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| By Joel Williams |
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Vermont history is rich with writings about mountain lions living in the wilderness of Vermont. There are recorded accounts of early settlers and trappers never traveling without their black powder guns. Not so much for protection against the infrequent attacks by natives, but more to defend against the abundance of mountain lions. The cat has a controversial history of co-existence with humans. Some call them devil cats while others call them a beauty of nature. Still this elusive creature has a past history with New England and the State of Vermont. They were exterminated in Vermont in the 19th century.
Elusive Creature Or Modern MythVermont State records show the last Catamount was shot in the Town of Barnard, Vermont in 1881. But, was it the last one? Could Vermont actually still have catamounts in the state?Catamounts are considered extinct and would be protected by the state if they were found to still be alive in Vermont. While the official Vermont State opinion is that no catamounts exist, it doesn’t stop the persistence of reported sightings each year. The first recorded sighting was near Craftsbury, VT in 1942. However, since 1990 sightings have become increasingly more abundant. The Vermont State Department of Fish and Wildlife (VTFW) investigates each and every reported sighting. The department gets between 40 and 50 reported sightings annually, according to VTFW Wildlife Biologist Doug Blodgette. The state takes any sighting seriously and has assigned Blodgette to the field representative in charge of lion sighting investigations. Official sightings aside, rumors are abundant.There are even persistent ramblings the state knows of their existence and is involved in some sort of conspiracy or cover up to conceal any information from the public. According to the Vermont State Department of Wildlife, there has been no official evidence supporting any existence of the catamount in the Green Mountains. This hasn’t stopped an annual number of reported sightings nor does it stop the state from investigating them. Doug Blodgette does not believe they exist here, presently. He also believes if they did exist, they would have a difficult time adapting to our human development. Because of that difficulty, there would be evidence of their presence. Blodgette investigates each sighting for evidence of lions and so far that evidence is as elusive as the big cat. According to Blodgette, he screens between forty and fifty calls per year. He says 98 percent of them are mistaken identities. That leaves a two percent possibility that lions exist in the state of Vermont.
Some call them devil cats while others call them a beauty of nature.
Blodgette believes most people are sincere about what they call sightings. He feels most reports are from people really believing they saw something. However, when he gets to the sight to investigate, usually, he can see they were mistaken. Sometimes the evidence is obvious, as he will find a track of another animal such as a bobcat, coyote or even dog. Other times, there are no easy explanations. No tracks or scat or carnivore remains. But 50-60 sightings per year? Why so many sightings? Blodgette feels most reports are those of mistaken identity because distance may cause a problem of scale, or that it was an animal the viewer had never seen before, such as a Fisher. He also alluded to the thought, perhaps, that the report of sightings leads to other sightings. In fact, to prove his point he mentioned he expects to get above average calls after this story goes to publication. The Two percent-Hard EvidenceThe closest thing to hard evidence the state had at one time, according to Blodgette, was a sighting, which took place in Craftsbury in 1993-94. Two lay people saw what they believed was a lion with cubs. The two people tracked the animals to a specimen of scat, which was collected and turned over to the state. The sample was sent to an Oregon lab where a microscopic evaluation of the scat was conducted. The Oregon lab believed the scat had a hair that was thought to be from a Catamount. Blodgett said the situation was an extremely credible sounding sighting but was still not hard evidence that the lions existed in Vermont.In 1997-98 when DNA testing had made spectacular advances, the scat sample was sent to a lab in Berkeley California for further testing. Berkely believed the hair found in the Craftsbury sighting was canine and not feline. Berkeley sent back results of the test but never returned the sample of scat. Vermont officials wanted to have a second opinion test done on the sample but Berkeley said it had destroyed the sample. Vermont now had two very distinct, different opinions on their hands, without evidence one way or the other. The sightings, the lab tests and even the possibility there was a catamount hair present in the scat sample does not definitely conclude the presence of this elusive creature in the state of Vermont, according to Blodgette. Even if the tests were to be thought conclusive, state officials couldn’t rule out the scat wasn’t from a domesticated cougar released into the wild. State Debunks Existence in VTBlodgette points to other states facts and figures while discussing the possibility of existence.South Dakota has 200 Mountain Lions that are state monitored. Even with that low number of cats there was annual evidence to give credence to their existence. Over a three-year period, 56 cats were recovered in South Dakota. Of that number, 9 cats had perished to motor vehicles, 4 died of electrocution, 1 was shot justifiably in self defense, 5 others were hunted and 16 were removed by state officials. Others were shot and killed illegally. As of 2006, South Dakota had recovered 121 carcasses over a 36-month period of which 27 had died over the past year alone. It is apparent the big cats have difficulty adapting to civilization and would leave some visible remains as evidence of their existence. In conclusion, there is no physical sign of catamounts residing anywhere in the State of Vermont. It is obvious from other state’s findings, that scat will not be the only evidence used to determine the presence of the creature. Logic and reason will demand more physical evidence to determine if this large, elusive and elegant animal walks among us. Joel Williams is a freelance writer with a passion for the outdoors. |
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