Oct142009
Mountain lions in NH? (And what about wolves?)
Filed under wildlife by david brooks at 9:50 am
My Telegraph column today talks about why fish & game officials are so reluctant to say that any mountain lions (cougars) live in N.H., despite getting a couple of reports a month. In brief: They need hard evidence, like photos, hair, pawprints, and haven’t gotten any. Due to space constraints, a couple of short items didn’t make it to the paper, so here they are:
- The cougar isn’t the only large predator whose presence in New Hampshire is of interest.
- Bobcats were almost eliminated from New Hampshire by 1973, when the official bounty on killing them ended. Between the end of the bobcat hunting season in 1989 and a few years ago, very occasional sightings were reported, but, said Fish & Game biologist Patrick Tate, “in the last 5 to 7 years, the observation rate is really increasing, year to year.” These observations have included pictures and other hard evidence, to the point that the state and UNH are trying to get the first hard estimate of bobcat populations, with a study that starts this year.
- Then there are wolves, which were wiped out of the New Hampshire in the late 1800s.
- There is no evidence that wild wolves have established themselves in New Hampshire - although they’re quite close, existing in Quebec and occasionally crossing into Maine. But reports are common. The issue is compounded by the existence of wolf-dog hybrids, which are legal in New Hampshire as long as they’re kept caged and sterilized. Laymen can easily be fooled by these hybrids. Interest in wolves was so great that some groups are pushing to have them re-introduced into the North Country. But opposition exists, too: State law officially forbids such reintroduction.
and …
- It is legal to own a mountain lion as a pet in New Hampshire as long as you have a state permit. No permits exist for private ownership and only two for commercial operations, according to Fish & Game. One of those permits is issued to Squam Lake Science Center in Holderness, which from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30 will celebrate “Mountain Lion Week,” with events including demonstrations with the center’s two mountain lions. For further information call the Science Center at 603-968-7194 or visit www.nhnature.org.
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