WVa Sanctuary provides safe home for mountain lions and bobcat. Wow, those sure are sneaky and stealthy cats out there..maybe they received covert training from the CIA. Despite repeated claims on Facebook and other social media outlets, it's highly unlikely wild mountain lions live in Virginia. Anyone know where to find a recording of cat sounds? 3. http://www.easterncougar.org/ Ben Shrader Bedford, Virginia. My wife and I have seen two cougars in Patrick County, VA. But I never saw one, or tracks, and I spent a lot of time in the woods. Theres lots of legends around here, but I have heard from one very reputable source about a recent (within the last year) sighting in the vicinity of the Lovers Leap turnout on Route 58 about 6-7 miles east of Meadows of Dan. We were standing near the barn about 10 AM when we observed a disturbance about 400-600 yards off in a field near the tree line. It was a juvenile mountain lion. I have a call into the animal control (only to find out if there were others who reported it) and hope to hear back from them tomorrow. I have chickens, belgian mules (not worried about them) and a herd of miniature donkeys but Im far more concerned about marauding bears than a mountain lion. Scientists once classified over 30 subspecies of cougars based on morphological differences. A large, darkish animal approximately the height of a retriever/setter, long tail that curved at the very end, large cat-like head, and very close, prominent shoulders, that I still can see moving up and down when I think about it crossing Meetze Road. The West Virginia Wildlife Center is open to the public seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Now, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission estimates that the population has reached at least a couple dozen. We searched for bones, but we had waited too long and could not find anything. I know tons of people who have claimed to see them, but despite these supposed sightings, we never get any good photo or video evidence to back it up. The West Virginia Wildlife Center . They came out and investigated. I suppose it could have been a super-sized coyote or an interbred coyote. And while common throughout the state . Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. Im not a mammalogist, so Im not going to try to play their role, but I think theyre all the same, Kocka said, adding that differentiating between subspecies may not always be a worthwhile effort. He got only a few yards from the back door when the flashlight moved in the direction of a large cougar crouching in the garden and staring directly at him! I remember seeing very large cat tracks(not a normal bobcat track) while hunting the GWNF sw of harrisonburg,va in the mid to late 1980s. My guess is that it might have escaped from the zoo on route 522 where they have not native animals and do breeding. Does it follow a path through the woods like a deer sometimes does?? 211 just north of Warrenton VA. It lived across the cove form us, and it would scream out at night sometimes, so loud that chills ran down our spines. I am concerned since that pond is a source of water for my horse. Dr. Ralph Maughan is professor emeritus of political science at Idaho State University. Anyone with info local to south central VA, email me at austinsandsons@verizon.net. Mountain Lions are back, maybe. I will have to go back, & look to see if it was an eight point deer, but I did see the rack. If the cougars are released pets they still will have the survival instincts which make them difficult to have as pets. For years everybody in every state wildlife agency has gotten reports of sightings, but we had never had anything in Tennessee that we could really verify as a cougar, Peterson said. They were extirpated from Indiana by the late 1800s. TWRA has had their collective heads up their cloacas for a very long time in denial of these sitings [sic] and reports, reads a comment on a December 2015 article about the video footage. Thanks for any help, as plenty claim they are here also. At a distance of about 350 yards, we looked out to the distant field w/ a pair of binoculars and noticed that it wasnt deer, but infact a few larger cats. Perhaps some of thes animals came from the private sector and they were simply let loose by their owners. Hey me and my friends go hunting in virginia and theres been some times where we have been hunting and we would here her but it sounds like a female screaming bloody murder and its one of those sounds that makes your hair stand up and if you are tired it will wake you up i personaly know i was hunting in a stand and i saw the hole body but the head it scared the living crap out of me I got a couple of pictures of paw prints. I used to vacation on Smith Mountain Lake Virginia, Good View, and I can definatly confirm cougar in this area. It was about 18+ inches tall at shoulder, about 24 inches from hip to neck. Terrified, I took a step toward it, held up my vest yelled and everything and it dissapeared quickly. They wondered if it was a kind of dog or even a cat. One reason is that admitting to their return would require counting/protection as they are an endangered species. To learn more about "lion country" in Colorado check here. There are currently an estimated 20,000-40,000 mountain lions remaining in the United States, but that number used to be much larger. I would think by the time you get your phone/camera