Comments on: Laughing At Ghosts In Maine Woods

By: Tianne

Tianne — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 22:47:02 +0000

I am from western Maine, and I know two people who have seen mountain lions in this state. One lives down near Alfred, and saw it standing in the middle of a little-used dirt road past her home. It was standing broadside in the road, and looked directly at her, so she got a great view of it. She described it as the size of a large dog, tawny colored, and having a long tail. The long tail certainly distinguishes it from being a bobcat. This was probably seven or eight years ago.

The other person lives in Hiram and knows that at least one mountain lion lives in his several-hundred-acre woodland. He is a retired state official who has been working in his woods as a hobby for several decades. He has heard its distinctive cry more than once, and saw it moving through a clearing twice, most recently only a year or two ago.

I’m not sure if they’d be willing to talk publicly about their sightings, Mr. Coleman, but I’d be happy to try to get them to speak with you if you’re interested.

By: squatchwatcher

squatchwatcher — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 15:33:17 +0000

When officials reintroduced lions into the Black Hills of South Dakota some people were worried about lions attacking livestock (mostly in central S.D.) but the authorities apparently did not think cougars would travel that far into the state. They thought there weren’t enough lions to feel crowded or something like that. But there are sightings here in central S.D. Now we have a mountain Lion season, I think in October, to help control the population. So it’s not impossible for the mountain lion to repopulate an area on its own.

By: kittenz

kittenz — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 02:09:50 +0000

Well actually Remus, you don’t have to overpower a mother puma to acquire a kitten; all you have to do is go online. There are several breeders here in the good ole U.S. of A. who will fix you up with puma kittens, all it takes is some folding green.

That doesn’t mean that pumas are not repopulating their range though :). Of course they are. Officials of the various eastern states will have to acknowlege that before long.

Even in areas where pumas are numerous, they are seldom seen, but as pumas reclaim the east, they will leave evidence of their presence. I don’t think the day is too far off when the weight of that evidence will make it very clear that there are pumas among us.

By: Remus

Remus — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 01:48:12 +0000

Captive animals? Wayward pets?

A lot of those around are there?

Presumably in order to obtain a kitten I would have to overpower its mother. But of course, she must be an escaped pet herself.

This makes a LOT more sense than the crazed idea that an animal is returning to its original range in the absence of hunting pressure.

By: Maine Crypto

Maine Crypto — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 16:53:56 +0000

Members of my family have had several, repeated up close sightings of mountain lions. (and heard their screams!) mountain lions do live in Maine, and have for years.

By: ShefZ28

ShefZ28 — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 03:14:52 +0000

Even if they were captive cats that were released into the wild…it may not come from a genetic family tree that is local to the area but its still a cat in the wild and capable of hunting in the ecosystem. Congrats to any and all species who make a comeback.

By: Bob Michaels

Bob Michaels — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 19:29:02 +0000

if you see a Mountain Lion, just report it to the eastern Cougar network, the H with state officals.

By: Ceroill

Ceroill — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:54:40 +0000

Perhaps it’s bureaucratic inertia. Once something has been decided and codified, then it must be so, and anyone who has experiences counter to the offical word must be stupid, hoaxers, or hallucinating.

By: hlw

hlw — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 17:28:31 +0000

You don’t have to go into the Maine woods to run into big cats in New England. We’ve has reports in Mass. from one end of the state to the other.

In 2003-04 we had a continuous stream of reports from the Beverly, Manchester, Essex area. This is only 20 miles north of Boston. Reports included foot prints, scats, a couple mutilated deer, bad photos etc. It was even seen crossing Rt. 128 a major highway going through the area. This is a highly developed area on the Atlantic coast.

Though local officials thought we had a mountain lion in the area, state officials were sure we had a “mangy coyote or bobcat”. This was of course done by never leaving their desks to investigate. Coincidentally the Beverly High School sports teams are The Panthers.