Tracks found near the sighting was confirmed by a retired wildlife biologist with the Smithsonian. This evening my husband and I were driving up our country lane in western Amherst county when a large, dark brown (black?) Virginia Dept. "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. If anyone is interested, you may write me at thatwhitekid247@aol.com. I am concerned since that pond is a source of water for my horse. I see cats and cat signs pretty regularly where I live now, but have never heard this sound again. When they said they had we advised them of the origin and told them about the cougar incident on their property. cat ran across the road in front of our truck. A mountain lion photo has been circulating on social media for more than a year, claiming people have seenmountain lions in the state, and officials are calling shenanigans on the post. I made deep, loud noises and threw my hands up and used my flashlight to look large. But then again, no one would come forward if they killed one because its illegal to kill an endangered species. I still wasnt positive though. This area is on the Abingdon end of South Holston Lake. The U.S. Since 1970, 121 sightings have been identified as possible mountain lions, but have not been officially . Additionally, the likelihood of mountain lions reclaiming their former territories in the mountains of Virginia is a distinct possibility. The closest confirmed wild cougars, except for the Florida Panther,appear to bein Michigan, Wisconsin, Arkansas and western Louisiana, according to the blog post. Yes, it is a cougar, but could the picture have been taken somewhere else??? I was backpacking on the tuscarours trail and set up camp right after the overall run connector. Two ponies still missing. They exclusively populated western states for decades, but according to LaRue, some shifts in hunting regulations began to change things about 50 years ago: lions were switched from the bounty hunter category to a game species managed by the states. Ideas? Additionally, those unaccustomed to living near apex predators will need to adjust their way of thinking! I, a CPA, saw one 15 years ago. Last time I heard it it sounded like it was 30 50 yards away and then I heard a dog bark then yelp and one last scream from the animal and then quiet. For the first time in years, these cats are on the rebound and extending their range further into their historic regions. And add to that the fact that someone may have actually been wrong. they may have migrated there by way of fractured habitat that has forced them into the area due to encroachment. A mountain lion photo has been circulating on social media for more than a year, claiming people have seen mountain lions in the state, and officials are calling shenanigans on the post. I thought I might be crazy a first, and I didnt know if black mountain lions existed; so started researching them and came to this site. Mountain lions and yes black cats. No other vehicles were immediately around me. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. https://www.whsv.com/content/news/Mountain-lion-attack-reported-near-Humpback-Rock-385246261.html. News outlets picked up the story and the video went viral, and its easy to understand whyaccording to TWRA regional manager Alan Peterson, that video marked only the second confirmed cougar sighting in Tennessee in more than 100 years. Four very distinct toes and a large pad. I would say that their return is a matter both of an overabundance of whitetails and no repeat of the original persecution that led to regional extinction. As a result, multiple sightings across different time ranges could be attributed to the same cat. THE BOBCAT: on the other hand actualy has a more shrill high pitched terrified scream that sounds like a woman being murdered much like on a horror film or somethng like the screams at that halloween fright night you may have been to. HAS ANYONE ELSE HEARD OF ANYTHING LIKE THIS. http://www.cougarnet.org, I LIVE NEAR PATRICK CO VA AND WORK NEAR ROCKINGHAM CO. NC. I'll take any sighting you got, just make a note of location, size and color of the animal, some context on what you where doing when you saw them (hiking a trail, hunting, chilling in your yard, ect), and any behaviors you noticed from the animal. The creek still has running water. It stood about 3 feet tall, and had a rounded face with low-set ears. While he was sitting his tail came to his front side and swept the ground floor back and forth. "I thought, 'holy cow, where did that come from?'" I opened the door and told my husband to hurry up and come outside. Our family moved to the Manassas National Battlefield area in 1983. While I was on vacation last summer, 2007, in Sandbridge Beach, Virginia, outside Virginia Beach, I encountered a big black cat. Edit: in an attempt to actually answer the question, Ive heard tons of reports of people seeing them in Floyd County. B. McQuary. According to the Cat Specialist Group, Puma concolor cougar is in North and Central America and Puma concolor concolor ranges throughout South America.2. We couldnt figure out what it was so we did a little research and felt the sounds couldnt be anything other than a cougar. Could it have been one of those? Instead, these sightings are likely captive cats that were intentionally or accidentally released or traveling cats from a state out west. Diana Marchibroda and her miniature schnauzer froze in their tracks when the mountain lion stepped out of the woods last May. I found one which I took a picture of. I live in Spotsylvania va in a development but we all live on 5 to 10 acres. Then I heard Coyotes doing their eerie little howls. ANY REPLY IS WELCOME, Dont know if you have any cougar there, but it sure sounds like a good place for wolves. People have been reporting sightings of mountain lions in our area for years, but the Virginia DWR says they haven't been in our area since 1882. Mountain lions in Nebraska are a division of the larger population spread through all western U.S. states, and predators move unobstructedly among Nebraska and neighboring U.S. states, especially South Dakota and Wyoming. In fact, they found an African Lion skull in the Blue Ridge mts not too long back. All we get are hearsay stories and misidentified wildlife. 