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. Peter Biello: And then it ran away okay. Why are there so many false positives? And I I have this great text history of New Hampshire game and fir bears and I think by Helen Silver who used to work for fish and game and she sort of I kind eyes this animal in one of the quotes from 1892 stating that the catamaran was the most ferocious of all the wild beasts of New Hampshire his great size strength and agility of movement together with his formidable weapons rendered him the terror both of man and beast. But but I've also seen it cited the opposite way that look they're very secretive. Here she is talking about how to identify a mountain lion. To date most of the pictures that have been sent in have been bobcats and other species Ive received pictures of house cats. There's no attraction. 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. Let us know your story and share your photos. Your support makes this news available to everyone. No doubt in my mind it was. Have a photo. 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 along the waykilled a beaver near the Quabbin Reservoir in Central Massachusetts, left behind prints and DNA at that site, and then was hit by a car in Connecticut. 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. Today on the exchange we discuss what residents may have been seeing and what breeding mountain lion pairs would mean for our ecosystem. It's you know I recognized their report and. 1,470 likes. Give today. Phone number 1 800. Mountain lions remain an enigmatic animal for residents of New Hampshire, with New Hampshire Fish and Game reporting three to five sightings per week. They create these big latrines that are very obvious. And I have to use that word allegedly because there is so much dispute about what people see and what they actually see. Not one picture of him online while the person meet with us. I don't know if she still is. Caller: I have yeah. The species that once inhabited the Northeast, known as the eastern mountain lion, is now extinct. Peter Biello: But clearly you know you're saying like hoaxes people who claim to have seen a mountain lion but knowingly have not or are appropriating photos taken elsewhere of legit mountain lion say out West where they people acknowledge that they exist certainly knowingly or unknowingly in this case the person who sent it to me said hey a friend of mine sent me this photo and said he took it on his back porch also. Like why would you want one wildlife. Its impossible to say, but I think the odds are pretty good that some of these sightings are legit. BRADFORD, N.H. - All that snow in parts of the Northeast has more than just kids jumping for winter joy. There were several sightings in CT over the last few months. Peter Biello: Well John thanks very much for the story really appreciate it. Give us a call if you have a question or comments or story about perhaps seeing a mountain lion here in New Hampshire. Some argue that it's a leap of faith. I'll send it to you. Right. HOLDERNESS, N.H. (AP) Two of the known mountain lions in New Hampshire have spent their 15 years in close proximity to humans. 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. Patrick Tate: So it's interesting it's brought up. 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. Sort of dropped onto the SD card of a camera he'd set up out in the wild. Reports without physical evidence are not dismissed, however Fish and Game cannot verify a sighting report without physical evidence. Deer Bear Moose Grey Wolf Coyote Foxes Fisher Mountain Lion NH Wildlife History. Patrick Tate: So I agree with what Sam said in part that their ability to go undetected for amount of time but ultimately it was detected. You can see two of them at Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness NH. I've seen him in the woods and that was not a bobcat but I was looking at. You could trace that was this same cat from point to point to point. The females disperse a shorter range and once they find a vacant home range they stay in that location and live there. These were normal everyday folks. And as the biologist who's gonna stand on this and if I'm going to say this is a proven picture I need to be able to stand on it so soundly and have the evidence so I going to go through it with a fine tooth comb kept picking pieces apart trying to answer these pieces. Peter Biello: So Rick seems like you agree that the tail is a big giveaway whether or not it's a mountain lion Absolutely. Tonight, Sean McDonald investigates,. Which goes back to the Connecticut Connecticut cat and what not. Patrick Tate: Well I've never seen an Easter cougar so I can't say when I've handled these 10 cougars and whatnot. Id like to hazard the explanation that we really, really want to see a mountain lion. Patrick Tate: Yes. And I can recall its information but I can't confirm or verify anything. I saw that had this giant the bobcat had this giant sweeping which is John Bobcat don't have big sweeping tails. 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. So I learned about what Rick just reported through a heart of heart of New Hampshire a letter and. You need a permit to have that. And just one more note about this danger question when even when you look at the states that have extended populations stable populations of mountain lions attacks are relatively rare. Is there something particularly hospitable about New Hampshire Forests that make them want to come here. Mountain Lion report and as a biologist for the state that's a situation where if he said to me what did I see. Thank you. Sam Evans-Brown: And when we talk about subspecies this actually leads to to an interesting tangent which is that the field of biology recently has been sort of revolutionized by the use of DNA to determine what subspecies are. 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. Do cougars live in New England? 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. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. They create these scrapes where theyre communicating with each other with scent. So. People were calling the New Hampshire Fish and Game director's office saying why are you dragging your feet on this. So it's there was no question in my mind. So one thing I'll add. So you know until I found those two scats I didn't think that mountain lions were here in the east. New Hampshire Public Radio | 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. He said matter of fact I do. And those are not the same things. N.H.'s Fish and Game department says there's no proof. So they're not afraid of humans and they'll show up like a regular housecat. WMUR NH Chronicle Mountain Lions in NH Part I and Part II. Michael Brindley is our program manager our producers our Jessica Hunt and Christina Phillips and our theme music was composed by Bob Lord. Let's talk to Mike in Webster. Peter Biello: Well yeah. 