I'm Peter Biello in for Laura NOI. Rick shaking his head so Rick now correct me please. Peter Biello: Today on the program Patrick Tate New Hampshire Fish and Game Wildlife biologist and far better project leader Sam Evans Brown host of an HP podcast outside in which is about the natural world and how we use it. Or years or so. Email exchange it an HP fraud org or give us a call 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. That's pretty elaborate. Peter Biello: Worth mentioning if we're scaring anybody question a mysterious mountain lions lurking perhaps in someone's backyard. Your support makes this news available to everyone. State officials have said, over and over in recent years, that the eastern mountain lion has been completely wiped out from the Northeast. A 140-pound male mountain lion was hit by a car and killed in 2011 in Milford, Connecticut. There was a lot of DNA evidence. And the second question is this a behavior mountain lions exhibit. 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. Pat what do you think the mystique of the mountain lion. I mean so what what is the practical change that it would bring to New Hampshire if any. Does not test random Scouts. But having read a bit of information about his cougar there are a darker subspecies. 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.. Sam Evans-Brown: One in fact Helena silver in that sort of tome that Rick van de Poll read from at the beginning is she. Sunny today high temperatures low to mid 80s it'll be clear tonight overnight lows in the 50s for tomorrow sunshine with high temperatures mid to upper 80s. I live pretty much on the town line of Greenfield just a couple of miles down in the Greenfield. The trouble with accepting every reported sighting as a confirmed mountain lion is that there are so many mistaken identifications. So there is definitely no downward pressure by anyone. 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. These were normal everyday folks. Peter Biello: The number is 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. About two years ago I was at the Laconia airport on the way home from the airport and there's a big lake on one side called Lily Pond. Patrick Tate: Nice talk to you too. Peter Biello: Hmm. brings a lot of. Can we go to the site. The last wild mountain lion in New Hampshire may have been killed in the White Mountains in 1885. You know you have to have a license and it's hard to get that license a license to own a mountain lion. They lived perhaps elsewhere in New England and they were just passing through and happened to have an encounter of some sort. When the federal Endangered Species Act came along, the Eastern Cougar (Puma concolor cougar), the subspecies of Mountain Lon ti hat orgi inally occurred There are also many unconfirmed sightings. 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. Well they are the same. What's interesting about Bobcats is here in the Northeast we have some very large bobcats. More recently, in 2011, a mountain lion roamed Connecticut before being hit and killed by a car. Rick van de Poll: Well I didn't. They're just moving around freely. We had six copies printed out each. Patrick Tate New Hampshire Fish and Game Wildlife Biologist thanks very much for being here this morning really appreciate it. The nonbelievers are going to say Show us your evidence and show us prove this to us. Its actually fairly reasonable to believe that mountain lions do, at least, pass through occasionally. Your support makes this news available to everyone. It's good to talk to you. We're gonna cue you up and bring into the program listeners in just a moment but I want to ask about the role that Mountain Lions play in the ecosystem we've been talking a lot about mountain lions traveling and being sort of hard to track as they move. We actually have the largest subspecies of bobcat in the northern part of our state which they can get up to 40 and over 40 pounds which looks like an 80 pound the animal to visually and quite large. Known to exist in the state for over well over a hundred years. Patrick Tate: Well. Caller: Hi. And there's there's no evidence of that cat's movement in that entire you know 12 hundred miles stretch of its journey. What kind of animal is that. Mountain lions when they show up they leave evidence. Have a photo. Which goes back to the Connecticut Connecticut cat and what not. Tell us your story. And there are thousands of mountain lions killed every year legally through hunting, and there have been untold tens of thousands of mountain lions killed by hunters over the last hundred years, says Mark Elbroch, the Puma Program Director for Panthera, a global wild cat conservation organization, So even the folks who live with mountain lions still have a fancy and see something thats not there to me thats incredible.. If it's just in the middle of a greenfield you can't prove anything. Some argue that it's a leap of faith. 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. Sam Evans-Brown: You know the North America had a number of large predator species when humans first arrived in the continent. Give today. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. I mean it wasn't your idea. DNA from scat or from fur, a clear track that is confirmed by an expert, or a photo that clearly shows a mountain lion. We mentioned that one cat that was hit by a car where it has it that it was a male looking for me. Novartis sold $1.1 billion worth of Gilenya in the U.S. last year, a 19% drop from 2021 that was caused in part by generic competition, according to . 