There haven’t been any cougars in Tennessee since the early 1900s. I still find it hard to believe the people who say there are mountain lions in TN. You really don’t have anything to be afraid of here, so if you see a Bobcat just enjoy! So, having cougars in East Tennessee could be a possibility because they could travel that far seeking to expand their home range. It wasn’t that long ago when coyotes weren’t seen in Tennessee. ... Never run, but instead make yourself threatening by standing tall, waving your arms, throwing objects, and yelling. Mountain lion in Tennessee. Cougars, also known as Mountain Lions or Pumas, are native to Tennessee, but there were no sightings of cougars from the early 1900's until recently. 2012). Puma. Carroll County is roughly 80 miles from the Mississippi line. Also, many trail camera photos are taken at night and are too unclear to make out the details to really know what kind of animal is in the photo. But are they really extinct? I have lived all of my life in the mountains of Carter County and I can recall dozens of incidents that cougars were spotted in this county. Hair, tracks, and scat samples can be analyzed as evidence of a cougar sighting. Because the federal Endangered Species Act does not protect extinct species, the Eastern Cougar subspecies was officially removed from the federal endangered species list this year (2015). The girls screamed and Zack grabbed the youngest child and carried her as they all ran back to their house. Pretty interesting. Raccoons prowling campgrounds for unsecured human food are second only to bears in causing wildlife problems for visitors. Read more TWRA has never, nor has it any plans to stock or otherwise physically encourage the establishment of a cougar population in Tennessee. Could they be out here? A study published in the Journal of Wildlife Management in 2012 compiled confirmed locations of cougars collected outside of their established range during 1990-20081. Unlike the dog, the toes are teardrop-shaped and the pad at the opposite end of the paw has three lobes, while the dog’s pad has two lobes. Pepper spray may also be effective. 1 - ​Beier, P. Cougar attacks on humans in the United States and Canada. The Cougar (Puma concolor) aka Mountain Lion, aka Panther A mountain lion is photographed on a trail cam in Humphreys County, Tenn., about 200 miles northwest of Chattanooga. Mountain Lion abilities, tracks, names, population, appearance, habitat, prey, safety, protection, endangered or threatened status. They … I believe there are a few that pass through this area and maybe one or two that call these mountains home, but we cannot prove this until someone takes a photo of one, finds hair that can be used for DNA testing or photographs a cougar on a game camera. Cougar tracks are round and are 3-4 inches long and 3-4.5 inches wide. Smoky Mountain Lions Charities , Inc. supports Lions Clubs in their charitable activities and coordinates an East Tennessee Mobile Vision Van … Trail camera photo submitted by a landowner. Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency officials tell NewsChannel 5 it’s not uncommon for mountain lions to pass through middle Tennessee. Slight variations can make the solid brown cat have a reddish, yellowish, or grayish tinge. Little by little they moved east expanding their territory until now they are living on the outskirts of every major town in Tennessee. There are just too many sightings to deny that. Panther. North Georgia residents are convinced a mountain lion is roaming a wooded area in the city of Lafayette. Adults are large sleek cats with small heads. According to these same biologists, the Eastern Mountain Lion was officially declared extinct in 2005 and the last known mountain lion in Tennessee was killed in 1920. 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 well documented that cougars travel hundreds of miles in search of new territory. These sightings are coming from everyday people who claim they know what they saw and cannot be convinced otherwise. Cougars are shy, nocturnal, solitary, secretive animals, with large home ranges. Population establishment only occurs where reproducing females are documented. Cougar. These are listed below and are displayed in the Tennessee Confirmed Cougar Sightings Map. For non-America residents, this state is in the east of the US. Tennesseeans want to know if there are mountain lions (pumas, cougars) in Tennessee. The muzzle is white on the end and black where it joins the head. The animals have also been spotted in Arkansas, Kentucky, and Georgia. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 76: 1364–1369. Also, if a landowner is experiencing property damage made by wildlife, that landowner has the right to protect his/her property. There is more examination to be done. This powerful predator ranges from 5 to 8 ½ feet in total length and weighs from 70 to 250 pounds, with males being bigger than females. Like a dog, the paw has four toes and a pad. Claws are retractable and are very seldom part of a track. Their ears are black on the upper side and are small and rounded with no tufts of hair. The cougar (Puma concolor), also known as mountain lion, panther, painter, puma, and catamount, is the largest feline animal in North America. Visitors occasionally report seeing mountain lions, however, no concrete scientific evidence of their existence (such as tracks, scat, or