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. Currently, there is only one species of wild cat that lives in Virginia. A seasoned hiker whos lived in Virginia since the 1970s and is deeply familiar with the areas wildlife, shes confident in what she saw. Beowolf the key to your sighting is the tail . I am in the Linville, NC area and have had several people tell me that they have seen a mountain lion during the past three to four years. When we reviewed these reports, as many as 25 percentare of a large black cat. Email me. I just want to confirm that, yes, theyre back and I hope they stay around! I told everyone the next day what I had seen and I was told there no big cats here any more. They are dark reddish-or yellowish-brown dorsally, lighter ventrally, the tail tip is dark, and the fur is short, soft and unspotted. Ive seen a few cougars in the wild, I dont believe the black phase has ever been confirmed in any mountain lion/cougar/catamount/puma. Mountain Lions are back, maybe. I also had NO idea they lived in that area, so close to my home :). There's a whole world to learn about and Colby is content to spend his life learning as much as he can about it! Well deal with a lot of the same stuff thats related to bears in Virginia. The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources claims that they havent been in the region since 1882. 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. It was probably a year later that those people sold their house to another couple with horses. Its probably only a matter of time though their territory is expanding steadily. Wild Cats in Virginia. We coundnt believe what we saw. I went to Chestoa, which is an awesome overlook pretty much between Altapass and Linville. We would sit on our back porch and listen awe struck. We searched for bones, but we had waited too long and could not find anything. The Florida Panther was also listed as a separate subspecies, Puma concolor coryi. A co-worker and I had a run in with a very large black cat in Floyd, VA in 2002. On Saturday, Sept 28, 2008, at 7:20am, I was on my way to Warrenton from Midland (7 miles southeast of Warrenton). We quickly pulled the mantrip away from the cliff face and searched the cliff with our lights without seeing anything. Look up the story of Rocky the African serval- an escaped pet that roams Virginia to this day I believe. Male cougars migrate further than females, but so far only a few have followed the pattern of coyotes and reached the eastern side of North America. TWRA has had their collective heads up their cloacas for a very long time in denial of these sitings [sic] and reports, reads a comment on a December 2015 article about the video footage. I think there have been reintroduction programs in some areas. It is being held at the Discovery Center at SML State Park from 3:00 - 4:00 p.m. on March 31st. When I was a kid we lived on a mountain in the Shenandoah Valley (near Front Royal/ Linden) and there were several mountain Lion sightings and people who claimed to have heard them. Bull sharks are one of the few species that can tolerate fresh water, which allows them to flow from ocean to river relatively easily. The eastern cougar, which occurred in West Virginia, is one of 15 subspecies . hunterb8s@yahoo.com. I went out to get something from my car, and about five to ten yards away I see a huge black cat slowly cross the street, pause, look around and go into the surrounding woods. Fies doesn't believe that there is this thriving population that has been hidden from the world. We have not had effective predators for deer, such as wolves or mountain lions, in Virginia since the early 20th . I was hiking in Western North Carolina this weekend, north from Carvers Gap at Roan Mountain, on the Appalachian Trail. I've seen them quite often. As I inched my way down the road I saw the tall grass to my left move as if something was approaching the road. The size of a lion's territory depends on the availability of food and habitat quality. His body was very long and had a beautiful face. The cougars wandering far from their original homes in the West are, naturally, searching for three things: habitat, food and mates. Abbie Smith, a native of Little Hocking, Ohio, led the Mountain Lions in scoring during the regular season as she posted 13.1 points per game. Large aggressive alpha predator spotted in Central Virginia near Fredericksburg on july, 17 2018 April 9, 2019 edition, High latitude clouds seen at night are getting brighter, Mountain Lions in Virginia: How Theyre Here and Why Its Denied, http://hstallard.blogspot.com/2008/03/mountain-lion-hoax-in-virginia.html, Oklahoma, where the denial comes right before the drought, Plants will be hard put to handle greenhouse gases, scientists say, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Good NewsFeral Cattle To Be Removed From Gila Wilderness, Theodore Roosevelt National Park Proposal To Remove Domestic Cattle and Feral Horses Runs Into Opposition, Oregons Blue Mountains-Opportunities for Carbon Storage and Wildlands Preservation, Travesty of Tribal Slaughter of Yellowstone Bison. I bearly got a glimpse, thought at first it was a deer. Yet within the last decade, bull sharks have been known to swim all the way to the Potomac River. Many places in the west horses and mountain lions or cougars coexist. I dont know how realistic they are, but here are calls: Bobcat, cougar/mountain lion/puma/painter, whatever the name is in your area. (usualy a rabbit) as it tapers off not to be heard again until the next night. It was approximately 5 ft. long & 2 ft. high. This normal school was founded by veterans of both the Union and the Confederacy, Concord is named for the ideal of "harmony and sweet . Above post by Rob about a Lion in Wise virginia is a hoax! Yep, The big cats have been in Virginia for a good while. One of the first things we asked was if theyd heard screaming sounds. Many people live their entire lives in mountain lion country, and never see or know the cats are around. Today, there are less than 200 Florida panthers remaining. However, once you start talking about black cats the credibility of the reports goes down signigiciantly. like when you see a wolf look at the paws for positive ID. 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