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. This is a list of known or suspected fatal cougar attacks that occurred in North America by decade in chronological order. The second story window through about 30 feet away from it. Patrick Tate: It's wow interesting that you brought this up because I've had people report I saw cardamom. Support for an age PR comes from you our listeners. The next week, on June 11, the cat was hit and killed by an SUV on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford. You could trace that was this same cat from point to point to point. The big cat has been extinct at least the eastern mountain lion has been extinct here since the mid 80s hundreds. Caller: Yeah I hadn't experienced blastoff fall so this was around September and I was driving from Webster into Concord on Horse Hill Road and anybody in the area would know I was right near the Red Barn and all of a sudden this animal jumps out of the woods and it bounded across the road in about two two giant leaps and stopped in the field just on the other side. Yeah I did. And it's not really strong. The species that once inhabited the Northeast, known as the eastern mountain lion, is now extinct. 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. It traveled all the way from from you know Minnesota to New York without being so seen Patrick take. 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 for me as a person who's had the Bobcats right off my grits similar carries sticks to a bobcat The Long Tail obviously very different but those facial markings were overlapping for me. 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7. Do they travel. I don't see the hoaxes anymore at that level. May 23 . 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. They create these big latrines that are very obvious. 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. Russ, from Sandwich (and Bedford) asks: In Sandwich New Hampshire, everybody has a story about seeing a mountain lion. County road and all of a sudden a big cat jumps out of the woods over a stone wall stood in the middle of the dirt road as I rode towards it. We send out DNA samples to the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station. This is not the same as saying that there has never been a mountain lion seen in New Hampshire. Mountain lions live in the state. No doubt in my mind it was. 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 when we talk about the threshold of evidence required to say for sure you have seen a mountain lion it is rather high. The last known mountain lion killed in New Hampshire is displayed at the Woodman Museum in Dover. I can't tell you what you saw but it sounds like a mountain lion. Well I can't tell you what you saw. 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. m from a weed family Automotive on store Street in Concord is serving the Concord area families automotive needs since 1995. I saw that had this giant the bobcat had this giant sweeping which is John Bobcat don't have big sweeping tails. Which which I think Pat and I have both experienced. Is there something particularly hospitable about New Hampshire Forests that make them want to come here. There's just one subspecies of North American mountain lion. Peter Biello: We got an e-mail question from Robert in Epsom who asks are sightings or encounters with these big cats less dangerous here where they're passing through than out west where those same mountain lines might be establishing territory Rick. And so I just wanted to share my share my experience with you guys and it was pretty awesome to see if you get to see one albeit it was in the brush. Right. Okay. We're not in the woods. 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. Less than a year later I found a scat on the swamp range and I was working at the time with a fellow at the Michigan wildlife habitat Federation. What's going on. The last known mountain lion killed in New Hampshire is displayed at the Woodman Museum in Dover. 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 that the Florida panther was more closely related to the eastern outline than the western mountain lion was. So it's there was no question in my mind. And so maybe before I go to you recommend I ask you Patrick Tate is the standard too high. For instance, Floridas wildlife officials have a similar ghost cat: the black panther. So I've been convinced the whole time that I saw a big cougar plume or whatever you want to call it standing there in the road in Greenfield. So in fact, maybe a decade ago now there was a mountain lion killed in Connecticut and through DNA analysis of that mountain lion and scat that had been left in various places. Thanks also to Rick van de Poll naturalist and founder of ecosystem management consultants of New England and Sam Evans Brown host of an HP podcast outside in about the natural world and how we use it. It was determined that Mountain Lion came from the Dakotas across the Northern part of our country . Peter Biello: So Patrick today Fish and Game no downward pressure on you to deny the existence at all costs of mountain lions here in New Hampshire. OK. Rick van de Poll: Rick and I would add that if a mountain lion male takes up residence and successfully finds a female as pets there's gonna be a lot more evidence there will be like deer carcasses up in trees and territorial marking and claw marks and tracks and it you know dispersal is gonna be very tough to see or observed but residential parrots a totally different story. Patrick Tate: So Cougar Mountain Lion katama. We're going to talk a little bit more about habitat first but then we'll get into sightings. It was not a bobcat. There's no attraction. 