PublishedNovember 16, 2018 at 6:16 AM EST. WMUR NH Chronicle Mountain Lions in NH Part I and Part II. 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. Okay. We'll hear more about the mountain lions impact and the role it plays in the ecosystem. N.H.'s Fish and Game department says there's no proof mountain lions live in the state, yet residents from Bedford to Berlin have been reporting sightings for years. I'm sorry go ahead you're on the air. Rick van de Poll: Well I didn't. So you want identifiable backgrounds. 1,470 likes. 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. Do cougars live in New England? 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. Its distinctive featurethe one that sets it apart from other North American wild catsis its tail, which is thick and often as long as its body. There are mountain lion in Massachusetts. As far as I could tell there was a positive DNA sequence coming from the scat sample Patrick. I believe I saw one that's fine and I'm not looking for an immediate story. And I can recall its information but I can't confirm or verify anything. That's too big for Bobcat. They're very loyal to what the handler which makes them very dangerous to everyone else. So so it is possible in Maine to still to to to have one but you have to be sort of professional handler as it were. 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. Information that weed family automotive dot com sunny for today high temperatures low to mid 80s clear tonight overnight lows in the 50s tomorrow sunny highs in the upper 80s. Thank you very much for listening. Id like to hazard the explanation that we really, really want to see a mountain lion. They reported seeing the big tail and everything everything. Patrick Tate: I don't believe it is. Can we go to the site. Residents Report Mountain Lion Sighting By Elysia Rodriguez Published August 11, 2015 A southern New Hampshire neighborhood believes a mountain lion is roaming the woods near their homes. John you're on the air. But you've done some reporting on this. SUE Morse naturalist and science director for the organization keeping track. Thank you. Caller: And the more I thought about it the color of it it was definitely not a bobcat. And they were using all the habitat. Nicholas Handy can be reached at 924-7172 ext. 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. Now again I don't know that there's anything to that. It's listed as population of least concern. New Hampshire Public Radio | I mean that so many of them are false sightings we. Peter Biello: Mm hmm. We send out DNA samples to the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. 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. Your support makes this news available to everyone. And sometimes I've seen pictures of those where it's the question is What is that is that a bobcat. Mountain Lion in New Hampshire? - Bowsite.com Peter Biello: Thank you for sharing that. Reports without physical evidence are not dismissed, however Fish and Game cannot verify a sighting report without physical evidence. There wasn't a distinct subspecies the North American mountain lion is all is all one species and then you can find a genetically distinct South American subspecies. Patrick Tate: Nice talk to you too. 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. 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 I just throwing that out there it's interesting. Thank you very much for that story really appreciate it. But if you do if you think you're looking at a wild Puma their tail is very thick and especially in the winter is very thick and ponderous looking. People have asked me about the genetics of eastern mountain lion. 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! I'm Peter B yellow. Mountain lions live in the state. Saddleback Mountain Lions Now Bobcat is a completely different species. But I was riding a mountain bike not far from my house. For starters, part of the confusion might come from the fact that the eastern cougar was taken off the endangered species list earlier this year. Rick van de Poll: Well a report that you know as John Harrigan up north has in co-ops County for about 15 years I kept track of reports and people would call me and tell me where they saw the mountain lion they thought they saw it and it varied right from you know downtown villages all the way to remote highlands of the North Country and and everywhere in between. And I think this is a really interesting story for a couple of reasons one is that it proves what Pat was saying which that basically from New York state where its traces was really picked up on a game camera around Lake George all the way down to Connecticut there was numerous. Is that typically what was happening there. 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. 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. Is there something particularly hospitable about New Hampshire Forests that make them want to come here. Chapter X, Predators, Panther (Mountain Lion) From History of NH Game and Furbearers by Helenette Silver, Research Clerk, NH Fish and Game Dept. 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. And so. And it's not really strong. We are the second most-forested state in the country, and those forests can be impenetrable snarls (part of why the Northeast is notoriously a difficult place to hunt deer), and while there are people in a lot of those woods, because the cats have been absent for a few generations now, most of those people dont know what a cougar scrape or latrine look and smell like. 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. Let us know your story and share your photos! Patrick Tate: So I'm not sure what subspecies of cat they're using to differentiate by those markings but once she was describing the White other face in the black. 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. Verifiable pictures recorded by the observing person or a trail camera. Phone number 1 800. I came to a stop and it was and I've seen a lot of bobcats in my time and I just came to a stop it was just sort of confused about what I was seeing. I mean I that said I've lived out west for nine years. And a lot of people around the county airport have seen a lot of pilots coming in said they saw huge. Administrative Links. 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. Patrick Tate: So it's very typical. When they were landing or taking off and it seems like it's been there for like. Give us a call if you have a question or comments or story about perhaps seeing a mountain lion here in New Hampshire. To date most of the pictures that have been sent in have been bobcats and other species Ive received pictures of house cats. Mountain Lions | Wildlife | New Hampshire Fish and Game Department I don't know if she still is. 