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. M from Tree Hill author series presenting Diane lay back. The nonbelievers are going to say Show us your evidence and show us prove this to us. 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. Peter Biello: Well John thanks very much for the story really appreciate it. I mean no doubt a seen Bobcat seen his stuff. 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. Lots of people have stories about them, people have them on their game cameras I mean its kind of a thing. So you want identifiable backgrounds. So that did it for me. 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. There'd be there'd be all sorts of you know basically a lot of hassle required if that were to happen. 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. List of Mountains in New Hampshire is a general list of mountains in New Hampshire, with elevation.This list includes many mountains in the White Mountains range that covers about a quarter of the state, as well as mountains outside of that range.. So I learned about what Rick just reported through a heart of heart of New Hampshire a letter and. There are mountain lion in Massachusetts. 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. And those and that's how you can go from a story that Pat says I have nothing to say about that to a story that you know could be the first verified sighting in over 100 years. So we're fixated on natural but there's other possibilities. It is also known as cougar, panther, mountain lion, and puma, though catamount is the preferred regional vernacular. Long before NASA was asked to put a man on the moon one engineer had already figured out how to get there. 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. Listeners give us a call if you'd like. There was no sign of it. Caller: Oh yeah. Mountain lions ( Puma concolor) are one of the six native species of wild cats in North America. Think you've seen a mountain lion? So one thing I'd point out is we've been talking about situations with no evidence a number of them come in with photographs and yet what they fit what they description of the animal they saw and by the way I got a picture of what I saw. Select image for larger view. Course like Sue said you have to see it and it's not always that visible. So they're not afraid of humans and they'll show up like a regular housecat. 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 so in 2011 a mountain lion was killed in a car accident in Connecticut a car hit a mountain lion and killed it. Pat do they typically just move around a lot. So that's the specimen that you find going long distances. 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. 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. 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. And trying to figure out the little pieces to identify him so I bring up the names the differences but the appearances can be confusing for some. HOLDERNESS, N.H. (AP) Two of the known mountain lions in New Hampshire have spent their 15 years in close proximity to humans. They reported seeing the big tail and everything everything. Have a photo. They create these big latrines that are very obvious. Rick van de Poll: Well I didn't. So Michael follows with the question. Here she is talking about how to identify a mountain lion. Patrick Tate: It became a very interesting investigation over time because it started becoming. Peter Biello: This is NHK PR Good morning and HP are summer car raffle is back and now's the time to get your early bird tickets. OK. That location they just described we had two or three Bobcats radio collared on just off the runway in Laconia airport. I would say that there's going to be the truth in here somewhere. Information online ad an age student loans dawg. You could trace that was this same cat from point to point to point. So here in New Hampshire when a person turns in something that the Department believes is possible mountain lion and believes it should be investigated further. Share. Tonight, Sean McDonald investigates,. Caller: It had to be a mountain lion convinced I was about 30. Sam. 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: I do. I have no doubt that there are mountain lion roaming New Hampshire. Is this kind of a typical story. So I just brought up the bobcat thing because the location is fascinating to me that that that location we have Bobcats existing but that location we have a mountain lion report because it's a developed area and which brings me back to earlier what I had said it's a bouncing ball. Despite numerous reports, the NH Fish and Game Department continues to have no physical evidence of mountain lion presence in the state. 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. Patrick Tate: Exactly I was gonna bring that up juvenile male of. 1957. Part II. He told me that on one of his many scouting trips for Black Bear he found a deer carcass up in a tree. Despite numerous reports, the NH Fish and Game Department continues to have no physical evidence of mountain lion presence in the state. Caller: Are probably. Does not test random Scouts. What kind of animal is that. All of that remains unanswered but it is an extremely interesting question. But you won't find evidence of their existence in paw prints in the snow or a deer carcass in a tree. So the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station has a database on mountain lion and they can identify. But no proof was offered. Thanks for your call. Yes. 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 mean it wasn't your idea. Rick van de Poll: Well the mountain lion of course has been sort of an enigma in the wildlife suite for years and years. I think that you probably are. So what those ranges. 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. Updated: 9:53 AM EST Dec 6, 2016. Thank you very much for that story really appreciate it. That's what we're seeing is dispersing mountain lions from the West who are just making their way through. Patrick Tate: I don't believe it is. I'm Peter Biello. So I reached down to grab the camera and looked back and like a ghost it's gone. The most common areas to see mountain lions in Arizona are in places of rocky and mountainous terrain. The species that once inhabited the Northeast, known as the eastern mountain lion, is now extinct. Sam Evans-Brown: You know the North America had a number of large predator species when humans first arrived in the continent. Thanks very much. So so do what you can get to do what you can to get proof. If it's just in the middle of a greenfield you can't prove anything. So what a neat experience. 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. There's no logic for why they'd be listed as an endangered species. 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. But are there mountain lions living in New Hampshire? 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. Someone's got to see one they're very secretive. Sue Morse: The big cat really commands the utmost respect not so much fear but fascination. It all used to be based on measurable physical traits color, skull size, paw size, etc but now its based on whether an animal can be shown to be genetically distinct from others. Sam Evans-Brown: Well this might be a good moment to talk about hoaxes. It's listed as population of least concern. 