Tales told of mountain lions at Mason Town Hall

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Jessie Sakisbury photo,br> William Betty talks with people attending a meeting in Mason on Nov. 30. The program covered the mountain lion population in New England.

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Mountain lions have been sighted throughout New England, said two trackers who recently held a program in Mason.

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Jessie Sakisbury photo,br> William Betty talks with people attending a meeting in Mason on Nov. 30. The program covered the mountain lion population in New England.

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MASON – Officially, there are no mountain lions, cougars, pumas or catamounts in New Hampshire, but the 70 people who packed Town Hall on Nov. 30 disagree. At least nine of them reported seeing one, others might have seen one, heard one, or knew someone else who had seen one. They were all believers.

Linda McCracken, an educator from Marlow who documents New Hampshire sightings, said she became interested in mountain lions because all her friends were seeing them.

“And last year I saw one,” she said, adding she has received “about 100 reports just from Cheshire County.”

Reports include sightings, photographs, videos, tracks and other signs.

Since 1936, she said, “there have been about 800 reports from across the state. At least four have been killed in the state and quickly removed by Fish & Game.” She advised that walkers carry a camera so they can document it before calling the authorities.

The main speaker for the evening was William Betty of a Rhode Island group called the Punch Bowl Puma Posse. Betty says he has been tracking the cats, mainly in Connecticut and Rhode Island, for 40 years. He was joined by McCracken, and Bo Ottman of Connecticut’s Cougars of the Valley.

Betty presented a 45-minute video followed by questions.

“My passion is mountain lions. I have seen quite a few,” Betty said.

He got into the study out of scientific curiosity and public safety,” he added.

“Somebody has to tell the people about them, because, like bears, they can be dangerous,” and will be more so as their population grows, he said.

The wildlife departments in all New England states have taken the stand that the eastern mountain lion is extinct, and no population of the cats has been substantiated. If the population is acknowledged, the states will have to develop a management program.

A radio or newspaper report of a lion will generate hundreds of calls, Betty said, and they have to be dealt with.

A population has been proven in the Quabbin Reservoir area, he said.

The reason for the official denial, Betty said, “is the states have no money and wildlife departments have no money and are underfunded.” Out west where there are thousands of lions and many encounters with people, the departments have field biologists and the problem cats are hunted and handled, he said..

Since the mountain lions were eliminated from southern New England in the past, as were the bears, beavers, moose, wild turkeys and most of the deer, there are two theories as to how the present population migrated in – from the west and from the north.

Betty said the mountain lion killed by a car in Connecticut last June was proven through DNA testing to be related to the population in the Dakotas. Others have been linked to populations in Canada.

The mountain lions are here, he said, “because there is plenty for them to eat.”

Since deer fawns are their favorite food, where there are plenty of deer, there will be cats, he added.

“We have them and we have to deal with them. Incidents will rise as they adapt to humans,” Betty said.

Other foods are small mammals, domestic pets and farm livestock, but the lions are not averse to road kill.

“There have been some close encounters (with the lions)” and in several cases schools have been closed when an animal was seen in the neighborhood, Ottman said.

“They are part of our environment. We have to live with them,” Ottman said.

Both men provided tips for both dealing with an encounter and for documenting a sighting.

The lions are mainly nocturnal but can be encountered any time, especially just before sunrise and just after sunset. Don’t walk alone. Pepper spray is effective, as is carrying a big stick. Dogs are little help. If you encounter one, don’t run. Stand still and yell, he recommended.

A male mountain lions can reach 8 feet in length and up to 140 pounds. A female is slightly smaller. They come in many colors but are usually tawny, tan, reddish or grayish. Cubs, or kittens, are spotted. They are reclusive and shy, hard to see, and excellent hunters.

They live practically anywhere – forests, low lands, swamps – but have been seen in Walmart parking lots.

“Those were probably after the mice and rats in dumpsters,” McCracken said.

The sound of a male mountain lion looking for a mate has been described as sounding like “a woman being murdered” or a baby crying, and is loud enough to be heard for a half mile.

A mountain lion can run more than 30 miles per hour and broad jump up to 40 feet. They can jump up to 20 feet, or 11 feet if carrying a deer. Deer have been found in trees where a lion put it to keep its supper safe from the coyotes.

For more information, contact Ottman of Cougars of the Valley at 1-806-324-3174; at ctmountainlion.org; or cougarsofthevalley@hotmail.com. Betty, of Punch Bowl Puma Posse, at 1-401-789-4026.

The program was organized by the Mason Conservation Commission in memory of former resident Florence Roberts.