dawg. So. And I saw you cat about four feet long from nose to tail come across from the water across the road and just leap over a six foot perimeter fence in a single bound. But along the lines of the conspiracy theories as you mentioned earlier there there was a bit of a sense on behalf of what I'll call the promo online community who felt that fishing gain maybe not even so much in a spoken policy but maybe sort of an unspoken policy did not want to find themselves in a situation where they had to spend money to create a management plan and so forth. I just stood there just a second and I came to a complete stop and then I ran away. So yeah as far as wildlife species that put deer and trees know there aren't any others that I know of that put deer in trees just just humans might be responsible for that. We actually have the largest subspecies of bobcat in the northern part of our state which they can get up to 40 and over 40 pounds which looks like an 80 pound the animal to visually and quite large. Rick van de Poll: Well education is the real important thrust of of what all of us do as biologists and Game Managers and to make sure that a things like what Sam was saying that in spite of what you believe the mountain lions will not eat your children they will not steal your pets from your backyard and they will not necessarily be seen by you unless you're extremely lucky. Chapter X, Predators, Panther (Mountain Lion) From History of NH Game and Furbearers by Helenette Silver, Research Clerk, NH Fish and Game Dept. Over a period of a year and a half, this Mountain Lion left DNA evidence in at least four states. Caller: Absolutely. I don't know if she still is. 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.. So I just throwing that out there it's interesting. 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. The big cat has been extinct at least the eastern mountain lion has been extinct here since the mid 80s hundreds. So Michael follows with the question. Peter Biello: Let's talk to Ron and where Ron thanks very much for calling. Using DNA and physical evidence, state environmental officials said they determined that the animal. Rick van de Poll: Oh yeah absolutely. WMUR uLocal: On this trail cam video, an unidentified feline is spotted. Right. As wildlife biologists, wed be fascinated to say 'look look what was found in our state.'. And that the Florida panther was more closely related to the eastern outline than the western mountain lion was. So that that's more or less I think why I'm here and why I got into this in nineteen ninety nine I found a what appeared to be a print of a mountain lion and that was in the Osprey mountains and I thought well OK that's that's a print. But if you were to get Western dispersing mountain lions just would just sort of expanding into New Hampshire. However, dispersing western mountain lions have left evidence as close as Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. Which goes back to the Connecticut Connecticut cat and what not. But you won't find evidence of their existence in paw prints in the snow or a deer carcass in a tree. Patrick Tate: Well. We'll be right back. Yeah I did. So the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station has a database on mountain lion and they can identify. If you missed part of today's program listen to the exchange. And the cougar embodies that. Mountain Lions in NH. Caller: Are probably. Caller: So I've been telling this story for five years or so and very few people believe me. So we're fixated on natural but there's other possibilities. Mountain lion or cat running across. It's bigger but bigger and better world. Residents believe cougars still roam New Hampshire's forests. They're the generalists that made it through both the arrival of the Clovis people with their with their spears and then the Europeans with their guns. It's unfortunate that that kind of thing happens as often as it does. In fact, Pat Tate concedes that hes been told of sightings from folks that he considers to be very credible, very woods savvypeople who know what a bobcat looks likebut those folks have never snapped a good photo or found a good track. 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. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. From came from out west they tracked it all the way back to the Black Hills in the Dakotas. Peter Biello: Worth mentioning if we're scaring anybody question a mysterious mountain lions lurking perhaps in someone's backyard. So one thing I'll add. I wanted to get your thoughts on the mystique of the mountain lion start with you Rick. The tail leave is a giveaway but not everybody gets to see the tail.