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. We have evidence and as biologists we would find it quite exciting to find that evidence of one in the state. OK. 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. We want answers. Ive received pictures of dogs at odd angles, says Tate. Today, their range stretches from the Yukon Territory in Canada along the western coast of the United States, all the way to the Southern Andes in Chile. People were calling the New Hampshire Fish and Game director's office saying why are you dragging your feet on this. 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. Thank you. The females disperse a shorter range and once they find a vacant home range they stay in that location and live there. You know one of the the biggest questions I have about that is it points to how much we don't know and if in fact we don't know enough. Think you've seen a mountain lion. And a lot of people around the county airport have seen a lot of pilots coming in said they saw huge. 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. The views expressed in this program are those of the individuals and not those of an HP are its board of trustees or its underwriters. I've seen him in the woods and that was not a bobcat but I was looking at. So there's even debate about that very subject. Residents believe cougars still roam New Hampshire's forests. Mountain lions (especially males) have incredibly large ranges that they defend from rivals. BRADFORD, N.H. - All that snow in parts of the Northeast has more than just kids jumping for winter joy. Peter Biello: When did you allegedly see a mountain lion. 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. Patrick Tate: So it's very typical. Well Is DNA the most reliable means we have of identifying whether or not what we saw is actually a mountain lion. Mountain Lions in New Hampshire-Fact or Fiction. Peter Biello: Well yeah. Were there any differences between these two that we could have noticed right off. Infinite Scroll Enabled. And so a mountain lion is actually quite large right. BUT THAT SAID, Id love to be proven wrong. Get your tickets today and one for fifty dollars or six for 150 at NH PR and board. Mountain lions don't usually travel more than 100 miles from where they are born. Peter Biello: From New Hampshire Public Radio I'm Peter Biello in for Lark Knoy and this is the exchange. And that's this morning at 10:00 here on NH PR. Well let's talk a little bit about that. Peter Biello: Hmm. So. Rick van de Poll: 80 90. Sam Evans Brown. However if if and when it does happen it takes up a lot of resources looking at that situation and identifying what's going on because when you start out you don't know it's a hoax. Let's talk to Mike in Webster. Peter Biello: Sam I wanted to ask you a little bit about that first and then turn to Patrick Tate efficient game. And today we're talking about the mysterious elusive mountain line with folks who know something about it. 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. GAP MOUNTAIN LIONS CLUB Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire (USA) District 44-N . John if you're still on the line here I was going to I don't. 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. Pat what do you think the mystique of the mountain lion. Peter Biello: And Carl before you continue I think Patrick Tate just give me a second. Mike thanks for your call. 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. I don't see the hoaxes anymore at that level. So I know it's another unconfirmed report but you string enough of these together. All they think it traveled north through Canada up you know crossed across the Great Lakes and then and then down again through New York State. Today on the exchange we discuss what residents may have been seeing and what breeding mountain lion pairs would mean for our ecosystem. I'm Peter B yellow. Mountain lion or cat running across. You treat it as if it's a sincere situation. N.H.'s Fish and Game department says there's no proof. So so they're just a very resilient species and they're pretty they're pretty neat. JavaScript must be enabled for some features to display properly. m from a weed family Automotive on store Street in Concord is serving the Concord area families automotive needs since 1995. 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. And the cougar embodies that. Patrick Tate: Well. And so. NHPR is nonprofit and independent. Phone number 1 800. 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. Mountain lions live in the state. We're going to talk a little bit more about habitat first but then we'll get into sightings. But having read a bit of information about his cougar there are a darker subspecies. Peter Biello: Mm hmm. I just don't understand the mechanism for how that would happen. And I think a lot of folks would like them to be around. 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. WMUR uLocal: On this trail cam video, an unidentified feline is spotted. Peter Biello: And that will make identification for a layperson rather difficult. The Connecticut Mountain Lion is the best documented wild Mountain Lion in New England. Join as a $8 per month sustainer and get our brand-new owl umbrella! Let us know your story and share your photos. Thank you. 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. They are the same thing. 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. Yeah 13 to 15 years ago 13 to 15 years ago. Give us a call if you have a question or comments or story about perhaps seeing a mountain lion here in New Hampshire. HOLDERNESS, N.H. (AP) Two of the known mountain lions in New Hampshire have spent their 15 years in close proximity to humans. So this whole illegal pet trade black market pro trade thing does does exist in a situation like that can happen. 19 The Eastern mountain lion is extinct in the eastern United States and Canada, but in 2011, a . Join as a $8 per month sustainer and get our brand-new owl umbrella! 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. So. Known to exist in the state for over well over a hundred years. 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. The second one was not only fresh but when I actually put my hand on it it was you know smelled like cat and I it's there's no denying a fresh mountain lions get if you can tell it every story that KOAT. 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. I'll send it to you. Peter Biello: Let's talk to Ron and where Ron thanks very much for calling. And they used to be this whole list of the different subspecies of mountain lion and it has since been reduced to just to the North American and the South American. Patrick Tate: Yeah yeah. Right. Since 1917, Lions clubs have offered people the opportunity to give something back to their communities. Peter Biello: This is the exchange on an PR. What do you think that. You know you have to have a license and it's hard to get that license a license to own a mountain lion. And you know all that. Patrick Tate: My line being a large predator a cat watch ambush his prey animal that hasn't been. Rick van de Poll: Oh yeah absolutely. And it was unmistakable. 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. 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.