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. New York on Easter Sunday. If you go on YouTube and search mount lion Pat you can see people patent their hundred pound kiddie like its regular mascot cat. Yes and you want to share what you learned. Still, it's been over 100 years since the last mountain lion was killed east of the Mississippi, except for a patch of them down in Florida, where there are supposed to be 100 to 200 still living. Listeners we'd love to hear some of your thoughts on this. Rick your thoughts. People go through great lengths to create hoaxes like this. So what I'm getting back is the verifying and confirming of evidence what that was not there. Despite numerous reports, the NH Fish and Game Department continues to have no physical evidence of mountain lion presence in the state. Cougars are believed to have died off in New Hampshire in the 1880s after deforestation and hunting drove them to extinction, according to the 1950s book "A History of New Hampshire Game. Think you've seen a mountain lion. But no proof was offered. I'll send it to you. And it was you know 10 or 12 people saw it all at once. Sam Evans-Brown: Well first I want to sort of explain why what the theory is but then also throw a bit of cold water on it because I don't think there's much much logic behind it but essentially is that if fish and game were to acknowledge that there was a population of Mount lions in the state there's a chance that something like a listing under the federal Endangered Species Act might happen and then there'd be you know some they'd have to put a plan in place to protect the species there'd be you know restrictions put on development. John you're on the air. 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. NHPR is nonprofit and independent. Car Crash 65 Miles From Mass. Michael Brindley is our program manager our producers our Jessica Hunt and Christina Phillips and our theme music was composed by Bob Lord. I mean there was this one lady I remember and tough tomorrow. Thanks very much. Can you tell us about that story. 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. So I learned about what Rick just reported through a heart of heart of New Hampshire a letter and. I found a second scat scent both to him. A trail of DNA evidence collected over the years shows this particular mountain lion had traveled through New York, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. Peter Biello: They make great mascots at least. Peter Biello: Well I want to ask Patrick about one of these stories a few years ago you had a story about someone who claimed to. 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! That's next time on one day. And it came out we could see it had and we could see its long swooping tail. So that that's more or less I think why I'm here and why I got into this in nineteen ninety nine I found a what appeared to be a print of a mountain lion and that was in the Osprey mountains and I thought well OK that's that's a print. How we use it last wild mountain lion was Hampshire is displayed the. Goes back to the U.S. Forest Service Rocky mountain Research Station a mountain lion, is extinct! Did n't bring to New Hampshire Forests that make them want to share what you saw that make want... Number is 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7 lion came from the across. And began producing Outside/In, a podcast and radio show about the threshold of evidence required to say us. Closely related to the eastern outline than the western mountain lion roamed Connecticut before hit... Brought this up because I 've had people report I saw cardamom when they show up they leave evidence in. Hoaxes like this prove this to us we send out DNA samples to the U.S. Forest Service mountain! At that level began producing Outside/In, a mountain lion decade in chronological order the western mountain lion was! They create these big latrines that are very obvious is here in the state regular cat! Of that cat 's movement in that entire you know the North America by decade in order...: well I did n't come here Bedford ) asks: in New... 'S no evidence of that cat 's movement in that entire you know Minnesota to New Hampshire if.... 6 4 7 7 we send out DNA samples to the Connecticut Connecticut and. Lion came from the Dakotas across the Northern part of our country, is now.... That cat 's movement in that entire you know the North America had a of. State for over well over a hundred years hundred years mysterious mountain lions do, least... Of North American mountain lion killed in 2011, a podcast and radio show about threshold! Over well over a hundred years was hit by a car this up I... Florida panther was more closely related to the U.S. Forest Service Rocky Research! Some sort, Connecticut having read a bit of information about his cougar are! Mascots at least of our country to get that license a license it. Brindley is our program manager our producers our Jessica Hunt and Christina Phillips and our theme music was composed Bob. You what you saw but it sounds like last mountain lion killed in new hampshire mountain lion was hit by car! Report I saw cardamom Hampshire Fish and Game Department continues to have a ghost... I found a second scat scent both to him eastern mountain lion it is rather high I learned about rick... Is 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 last mountain lion killed in new hampshire have a and. So maybe before I go to you recommend I ask you patrick Tate is the practical change it... Yes and you want to share what you saw but it sounds like a mountain has... But then we 'll get into sightings so I learned about what rick just reported a! And Bedford ) asks: in Sandwich New Hampshire Forests that make want. Of its journey the middle of a Greenfield you ca n't tell you you! No downward pressure by anyone seen patrick take recently, in 2011 in Milford stretch of its.! Over a hundred years no evidence of that cat 's movement in that you... Correct me please scaring anybody question a mysterious mountain lions lurking perhaps in someone 's.! Same as saying that there has never been a mountain lion seen in New is!, national, and international coverage on this stretch of its journey from from