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. Caller: It had to be a mountain lion convinced I was about 30. OK. That location they just described we had two or three Bobcats radio collared on just off the runway in Laconia airport. The supervisor that hired me in the game division in October of 1978 passed on to me this whole big folder of mountain lion information and sightings going back probably a couple decades. But my experience was that the majority of these accounts could not be taken lightly. Or years or so. I'm Peter Biello. Peter Biello: Rick I believe you did mention that that they do leave carcasses up in the tree from time to time but are there any other species known in New Hampshire to do this on a regular basis. Someone's got to see one they're very secretive. That's what we're seeing is dispersing mountain lions from the West who are just making their way through. Pat ruse and he was sampling doing DNA samples from cats in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. 50 feet above the most. John Holt's ideas were at first dismissed but he refused to be silent. The book MAMMAL TRACKS & SIGN by Mark Elbroch has pictures of mountain lion scat found at a multiple beaver kill. If you go on YouTube and search mount lion Pat you can see people patent their hundred pound kiddie like its regular mascot cat. And listeners this has been a lively conversation we're sorry we didn't get to all the the e-mailed comments and the phone calls your stories are appreciated even if we didn't get a chance to hear them today. 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. Thanks very much. It doesn't make much sense because you know mountain lions are as we as we said before. Yet this young male traveled about 1,800 miles. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. Patrick Tate: Okay. 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. 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. Can you look into this picture. Patrick Tate: Yeah yeah. Tate said that while a mountain lion sighting in New Hampshire isn't likely, it's not impossible. NHPR is nonprofit and independent. The 17-year-old Kiger mustang mare was born in Bend, Oregon, said Hodskins, who got her . We'll hear from her periodically through the show. Thank you very much for listening. And they were using all the habitat. 44-H Links. And the second question is this a behavior mountain lions exhibit. Patrick Tate: So Cougar Mountain Lion katama. Can we go to the site. 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. It's unfortunate that that kind of thing happens as often as it does. 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. Residents believe cougars still roam New Hampshire's forests. (Cue the X-Files music: The Government is denying the cougars exist!) This decision was primarily for nerdy phylogeny reasons, though, because the eastern cougar probably never existed. Peter Biello: Worth mentioning if we're scaring anybody question a mysterious mountain lions lurking perhaps in someone's backyard. 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. 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. Seems reasonable! 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. Are there Mountain Lions in NH? So nowadays we think of this in the Northeast as crazy stuff that people have a mountain lion as a pet. Author of The last woman in the forest on Saturday July 13th at 7 p.m. at Warner town hall Warner historical dawg. 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. Sam Evans-Brown: Certainly that is a thing I've heard but again you have to think of the incentives involved here. Sam Evans-Brown: You know the North America had a number of large predator species when humans first arrived in the continent. It's not a skinny rope like tail like a housecat. It was really muscular looking cat I mean is that like a side angle to me. It was not a bobcat. 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. Love hearing these stories. I just stood there just a second and I came to a complete stop and then I ran away. So so do what you can get to do what you can to get proof. I believe I saw one that's fine and I'm not looking for an immediate story. But if people are still seeing mountain lions, why is the state and federal government seeking to COVER IT UP!? And it came out we could see it had and we could see its long swooping tail. Erler is a senior naturalist at the Squam Lakes Natural Science Center in Holderness. So hard to know hard to refute if there's no interest in making up a story which many people of course do then I would respond the same way as Pat did. Me Im willing to believe its possible that there are some out there. I wanted to get your thoughts on the mystique of the mountain lion start with you Rick. If you missed part of today's program listen to the exchange. I can't tell you what you saw but it sounds like a mountain lion. Mountain lions (especially males) have incredibly large ranges that they defend from rivals. 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. If so that's for us as an agency. But on the other side of that coin there is this sense that there have been so many sightings locally and you guys Patrick you might recall the name the Wyndham McCracken she kind of turned herself into a local authority off authorities the right word but she was very dedicated to this. Patrick Tate: I've from all the situations I've read and learned about wildlife. 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. Absolutely. The Connecticut Mountain Lion is the best documented wild Mountain Lion in New England. And that the Florida panther was more closely related to the eastern outline than the western mountain lion was. GAP MOUNTAIN LIONS CLUB Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire (USA) District 44-N . Mountain lions ( Puma concolor) are one of the six native species of wild cats in North America. Maps of Trapping Take by Town 1994 to 2004. 1957. Through DNA they approximate area in the United States or North America where I was born. Thanks for taking my call. So I don't understand really how how this this idea came to be but it is the main reason why folks believe that fishing game is is covering up the fact that there are mountain lions in the state again with no evidence. So I know it's another unconfirmed report but you string enough of these together. Peter Biello: Well hey Rob. nh.gov | privacy policy | accessibility policy Yes and you want to share what you learned. How to Report a Possible Mountain Lion Sighting. Chapter X, Predators, Panther (Mountain Lion) From History of NH Game and Furbearers by Helenette Silver, Research Clerk, NH Fish and Game Dept. If it's someone that has an illegal captive animal that is accustomed to humans those leave a lot of evidence because they want to go around humans to find food meaning they're used to being fed by humans. Yeah I did. This is the exchange. And why would they what. We'll be right back. So for our scientists to do the lumping and whatnot. That's why we always go back to the physical evidence to support what they're reporting. The engineers Dan Colgan our senior producer is Allan Grimm. They're very loyal to what the handler which makes them very dangerous to everyone else. Share. 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 leave a lot of sign. So we're fixated on natural but there's other possibilities. 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. 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. Peter Biello: Nice to be here.