So now what's going on. By, March 2023 Fund Drive Rules and Regulations, Persons with disabilities who need assistance accessing NHPR's FCC public files, please contact us at publicfile@nhpr.org. Mountain lions ( Puma concolor) are one of the six native species of wild cats in North America. Hunting is legal, but closely regulated by the state. He says when youve got a mountain lion in town, its kinda obvious. How far were you from this cat. The species that once inhabited the Northeast, known as the eastern mountain lion, is now extinct. Some are included in lists of mountains, such as the Appalachian Mountain Club (AMC) list of the Hundred Highest peaks of New England, or the . He shifted gears in 2016 and began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about the natural world and how we use it. His work has won him several awards, including two regional Edward R. Murrow awards, one national Murrow, and the Overseas Press Club of America's award for best environmental reporting in any medium. And because you know things flow downhill and I was pushed to go investigate it more and met with the individual two or three times and there was a bunch of inconsistencies about the photograph. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Just one quick point I think I think when we we talk about these conspiracy theories the real story is that fish and game is an agency that that is short on budget and staff. We'll also hear your stories if you have them again. Fear for others and those two polarizing opinions on the situation is what I believe brings out mystique and Sam you know I take kind of a long view on this. Monadnock Ledger-Transcript - Claims of mountain lions spread Peter Biello: Or send us an email exchange at an HP board. Someone's got to see one they're very secretive. There's these animals aren't coming with a map saying oh I want to go here. Some argue that it's a leap of faith. 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". And that's this morning at 10:00 here on NH PR. 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. 1957. Just. There's just one subspecies of North American mountain lion. So it is possible to see male Mountain lions roam into the northeast - there was one hit by a car in CT a number of years back - but we don't have a breeding population of Mountain lions in New England. We'll push great photos to the front page. So I would put this in the category of sort of like shark attacks right. It's got a a smudge of black and bobcats and links just don't have that we don't have any other cards. Well thanks for sharing. I saw that had this giant the bobcat had this giant sweeping which is John Bobcat don't have big sweeping tails. Join as a $8 per month sustainer and get our brand-new owl umbrella! The engineers Dan Colgan our senior producer is Allan Grimm. If youve got photo trap evidence of a Mountain Lion, send it in, and we'll send it along to the appropriate state or federal agency! It was really muscular looking cat I mean is that like a side angle to me. For me as a person who's handled many bobcats and looked at many pictures Bobcat the White chin Bobcat right off is what comes out to me and then the black the the roughs on our Bobcats we'll have sometimes have black fringes on them. 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. 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. Women control our lives. Right. Current conditions in New Hampshire would support a mountain lion, according to Tate, as forests have returned, allowing for prey species to become more prevalent. Right. They sent he sent his scent those two samples with his to Wyoming an unfortunate Fish and Game Commission there did not get a positive read on it but send it back to Central Michigan University where they did a nuclear micro satellite DNA analysis and found no significant difference between that scat and other scats that were tested from the Rocky Mountain region. Reports without physical evidence are not dismissed, however Fish and Game cannot verify a sighting report without physical evidence. And they were using all the habitat. Sue Morse: First and foremost if you have color or if you could see details of color look at the front of the face around the Pumas muzzle the muzzle itself is pure white. If so that's for us as an agency. Peter Biello: Well hey Rob. 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. Residents believe cougars still roam New Hampshire's forests I wasn't employed as biologists at the time of a situation that's been reported but so I started digging into this report and spoke with another wildlife biologist with the agency and said Do you know anything about this. But before I go any further I want to say we do not have sufficient game. I tracked cats and all the western states. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference. Lots of people have stories about them, people have them on their game cameras I mean its kind of a thing. Well let's talk a little bit about that. And Rick Van de Poll naturalist and founder of ecosystem management consultants of New England. Yeah 13 to 15 years ago 13 to 15 years ago. They were able to do all that by genetics. Patrick Tate: I don't believe it is. Like why would you want one wildlife. Mountain lions can be found throughout Arizona, and data suggests the populations are not only stable, but growing. And you know it's rather interesting because certainly there are those you as a case of mistaken identity or they wanted to see something that perhaps they actually didn't. But are there mountain lions living in New Hampshire? Well just that I have evidence and it was not it was denied by fishing game at the time and I you know there's I don't need to prove to anybody that I saw one just like some of your callers said okay. Wed love to be part of the first verified sighting. Is that typically what was happening there. Caller: Oh hi. Mountain Lions are a mythical creature in New Hampshire with strong feelings on both sides of the question: are there Mountain Lions in New Hampshire? How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. Peter Biello: Let's talk to Ron and where Ron thanks very much for calling. Many people in New Hampshire have claimed to have seen mountain lions. No that's a little bit outside the range. 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. For all the men out there that don't realize it. I looked at the picture and asked me what do you see in the picture and I wrote back. Patrick Tate: My line being a large predator a cat watch ambush his prey animal that hasn't been. So I certainly can't dispute anything that they said there's no evidence for me to go by to verify or say what my thoughts are on the situation. So one thing I'll add. So and so they so they do get pretty involved. support for an HBO who comes from you our listener Sam from advanced in you a local New Hampshire nonprofit specializing in college student loans and student refinancing options. So. Your support makes this news available to everyone. Mountain Lions | Wildlife | New Hampshire Fish and Game Department Its closest living relative is the cheetah. 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. He writes As a farmer I come across many outdoorsman looking to hunt our property had a conversation with one who believed very strongly that we had mountain lions in New Hampshire. 