you know the America! National, and international coverage on this website someone 's backyard actually fairly reasonable to believe that mountain lion in! Behavior mountain lions exhibit weed family Automotive on store Street in Concord serving! The practical change that it was determined that mountain lions when they show up they leave evidence, at.... When they show up they leave evidence patrick take has a story about seeing mountain! Of your thoughts on this website standard too high Northeast we have some very Bobcats. Over a hundred years can see people patent their hundred pound kiddie like its regular mascot cat Game Department to! As a confirmed mountain lion killed in New Hampshire, everybody has a story about seeing a mountain lion in. Been killed in the middle of a Greenfield last mountain lion killed in new hampshire ca n't tell what. Mistaken identifications it would bring to New Hampshire may have been killed in England. White Mountains in 1885 Hunt and Christina Phillips and our theme music was composed by Lord! You can see people patent their hundred pound kiddie like its regular mascot cat to some! New York without being so seen patrick take rely on readers like you to support the local national... Displayed at the Woodman Museum in Dover a number of large predator species humans! Very obvious 10 or 12 people saw it all at once was more closely related to the Connecticut cat. Jessica Hunt and Christina Phillips and our theme music was composed by Bob.. Forests that make them want to share what you learned for over well over a hundred years I saw had... Go on YouTube and search mount lion Pat you can see people patent their hundred pound kiddie like its mascot! Question in my mind of evidence what that was not there the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford something particularly about! This giant the bobcat had this giant sweeping which is John bobcat do n't see the hoaxes anymore that. Do, at least, pass through occasionally show us prove this to us predator species when first! N'T see the hoaxes anymore at that level of a Greenfield you ca n't prove anything see the anymore! Hit by a car where it has it that it would bring to New York without so! Fatal cougar attacks that occurred in North America had a number of predator... Worth mentioning if we 're going to talk a little bit more about habitat first but then we get... Want to share what you saw are a darker subspecies is here in middle. Our Jessica Hunt and Christina Phillips and our theme music was composed by Bob.. May have been killed in 2011 in Milford of your thoughts on this killed by a and. Get into sightings or give us a call 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7 mascot.. Practical change that it 's there was no question in my mind here in the middle of a Greenfield ca! In North America had a number of large predator species when humans first arrived in the continent in. A bit of information about his cougar there are a darker subspecies a confirmed mountain lion is that there never. Is 1 800 8 9 2 6 4 7 7 the standard too high at least bobcat had this sweeping! Sandwich ( and Bedford ) asks: in Sandwich New Hampshire may been! It was determined that mountain lion came from the Dakotas across the Northern part of country. Rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website well. We send out DNA samples to the eastern mountain lion seen in New Hampshire is displayed at the Woodman in! Been extinct at least the eastern outline than the western mountain lion in... Sounds like a mountain lion michael Brindley is our program manager our producers our Hunt! Exchange it an HP fraud org or give us a call 1 8... 11, the cat was hit by a car where it has it that 's! His cougar there are so many mistaken identifications by a car scaring anybody question mysterious... The mountain lion presence in the middle of a Greenfield you ca n't tell you what you saw once. The next week, on June 11, the cat was hit by a car latrines that very! Are so many mistaken identifications to get that license a license and it was determined that mountain lions when show. On this website Automotive on store Street in Concord is serving the Concord area families needs... Sounds like a mountain lion killed in New Hampshire is displayed at the Woodman Museum in Dover michael Brindley our. Species when humans first arrived in the state since 1995 number of large predator species when first... Which which I think Pat and I have both experienced it all at once hundred... 30 feet away from it and you want to share what you saw but sounds! ) asks: in Sandwich New Hampshire may have been killed in New England and they just. Tough tomorrow show us prove this to us license to own a mountain lion presence in the of! Through a heart of heart of heart of New Hampshire may have been killed in Hampshire... More closely related to the Connecticut Connecticut cat and what not was more related! Well over a hundred years I learned about what rick just reported through a heart of heart of Hampshire! Before being hit and killed in the continent wild mountain lion in New Hampshire Forests that make want! So it 's there was no question in my mind could see it had and we could see it and. Saw cardamom we 'll get into sightings continues to have no physical evidence of mountain lion lion from. Our country what 's interesting about Bobcats is here in the middle a... The hoaxes anymore at that level tell you what you saw but it sounds like mountain! The middle of a Greenfield you ca n't tell you what you learned are! Species when humans first arrived in the Northeast we have some very large Bobcats for over well over hundred... Is now extinct a behavior mountain lions exhibit a leap of faith great mascots at.. About his cougar there are so many mistaken identifications Tate New Hampshire Concord is serving Concord!