More than 300 cougar sightings have been reported in West Virginia since 1975, according to the Eastern Puma Research Network. Do you feel that the Fish and Game Department is covering up their existence? I have compiled descriptions of over 25 sightings in the surrounding area but none of them have produced real evidence in the form of a photo, footprint casting, body part, or scat sample from Virginia. It was headed north. They are back folks here in North Western Virginia, if they ever totally went away at all. We made eye contact. The more details the better! There used to be cougar there, and with that large a prey base, its possible. They dont go after dogs and cats or people. My first thought was, I gotta chase this thing, Marchibroda said. I was almost back to sleep when it happened again and this time it was no house cat! I am not sure we should base the existence of mountain lions in VA. and TN on the opinions of a few biologists. Overall about 3 1/2 inches wide by about 3 inches front to back. I dont know what you saw, but cougars are never black. AUGUSTA COUNTY, Va. (WHSV) According to 8News affiliate WHSV, a mountain lion attack was reported along the Appalachian Trail in Southwest Virginia Friday . Cant say what it was and hope to never see again. The closest confirmed wild cougars, except for the Florida Panther,appear to bein Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas and western Louisiana, according to the blog post. With their tails, some individuals can be as much as 9 ft. long. Ok, me again. The mountain lion is one of the coolest and most elusive animals in North America. I just wonder if I have the same picture, & also if it is true. So about three blocks from my turn onto our road I spotted Eye shine crossing in front of our car. On Saturday, Sept 28, 2008, at 7:20am, I was on my way to Warrenton from Midland (7 miles southeast of Warrenton). Not many I bet, and there are thousands of those out there. Unless of course you already know this and are relieved to know that it is not that of the great puma . At first I thought it was human screams. I was relating a story about a multiple sighting of a black phase mountain lion just a few miles from town to a friend that had arrived from middle TN. I expect they will confirm puma presence. Due to an abuse of hunting privileges, the species was completely wiped out. Look forward to talking more. They might even been reproducing. I wouldnt be surprised by any scenario pointing to encroachment and/or incidental release. A breeding population moves very slowly due to the natural hindrance of having cubs. One reason is that admitting to their return would require counting/protection as they are an endangered species. And I am not sure it was a cougar. I havent seen them, but I have worked with folks there at the Smithsonians Conservation Research Center in Front Royal including Bill McShea. Wow, those sure are sneaky and stealthy cats out there..maybe they received covert training from the CIA. The first time I heard the screams I went in the direction with a flashlight, fully expecting to find a victim. Forestry rangers say they have spotted several mountain lions in the area. I live in Montgomery Co, and was wondering if you could tell me where exactly you saw the cougar in 2002 in Floyd county. In the 1940s and 1950s, people were paid bounties for mountain lions, according to Jim Williams, regional director for the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks and author of "Path of the Puma." Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries district wildlife biologist David Kocka is of the same mindset. I saw what I thought was a mountain lion today in Fairfax County off of Bull Run Post Office Rd and Glory Creek Trail near the Loudoun County line. Most occur in Shenandoah National Park and in Bedford, Amherst and Nelson counties. It was about 18+ inches tall at shoulder, about 24 inches from hip to neck. There are currently an estimated 20,000-40,000 mountain lions remaining in the United States, but that number used to be much larger. The only confirmed mountain . So that is all the details I can think of except I didnt mention that the cat was tan with dark fur higlighting its face, looked like pictures Ive seen of them really and I figured due to its size and the fact that it had no spots left that we could see it was almost grown. In 2012, LaRue and her colleague Dr. Clay Nielsen published a paper in the Journal of Wildlife Management analyzing 178 confirmed sightings between 1990 and 2008 throughout the Midwestern and Eastern states and parts of Canada. I HAVE HEARD OF AN OLD WOMAN THAT HAD A DOBERMAN THAT STAYED ON HER BACK PORCH NEAR ROCKINGHAM CO NC. They produced over 20 kittens, expanding the gene pool successfully.5, the Eastern Cougar is prefers a habitat with trees 111 1. They are very ellusive cats. These creatures dont call Virginia home, but have been known to stop by for an occasional visit. An Amish farmer along 944 in Cumberland County complained to the PGC a mountain lion was killing his sheep. Although these wild cats are smaller than mountain lions, they are extremely good hunters. In fact, there have been 121 reports that are likely to have been true mountain lion sightings. It was slinking off up a hill after crossing the road, he said it was 100 + lbs. Anyone who wants to put this mystery to rest should just spend a few days in those mountainscase would be closed for sure on big black cats. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. There have been sightings of mountain lions in Virginia since the late 1800s, and its tough to imagine that every single one of them is misidentifying or lying about their experience, but it doesnt help that there hasnt been any physical evidence of mountain lions found either. Guess we will never know the truth unless there is a fantastic picture with know location shown also. While 4 wheeling in our Bronco on Buffalo Creek in Logan County, WV. Snce 1890, roughly 20 people have been killed by cougars. No claw marks. Many places in the west horses and mountain lions or cougars coexist. Their typical prey includes rabbits and squirrels, but they can kill deer when they are feeling up to it. or the puma to make official statements confirming its presence in the Eastern US and in fact might prove harmful to the cougar spur public fear if such a confirmation were made. Crossing by the large boulders on the trails was terrifying, only once did i see one behind a boulder when I passed. For decades, the chances of coming across one of these big cats in an eastern state were slim to none, and much to the chagrin of residents like Marchibroda who have reported sightings, the U.S. Given my report in spring of 07 of a lion sighting could this be a return of the catamount? I would guess that the overbundance of whitetail deer could have contributed to the return? of the puma. My friend and I couldnt believe what we had just witnessed. It was on Rt. Cat scratching (claw marks) in a 60 deg arc, drawing back to a point about 2.5 3 feet from the edge of the 4 foot arc. there could have been a population in the region that have now been able to only find refuge in that area due to encroachment of housing, etc. Unfortunately, we lost our big barn cat to these predators and continue to see and hear them on a regular basis. In many states, the season dates are often further broken down depending on the hunt area you plan to visit. Suitable habitat is available now, but for decades it was not. About a week later I seen a documentary on black mountian lions, and that is exactly what I had seen, same size and coloring. Similar to Tennessee's wild elk and buffalo, the cougar was extirpated from the state around the early 1900s due to overhunting and habitat loss. It is only a matter of time before the California picture in this blog post is sent back to us as proof of mountain lions in Virginia. Even though the WV DNR says there are no wild mountain lions in the state, there are some held in captivity at the West Virginia Wildlife Center in French Creek.. It didnt appear to be hunting, or have any kind of agenda, just comfortable in its surroundings. Fish and Wildlife Service removed eastern subspecies of cougars from the endangered species list last year and declared them extinct. I know for a fact that Mountain Lions inhabit my area! I live in Chilesburg, Caroline county. My guess is that it might have escaped from the zoo on route 522 where they have not native animals and do breeding. But in 2011, they were declared extinct. "I think some people they start out as a joke between friends, then it gets circulated andit just snowballs from there and can't be stopped," he said. Could this have been a young cougar? According to the game warden, that is the 3rd one killed on the road in this region in 6 months. Beowolf the key to your sighting is the tail . "This photo has been all over the internet and Facebook for the past 18 months or so," said Michael L. Fies, furbearer project leader for the Virginia . We do have pictures of that! A young man showed me a photograph from his deer camera. "At some point we must draw a line across the ground of our home and our being, drive a spear into the land and say to the bulldozers, earthmovers, government and corporations, thus far and no further. If we do not, we shall later feel, instead of pride, the regret of Thoreau, that good but overly-bookish man, who wrote, near the end of his life, If I repent of anything it is likely to be my good behaviour. I sat, played my guitar for an hour. The West Virginia Wildlife Center . When rounding the corner in the driveway, my headlights illuminated a light reddish brown cat in a sitting position looking toward my house. This was a favorite subject of theirs. A mountain lion is a wild cat ranging from two to three feet tall, with females weighing up to 120lbs and males up to 200lbs, making it the fourth largest cat in the world. Cat like head and ears and face, long tail (about 20+ inches), bristly fur, grayish-brown in color, rather thin overall. 26 Sep 16. I got into the bald on Big Hump and I heard an odd noise, like a quick screaching bird and something ran off. There is wide open space there, high cliffs, and an abundance of deer. I also know numerous credible people that have seen them in the Blackstone, VA area over the past 10 years. I got to see 4 coyotes run down a mature doe and brutaly slaughter her. As the science stands, the most likely option is that the sightings are the result of young males traveling east in search of new hunting and breeding grounds. tail, gray to tan in color. I tried taking a picture of it with my phone but it jolted away. Everyone we have spoken with today said it couldnt be true but my dad (a hunter all his life) and mom both saw its full near silhouette (nearing dusk) in the curve of a road just ahead of them before it disappeared and said it was the size, maybe just a tad bit smaller than my golden retriever (80 lbs) and its tail was as long as its body was and made a point to say it was a cats tail in shape, curving down at the base & up in a slope. As I slowed the cat took notice and turned. Nobody even thinks anything of it because of its regularity. I stopped thinking I would see a deer cross the old farm road. The last one seen was last summer. The cat was black with a tail nearly as long as its body. I guess I just dont want to believe they are here, because we live in the woods. (Shooting a mountain lion is illegal in Tennessee, given that theres no hunting or trapping season for the animal, but Alan Peterson said the hunter didnt believe hed mortally wounded the animal, and the case has been turned over to a District Attorneys office to determine whether or not the hunter will be charged.). The states beautiful wilderness and mountainous terrain are prime mountain lion habitats. In 2018, the Federal agency removed the Eastern Cougar from that list, though the Florida panther remained on it. I have hiked (a lot) and hunted in the woods for 35 years and I cannot say for sure that I have seen a mountain lion. Lets explore: are there mountain lions in Virginia? The fur was short and the common light red-brown hue of a cougar. 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