on, & ready, the cougars gone. We guessed it could have been but have no proof. I know mom & dad said they saw it & I do believe them but why, if they are, people denying them being here? I didnt know if my eyes were playing tricks on me until it decided not to cross the road, and head back to the woods. Why do they believe it now? Coming home today, August 12, 2009 about 4:00 on Route 210 in Amherst, VA, a large black animal came loping up to the road. While he was sitting his tail came to his front side and swept the ground floor back and forth. I think the increase in goat and sheep farming in Appomattox County is attracting more predators. Motion-sensitive infrared cameras have been deployed near Appalachian Trail to try to determine whether cougars are back. Not high pitched like a house cat but low, sounded like whatever it was had some size to it. "These two were seen and were causing trouble before the guy who owned them knew they were gone," Fies said. During one of our walks last weekend my sister spotted a very !large! The deer have been congregating down there. Needless to say, our guns were ready and we were as still as we could be. I saw a friend while out to dinner two weeks ago and he came up and said, You will never believe what I saw last evening at my place. I said, What did you see? I do believe that it's just mistaken identity.". Also the Coyotes up there are getting out of hand in my eyes. Cougar Sightings, West Virginia. In October & November of 2007, my dogs got to barking. This state is home to about 100 animals. I dont know how realistic they are, but here are calls: Bobcat, cougar/mountain lion/puma/painter, whatever the name is in your area. Upon her return she stopped by to tell us that theyd followed what was apparently an old or injured cougar! This picture seemed to have been at night. What I set out to do was figure out habitat stability and dispersal corridors into the midwest, said LaRue, a research assistant in the earth sciences department at the University of Minnesota who studies mountain lions. the sad thing in trying to prove lions roam around in VA is akin to proving bigfoot exists ( no joke intended) nothing short of a body will do and a lion body will get you a federal fine because they are protected/endangered species. Fish and Wildlife Service declared the eastern subspecies extinct. It looked to be about 90 to 100 pounds. Way back in 1977 I was firebossing a mine in McDowell Co WVa. Females have gradually made their way into states like Nebraska, South Dakota, Arkansas, and Missouri, but according to LaRue, it turns out the midwest largely is not a great habitat. So its not unreasonable to assume that theyll continue on and eventually end up in states near and on the eastern seaboard, where lush mountain ranges like the Blue Ridge and Smokies offer prime habitat and sustenance (deer, primarily) for the cats. of Wildlife. Which could be a pretty big deal, because up until now, the confirmed sightings in the east have been of male cats. All these so-called sightings yet no evidence of a breeding population, despite all the research done by biologists and the states? So, I had the opportunity to help raise beautiful, and playful ( they acted just like any kitten would! Others have been clustered in the Valley. the Eastern Cougar is Puma concolor, reflecting the solid color without stripes or spots we hear them behind our house all the time and a friend killed one last month in botetourt county that weighed 47 lbs. Although the eastern cougar is extinct, there are still sightings of these cats across the state. I just saw one a couple of hourse ago. I just saw a photograph of one today that is EASILY 150-200 lbs. The amount of area they need for their home range, the kinds of things they eat, their behaviorsall of that is really important to arm ourselves with so we have that information, LaRue said, adding that with that education comes the dispelling of myths. I know another person in Albemarle Co. who sees them sunning regularly there and has for years. Do you think what I heard may have been a cougar or a mountain lion? Lystrosaurus was one of the few terrestial species that survived the permian extinction. Dont know what it was, but I have always wondered if it was a big cat or not. His body was very long and had a beautiful face. Then what? Ideas? He then went to our pond & disappeared into the woods. They then have to ensure that the picture hasnt been tampered with in any way, because Peterson said an astounding number of peopleboth misinformed wildlife enthusiasts and tricksters with too much time on their hands and access to Photoshopsend him shots of mountain lions that were clearly either edited or taken in a state out west. The U.S. He created and is the administrator of The Wildlife News. I was on another random Parkway journey, like always. "In others frankly (some people) just make up stories to get attention or to support their beliefs, so they'll come up with a photo from somewhere else to justify their beliefs," he continued. Others saw those cats too; so it was not my mistaking them for anything else! Like Mulder, they all wanted to believe, but there is just no good evidence. In November of last year, a giant cat with a long tail wandered in front of Tennessee resident Austin Burtons deer camera on his familys farm in Humphreys County. 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