Re(3): Summary of the facts in New England

Re(3): Summary of the facts in New England
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Posted on February 8, 2015 at 05:20:07 PM by Chris

Weather,

I discussed the VT and Maine kitten scenarios. The Lang Quebec/New Brunswick DNA paper found no evidence of breeding. I proposed two scenarios for a string of incidents related to the CT cat that occurred between 4 - 6 years ago.

Cougars in the suburbs of MA, RI, and CT, breeding females in the suburbs of MA, RI and CT ought to be leaving clear evidence of the kind that turns up in residential areas of Florida, the Midwest, and West randomly, every month, every week, not every 4, 10, 20 years.

Like this pic this week next to a home in Belle Forche, SD. More than two dozen clear prints in a single frame:

http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/communities/belle_fourche/mountain-lion-documented-in-belle-fourche/article_8eaa13b8-98e1-5f73-9159-1179d6c38d4c.html

Radio-collared cat trips a series of cams across northern WI/Michigan UP:

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2011/09/evidence_confirms_cougar_roami.html

http://cougarrewilding.org/CougarNews/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/WI-confirmations.jpg

Cougars shot in Chicago and west Illinois:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/04/080417-cougar-shot_2.html
http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2013/11/21/cougar-fatally-shot-near-western-illinois-town-of-morrison/

Here's random surveillance video of two cougars, one wearing a UC Santa Cruz Puma Project collar, same place, 21 hours apart:

http://www.ksbw.com/news/mountain-lions-caught-on-video-in-boulder-creek/30897104

Video from a surveillance camera already posted here from Los Gatos, CA where we tracked the female to her litter:

http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2014/10/08/caught-on-camera-mountain-lion-hangs-out-on-top-of-car-in-san-jose-homes-driveway/

Panther love on video in Florida:

http://video.tampabay.com/Jeff-Klinkenberg-narrates-this-never-seen-before-video-of-Florida-panthers-in-the-wild-25116779

Three minutes of hand-held camera footage of a cougar kill in Colorado:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGfxD5hcInw

Indiana hunter tree-stand cell phone pic:

http://cougarrewilding.org/CougarNews/?p=1014

Kittens nursing in the Santa Cruz:

http://santacruzpumas.org/2013/08/28/a-very-intimate-glimpse-into-a-puma-family/

Moving a den in Florida:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/20/florida-panther-photo-first-time-refuge_n_2338253.html

Santa Cruz fawn kill on camera:

http://santacruzpumas.org/?s=deer+kill+on+camera

I've had several lovely chats with Dr. Rabinowitz, who admittedly has done no cougar field-research in the Northeast. I simply suggested to him if such random cam and surveillance pics of kittens, moms, and toms are turning up in FL, CA, CO and the Michigan UP, they should be turning up in the suburbs of MA, RI and CT as well.

The UC Santa Cruz Puma Project's website has wonderful material on the suburban cougars of the Santa Cruz/Silicon Valley, which is similar habitat in many ways to the I-95 corridor through MA, RI and CT. New pics and video weekly:

http://santacruzpumas.org

I wish with all my heart that you and your team confirm the peer-reviewed presence of breeding females in the suburbs of MA, RI and CT.

Best,

Chris

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