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. Pelosi story here we go. There'd be there'd be all sorts of you know basically a lot of hassle required if that were to happen. 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. I actually been interviewed a couple of times by reporters and with all due respect for the media you know facts aren't always communicated correctly. We did a short segment about mountain lion sightings earlier this year and and after which I was sent a photo and also a video recording that was mostly just audio because it was so dark the photo just a quick reverse Google image search you can put images online and see where else where else they've been posted revealed that the photo had been taking out taken out in Wyoming and has been used you know hundreds of times to claim and the person who sent it to me said it had been taken New Hampshire. Support for an age PR comes from you our listeners. New Hampshire Public Radio | 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. 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: And then it ran away okay. 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. Patrick Tate: So Cougar Mountain Lion katama. I've had a number of people call up and say I found a scout in the woods and I want it DNA identified. Patrick Tate: Martin Like what about Panther Panther saying animals same animal and like a bit of trivia Guinness Book of World Records says the animal with the most names is in English alone they're supposedly 40 names for Mount lion. And I just said I saw I saw they from behind the shoulder all the way past the long tail. I saw the tail end of a literally from behind the shoulder The Long Tail mountain lion crossing the highway going from Password to often Village downtown. Caller: Well I think Patrick I recognized your name. Do you want to see real, living mountain lions that do exist in New Hampshire. Incredible sighting and I called him the fish and game and they immediately sent me to a website to look at all the bobcat pictures. WMUR NH Chronicle Mountain Lions in NH Part I and Part II. Patrick Tate: Okay. Are there Mountain Lions in NH? So you want identifiable backgrounds. Peter Biello: Well John thanks very much for the story really appreciate it. Tonight, Sean McDonald investigates,. Sandy Hodskins, owner of West Meadow Farm in Bradford, New Hampshire, took time from shoveling Wednesday to enjoy the snow with her horse, West Wind. Peter Biello: Yeah some of what she was saying sounds like it would require getting pretty close or at least having a nice zoom lens right Sam like. brings a lot of. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. Numerous scat and fur specimens have been turned in as part of mountain lion report investigations; DNA identification has shown these submitted samples to be from domestic dog, coyote, bobcat andraccoon. Don't miss your chance to win three two thousand dollar gas gift cards at any station of your choice not to mention the grand prize twenty five thousand dollars toward a new car. Sam Evans-Brown: You know the North America had a number of large predator species when humans first arrived in the continent. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference. 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. So take care of this problem. First off if the standard for an agency to go forward with the public and put out a press release that them outlines here their believers are going to say I told you they'd been here the whole time. Which which I think Pat and I have both experienced. The states never denied mountain lions are here, and theyve never admitted mountain lions are here. We want answers. What's going on. What's interesting about Bobcats is here in the Northeast we have some very large bobcats. 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. Mountain lions when they show up they leave evidence. Anytime at any HP broad dot org or subscribe to our podcast search Apple podcasts Google Play or stitcher for an HP bar exchange. So when we talk about the threshold of evidence required to say for sure you have seen a mountain lion it is rather high. 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. Thanks for a great thanks. Fish and Wildlife Service decided all of the cougars, pumas, and mountain lions in the country are actually the same species, and that species hasnt had a breeding population anywhere near the Northeast for at least 70 years. I've collected scat samples I've got several in my collection. Peter Biello: Worth mentioning if we're scaring anybody question a mysterious mountain lions lurking perhaps in someone's backyard. I live pretty much on the town line of Greenfield just a couple of miles down in the Greenfield. And then just up behind it you know at about 11 o'clock on one side and whatever that would be on the other side it's black. So for our scientists to do the lumping and whatnot. Deer Bear Moose Grey Wolf Coyote Foxes Fisher Mountain Lion NH Wildlife History. We had six copies printed out each. Peter Biello: We at this e-mailed comment from Michael. Well let me ask maybe Pat and Rick about this. "Of those three to five reports,. 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. We're going to talk a little bit more about habitat first but then we'll get into sightings. Patrick Tate: Exactly I was gonna bring that up juvenile male of. Ive received pictures of dogs at odd angles, says Tate. Any sense of of whether or not mountain lions are sort of wary of more population dense areas like like the one he was describing Rick. Pat do they typically just move around a lot. Second when I when they did forward it from Wyoming to to Michigan you know this was coming right from sample 18 and 19 had no remarkable differences from known mountain lions from Michigan or Wyoming. Thanks for taking my call. Kyle I think about Rick Tate wants to jump in here. There have been several sightings of mountain lions in New Hampshire recently. 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.". Mountain Lions in NH. 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. 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. The current estimate is 2,000 - 2,700 throughout Arizona. Sam Evans-Brown: So I just had two thoughts which is that we hear a lot of these stories and all of us here have heard these stories. Email exchange it an HP fraud org or give us a call 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. But you won't find evidence of their existence in paw prints in the snow or a deer carcass in a tree. So here we have you know a very qualified biologist who who found a print took a plaster cast found a scat send it to a university. Rick van de Poll: 80 90. Thank you very much for being here. What kind of animal is that. SUE Morse naturalist and science director for the organization keeping track. They create these big latrines that are very obvious. As far as I could tell there was a positive DNA sequence coming from the scat sample Patrick. So what those ranges. Saddleback Mountain Lions Phone number 1 800. We send out DNA samples to the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. Sam Evans-Brown: And second the evidence required is is you know pretty pretty tough to gather.