other signs) has been found in the area in nearly 30 years. Mountain lion in Tennessee. Suddenly, the children saw a movement and a mountain lion came walking down the trail they were traveling. Bobcats. With 18 native South American names, 25 Native American names, and 40 English names, this big cat has a big list of sobriquets that all boil down to the same thing: mountain lion. What does it take to become an officially confirmed sighting? Many times a photo of a cougar from another state is touted as being from Tennessee. There have been some confirmed sightings in Tennessee. Read more This week, the Carter County School Board was presented with the results of a study, which recommended the closing of Keenburg and Little Milligan Elementary ... The photo must be of a cougar. Because Tennessee law protects all animals for which no hunting season is proclaimed, the cougar is protected in Tennessee. If you’re with a group of people, gather together. The recent confirmed sightings in Tennessee could be a result of this range expansion and long exploratory treks by transient cougars. Finally, much of East Tennessee is untamed wilderness area that would give these cats a good home range without human encroachment. The map from that publication is shown below, with the current mountain lion range in green and confirmed mountain lion locations as black dots. The photo must be authentic. These stories are not coming from individuals who have had too much to drink or from someone seeking attention. Wildlife Society Bulletin. 14 Wolves moved from Canada to Yellowstone. DNA analysis of a hair sample from one of the 2015 Tennessee sightings confirmed that animal likely originated -- at least genetically -- in the Black Hills of South Dakota. A detailed explanation of the confirmation process of the first confirmed cougar sighting is available here. There are also mountain lions in other parts of the state but the populations are smaller and exact numbers unclear. Cougars are large predatory carnivores and if you see one, it might be deciding whether or not you’d be an easy meal. Cougars have a long heavy cylindrical tail ranging in length from 20 to 30 inches, with the last couple of inches blackish in color. | Add your comment. Dogs and children have a tendency to run and they are more vulnerable than you, so pick them up so they don’t become a target. To confirm a sighting with TWRA, an individual must submit a hair sample, a photo from a regular camera or a game camera or the mountain lion itself, if it is found dead. elk calf with characteristics of a mountain lion kill. The results of the study suggest that the cougar is recolonizing the Midwest with a range expansion eastward. No black color phase (termed melanistic) of a cougar has ever been documented. The bobcat’s tail appears “bobbed”, hence the animal’s name, and is typically 3 to 8 inches in length, which is very short in comparison with the tail of a cougar. when I was just about to get to the curvy area I saw what I belive/know to be a mountain lion. To show how rare a cougar attack is, compare the number of human fatalities resulting from cougar attacks to those resulting from other hazards from animals or nature. TWRA plans to monitor the natural expansion of the cougar from the western US as it pertains to Tennessee. Witherington, a Covington lawyer, had never seen anything like it before. May 2015: Shannon: Citizen reported mountain lion tracks near the Current River, an investigation confirmed the track photos and other sign at the site. Not Tennessee, but check this out. Bobby, Brenda and Zack were doing what every child did- they were playing in the woods. Yes and no. Many photos turn out to be other animals caught in a position in which they look like a cougar. Mountain Lion - another name for cougar. WSMV also reported that sightings of mountain lions have been confirmed in Tennessee in Carroll and Obion counties. Reporter: Heather City (of sighting): Knoxville, TN Time of Report: 03-Dec-15 Color of cougar: Yellow/tan Description of sighting: Nov.6,2015 I was on my way to work around 0335 hours. Catamount. Last November a bow hunter reported to the TWRA that he had shot a cougar in Carroll County. Are cougars spreading across the state like this? Until recently, the TWRA stood by a claim that the last mountain lion in the state of Tennessee was killed in 1920. For much of that time, he’s cultivated a special interest in an animal that’s achieved almost mythic status in the minds of many mountain residents—the mountain lion. Today, wildlife biologists say that there are only two sub-species of these cats still in existence, the Western Cougar and the Florida Cougar. Travis Kauffman, 31, who’s from Mountain Home, Arkansas, has lived in … But what is everyone seeing in East Tennessee and mistaking it for a mountain lion? And verified mountain lion photos and road kill carcasses are slowly but surely appearing in various states, including Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Sign left behind such as kill sites and caches, drag marks, and scrapes can also be useful. According to these same biologists, the Eastern Mountain Lion was officially declared extinct in 2005 and the last known mountain lion in Tennessee was killed in 1920. But Missouri is not by itself. Just because the landscape in the photo has been confirmed as real, doesn’t mean the sighting itself has been