The Last Puma In Vermont?

 "There is no need to be concerned or troubled. Tigers do not live here"

Last words of 45 years experience wildlife hunting and trapping expert 2 hours before being killed by a tiger.

Above: a life wasted and a human (c)2025 respective copyright owner

It is almost as though all the work of Helen McGuiness and the Eastern Cougar Foundation just never existed. According to Vermont History Explorer

 https://vermonthistoryexplorer.org/the-last-catamount-in-vermont

"Some people say they have seen a catamount in the woods.

"Catamounts are large wild cats that are also called panthers, cougars or mountain lions. The last catamount killed in Vermont was shot in 1881. This catamount is on display at the Vermont History Museum.

"On Thanksgiving Day in 1881, a boy named James Cadwell was hunting in Barnard. He noticed tracks in the snow and started following them. After awhile, he saw what had made the tracks – a huge panther! Cadwell asked Alexander Crowell, a hunter, for help.

"After they tracked the animal, Crowell shot the panther twice. First he shot the panther in the leg with a shot gun. Then he grabbed a rifle from another hunter and shot the panther in the head.

"Why did Alexander Crowell shoot the catamount?

"In the wild, catamounts ate deer and other animals. But in the 1800s, farmers had cut down many trees and turned forests into farms. Without the trees, there were not as many deer as before. The catamounts started eating sheep that lived on farms. The farmers and hunters killed the panthers to protect their sheep.

"After Crowell shot the catamount, he had his picture taken with the animal. People could buy pictures of the huge animal. After he was stuffed, the catamount was taken all over Vermont for people to see. For 10 cents, people could see the monster panther! Later on, the catamount was given to the museum. Come visit the catamount when you are in Montpelier.

"Some people say they have seen catamounts over the years. There are many more trees in Vermont now than there were 140 years ago. There might be more places for catamounts to hide. But scientists have not found any proof of catamounts in Vermont.

Above: the face of extinction (c)2025 respective copyright owner

"If there are catamounts in Vermont, it is illegal to shoot them now. Catamounts are endangered animals."

Well, let's be honest the answer to the question "Why did Alexander Crowell shoot the catamount?" is for fun on a boring day. He couldn't even kill it outright.  It is the same mentality existing today; bring wolves back from extinction. Kill. Bring back from extinction ad infinitum. 

According to Vermont Public https://www.vermontpublic.org/vpr-news/2018-01-24/its-official-feds-declare-the-catamount-extinct

It's Official: Feds Declare The Catamount Extinct

Vermont Public | By Howard Weiss-Tisman

Published January 24, 2018 at 12:46 PM EST

 

"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service says there is no evidence that the catamount is still roaming in the Northeast, and the federal agency has officially removed the large cat from the federal endangered species list.The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a determination in 2015 about the eastern puma — commonly known as "the catamount" — and opened up the opportunity for public and peer comments.

"This week the federal agency issued its final rule declaring that the eastern puma is extinct and took the animal off of the Federal List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.

"Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Louis Porter says even though the federal designation comes as no surprise, it does require a moment of reflection.

"Any time you have to acknowledge that a subspecies or a population has disappeared, you know, that's a failure that we have to face up to and acknowledge," Porter said. "Our mission is to protect all species in the state and make sure that they aren't eliminated. The federal government has a mission of doing the same on a national scale. And so it is a somber, although not unexpected, development."

"Once a specific animal is removed from the endangered species list and it is determined to be extinct, states can consider reintroducing other members of its species into the wild.

"In a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, conservation advocate Michael Robinson called on states in the northeast to consider bringing large cats back.

"We need large carnivores like cougars to keep the wild food web healthy, so we hope eastern and Midwestern states will reintroduce them," Robinson said in the release. "Cougars would curb deer overpopulation and tick-borne diseases that threaten human health." 

"Porter says there have been no talks with nearby states to reintroduce western cougars into the wild here.

"It's not something we are considering or thinking about. A predator of this size can be involved in a lot of conflicts with people, or with livestock, so there's a potential with any predator of this size to have conflicts with humans," said Porter. "The territory that they need and the conditions they need would be difficult to find in Vermont. They need large pieces of unbroken land to roam."

 "Porter also says the catamount remains protected under Vermont law, even though U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has removed it from the federal endangered species list.

 "The eastern cougar once roamed across the eastern U.S. and Canada. However the last catamount that was killed in Vermont was shot in 1881, and one killed in Maine in 1938 was the last killed in New England.

 "There was a cougar killed in Connecticut in 2011. But wildlife officials say the animal was most likely from South Dakota, and it traveled across the country, through New York state, before it was hit by a car on the highway about 70 miles north of New York City."

Above: the puma on display (c)2025 respective copyright owner

Pumas have been seen in and around U.S. cities and like coyote they are becoming more urbanised because humans have built on their territories (so clearly the coyotes and puma are to blame). I think the jokes and ridicule that comes with sighting puma even in areas where they once existed and anecdotal evidence shows that they still occur, is protecting them to some degree. However, officially recognising that puma are seen in an area (as part of their overall territory) help-s people be "puma aware" in their work and recreation.

That same ridicule has helped exotics in the UK to have a steady, almost unhindered existence -even though locals have known for several generations that they are out there. I would be more worried about gun, crossbow and bow carrying morons out in the countryside than any puma.