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. So so they're just a very resilient species and they're pretty they're pretty neat. 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. Are there other powers that be worried that scary mountain lions will scare off people from camping in New Hampshire. We're gonna talk about sightings in this part of the program as well we'd love to hear your story. And it was you know 10 or 12 people saw it all at once. It's bigger but bigger and better world. We live around Cold Springs Campground and it was undeniably a mountain lion. Sam Evans-Brown has been working for New Hampshire Public Radio since 2010, when he began as a freelancer. Patrick Tate: Yes. Every other Friday on Morning Edition NHPRs Sam Evans-Brown tracks down answers to questions about the environment and outdoors for our listeners in a segment we call Ask Sam.. Think you've seen a mountain lion? You know interactions are pretty unusual. There's just one subspecies of North American mountain lion. I've seen him in the woods and that was not a bobcat but I was looking at. 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. They don't know the direction they're going. The Connecticut Mountain Lion is the best documented wild Mountain Lion in New England. Caller: Oh hi. "Of those three to five reports,. 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. The tail leave is a giveaway but not everybody gets to see the tail. Not one picture of him online while the person meet with us. Peter Biello: Well hey Rob. About Lions. Let us know your story and share your photos. 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. He says when youve got a mountain lion in town, its kinda obvious. One was in Shelton. Thank you. Patrick Tate: My line being a large predator a cat watch ambush his prey animal that hasn't been. Caller: Hey guys how you doing. Because I mean as we've heard in the past 10 minutes like there's there's some disagreement or at least some some vagueness about what an actual mountain lion should appear like in the wild assuming we can even get close enough. 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. There were several sightings in CT over the last few months. 44-H Links. And I think a lot of folks would like them to be around. Caller: I have yeah. 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. 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. Well let me ask maybe Pat and Rick about this. They are the same thing. If youd like to submit a question (or send a mountain line photo) you can record it as a voice memo on your smart phone and send it tooustidein@nhpr.org, OR call our hotline, 1-844-GO-OTTER (1-844-466-8837) and leave a message. It was not a bobcat. Mountain Lions in New Hampshire-Fact or Fiction 3,207 views Jul 31, 2019 78 Dislike Share Save New Hampshire Fish and Wildlife 634 subscribers During my thirty-one career at the New. Peter Biello: Listeners give us a call if you have a question or a story of a sighting 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. Select image for larger view. Okay. Our guests today Patrick Tate New Hampshire Fish and Game Wildlife biologist Sam Evans Brown host of an HP podcast outside in. Peter Biello: Oh okay. I found a second scat scent both to him. I'm gonna send you a letter that we researched this report and we spoke with those labs and the lab wrote in their letter to us that they could only say that Scott contained white Tea Party fur and that they could not say what deposited the scout because it's far too degraded listeners we'd love to hear from you about your mountain lion sightings if you have seen one or if you if you think you have give us a call we'd love to hear your story 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. Caller: Absolutely. All of that remains unanswered but it is an extremely interesting question. They absolutely do. Join as a $8 per month sustainer and get our brand-new owl umbrella! Sam Evans-Brown: Certainly that is a thing I've heard but again you have to think of the incentives involved here. About Us Media Kit Calendar of Events Volunteer Visit Learn Events Membership Support Your Visit BUY TICKETS Know Before You Go Directions and Information Our Animals Live Animal Exhibit Trail Hours and Admission Calendar of Events The best documentation we have in New Hampshire suggests there hasnt been a mountain lion killed by a hunter in this state since 1885. Tell us your story. So I know it's another unconfirmed report but you string enough of these together. To date, the Department has not received any verifiable evidence (photographic or DNA)of mountain lions existing in New Hampshire. 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. 235 or nhandy@ledgertranscript.com. That's why we always go back to the physical evidence to support what they're reporting. Caller: I got home to my wife that a gene that you should have seen the cat. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. Enable JavaScript by changing your browser options, and then try again. 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. 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. But you won't find evidence of their existence in paw prints in the snow or a deer carcass in a tree. The females disperse a shorter range and once they find a vacant home range they stay in that location and live there. That's next time on one day. I would just suggest that in my experience as a reporter covering this covering this issue for a few years at least at what point do we reach a certain critical mass for lack of a better term of accounts where I'm not to suggest that you guys aren't taking this possibility seriously. The Eastern mountain lion is extinct in the eastern United States and Canada, but in 2011, a . 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. Sam Evans-Brown: Pretty well I was going to say it is nice to hear about how to identify the facial markings but probably I'd being a to identify the tracks is probably the more useful useful tool that one can have in their tool box. 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. David Erler says some of them probably have. But no proof was offered. Can you tell us about that story. And we want to know your stories if you have them 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7 or email exchange at an HP bar dot org we'll talk about conspiracy theories when we come back. The number 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7 so promised a discussion about conspiracy theories.