confirmed. TWRA receives many photos and reports of cougars, but until 2015 the photos were not confirmable. Do not play dead. There is, however, documentation of melanistic jaguars (Panthera onca) that live in Mexico and south to northern Argentina, as well as melanistic leopards (Panthera pardus) in Africa. All of these sightings have been in middle and western Tennessee and there have been no confirmed sightings in East Tennessee. Often, the physical site that is represented in the photo is examined by TWRA staff members. It is illegal to kill a cougar in Tennessee except in the case of imminent threat of life and injury. Cougar, puma, mountain lion, catamount, painter and panther are all common names for the same majestic animal that once roamed most of North America. We have a healthy population of game animals such as deer, turkey, rabbits, squirrels, and other small animals so a cougar population could find plenty of food in the deep hollows and hills of these mountains. Tennessee. Last year, there were multiple confirmed sighting of … They also have pointed ears with hair tufts, unlike the cougar. Missouri has the highest number of confirmed sightings with 74 cats spotted since 1994. The experts have long said that mountain lions don’t exist in the eastern half to two-thirds of America due to over-hunting and habitat loss. Figure another 53% of these sightings are mistakes made by the individuals. The Florida Panther, residing on the southern tip of Florida, is the only breeding population of cougar east of the Mississippi River. There has been no confirmation of a mountain lion in the Chattanooga area; however, there have been reported sightings. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency does not know what people are seeing, but they are pretty sure people are not seeing cougars or mountain lions. Most of the mountain lions in South Dakota can be found in the Black Hills region, where there are an estimated 300-500 lions. The simple fact is some people are seeing these cats. When one of these things happen, then we can confirm the existence of these mighty cats in our back yards. Mountain lions have been dispersing away from these population areas, and researchers recently mapped all confirmed mountain lion observations from 1990-2008 (LaRue et al. The Eastern Cougar, once ranging in all of the U.S. east of the Mississippi River, is now officially extinct, with the vast majority of the population wiped out by the early 1900s. Many states around us recognize that the cougars are back in their state. Other times, an image of a cougar has been “photoshopped” on to a photo of Tennessee landscape. 1 Every year in the U.S. an average of 26 human deaths are the result of dog attacks, 3 deaths from bear attacks, 12 deaths from rattlesnake bites, 40 deaths from bee stings, and 90 deaths from lightning strikes. El Leon. BY AUSTIN ALEXANDER STAR CORRESPONDENT KINGSPORT— Sullivan North once again played host to the Division 1-A softball tournament on Wednesday... read more, Homework needed before making a decision on community schools, Writer: False prophets are everywhere, don’t be deceived, Health care group asks CDC to evaluate effectiveness of vaccine among aging, Christ promised the gates of hell would never prevail, Brains and Brawn… Paul and the Two Little Pencils: Part 3, Basketball tournament time right around the corner, Anglers finding success even during the cold, Unaka swings a hot bat to advance to District 1-A softball finals, 16-3, Elizabethton City Council echoes support for Economic Director, animal shelter, City garbage schedule altered due to Presidents’ Day closings, Carter County Republicans will  meet Feb. 23 to elect new officers, Cyclones flounder in uninspired loss to Rebels, Erma Burgess celebrated 96th birthday on Jan. 20, Despite pandemic, Elizabethton lights up at Christmas. Even if the chances of encountering a cougar are minuscule, it doesn’t hurt to know what to do! They have some confirmed sightings in that link I posted above. Are there mountain lions in east Tennessee? There are three subspecies of cougar relevant in North America. The bobcat is the only other animal belonging to the cat (Felidae) family that can be found in Tennessee. According to biologists, about 45% of these sightings are simple hoaxes created by individuals trying to trick people. According to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, Tennessee has had ten confirmed sightings and genic evidence confirms at least one of these cats was a breeding female. TWRA says it. Coyotes and large dogs are also often mistaken for cougars. Their coat is not uniform in color like the cougar’s but is marked with black spots and streaks. They are much smaller than cougars, ranging in weight from 10 to 40 pounds, whereas a cougar starts at 70 pounds. This expansion does not equate to population establishment. Environmental conservation groups are urging wildlife officials to review the status of mountain lions across several states, including Tennessee, Kentucky … Considering that there are large expanses between Tennessee and the established populations, it will likely be a long time before cougars make their home here. There are many steps in the confirmation process. Secondly, it’s safe to say that East Tennessee has everything that is needed to sustain a breeding population of mountain lions.

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