Cougars in the Mountain State?
Some people are convinced that the elusive cats are prevalent in the Eastern U.S.
And that’s where Todd Lester of North Springs comes in.
Lester, a coal miner by trade, is president of the Eastern Cougar Foundation, a non-profit organization whose members hope to scientifically document the existence of wild, reproducing cougars in the Eastern United States, assure cougar protection and build acceptance of wild cougars through educational outreach.
“Reports of the big cat are popping up from Arkansas to Maine,” says Lester, who spent most of his spare time collecting data on the large, powerful, tawny wild cats before he became disabled a few years ago.
“It’s kind of like chasing ghosts and UFO’s.
“Still, we think they’re out there.”
Lester encountered such a wild animal while searching for a lost coon hound nearly 20 years ago. The experience left an indelible mark on his psyche.
And while serving with the U.S. Air Force in the late 1980s, Lester studied the habits and temperament of a mountain lion subspecies that still clings to survival in Florida. His knowledge and understanding of the furry creatures has catapulted him into the national arena when it comes to cougar sightings throughout Appalachia.
Now, the dedicated cougar enthusiast spends several hours each week monitoring a growing number of reports that filter through his headquarters and home-based office at North Springs on U.S. 52 near Justice.
He has made plaster casts of what are believed to be paw-prints of cougars in Southern West Virginia and continues to investigate an increasing number of sightings in Wyoming, Mingo, Raleigh, Boone, McDowell, and Logan counties.
The researcher and cougar authority is seeking validation on the presence of cougars in the Mountain State, but the DNR’s position on the wild animals remains the same: There’s just not enough scientific data to prove they exist. Biologists contend that current data is inconclusive. Most sightings turn out to be bobcats, coyotes, or even dogs, wildlife officials say.
Maybe.
Lester, however, remains undaunted. He’s convinced the big cats are out there. “There’s no human way that what I saw was a bobcat,” he says emphatically. “I know what a bobcat looks like.”
Besides, he adds, “I don’t see this kind of interest with other species. There’s just something about cougars that grabs hold of people when they see one.”
The fact is the ghost of the eastern mountain lion is haunting West Virginia’s forests decades after the wild cats were believed to have been hunted to extinction.
Cougar sightings have been reported for years by loggers and hunters, but wildlife officials say they have never found conclusive proof that the long-tailed cats have returned.
Eastern mountain lions once roamed from Maine to Florida, but extensive hunting—encouraged by bounties—wiped out the cougar population by the late 1800s.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service officially considers the mountain lion to be extinct in the Eastern United States—though, in a twist of bureaucratic faith, the animal has been given the protected status of an “endangered species.”
But even official extinction has not ended the sightings, according to Lester, who explains that between 20 and 30 sightings of mountain lions are reported each year by hunters, logging crews and campers.
“Some of the people who report them are reliable people who have been in the woods a long time,” he says. “It’s really hard to discount their stories.”
Lester believes that environmental changes could support the cougar’s return to the region. West Virginia is probably more forested now than in recent decades and populations of potential prey, like deer, have been increasing.
Larry Berry, retired wildlife biologist with the DNR in Beckley, agrees that many of the reports have come from credible witnesses, but he adds, “What we lack is hard evidence. Show me a carcass of a cougar and you might convince me. Otherwise, I just don’t think there’s enough evidence to suggest that cougars are in the area.”
Nevertheless, cougar sightings continue to pour in.
Some of the claims would seem to support the stories told by hundreds of people who swear they’ve encountered the elusive beast in wilderness portions of the state in the last 50 years.
The mountain lion, which can stretch 7 feet from nose to tip of tail, is a formidable foe.
Also known as pumas, panthers, painters, and catamounts, theylived throughout the East when European settlers arrived. Many Appalachian stories tell of panthers following people, dropping on their victims from tree limbs, covering a sleeping person with leaves, and screaming like a woman being murdered.
By 1950, intensive hunting and logging had apparently exterminated cougars in much of the U.S. However, people in remote parts of the Appalachians continued to occasionally report them.
Reports increased over time and by the 1990s, additional evidence began to accumulate, according to Lester.
Some state and federal wildlife authorities now agree that at least some cougars are living in the Appalachians, although the origin of these animals is uncertain.
Adult males average about 140 pounds; females, about 100. Color is brown to gray. Black cats are reported to be seen but have never been found in the East.
Biologists call cougars “self-regulating,” meaning that they keep their own numbers low through a need for large individual territories. Even where prey is plentiful, cougar populations do not automatically increase.
Cougars are ambush predators, rushing a short distance from behind cover at the rear or side of the prey. They bite the top or back of the neck to sever the spine.
The home range of a cougar is estimated at between 25 and 125 square miles.
Cougars are shy and avoid humans. “Many people live entire lifetimes in cougar country out West and never see one,” Lester says.
Fatal cougar attacks are extremely rare: a total of 13 people since 1890, compared to 18 people killed every year by dogs.
Lester is convinced that a breakthrough is about to happen with the Eastern cougar.
“Our studies have identified excellent cougar habitat in several states including portions of West Virginia,” he says. “The habitat is there, the sightings are there, and it’s only a matter of time before we re-discover the animal.”
Lester, of North Springs in Wyoming County, remains an avid cougar enthusiast who believes the big cats have returned to the Appalachians.
Lester works at his home-based headquarters where he monitors dozens of sightings and reports of the elusive creatures by hunters, loggers, and campers. His photos and files on the furry creature is extensive; he even wears cougar T-shirts when he gives presentations at area clubs and conferences.
Lester has made plaster casts of footprints believed to be those of the eastern mountain lion, a cat that can measure 7 feet from nose to tip of tail.
When he isn’t e-mailing correspondents about cougar sightings, Lester is on the prowl in the woods near his home with his binoculars, hoping to catch a glimpse of an animal currently on the “endangered species” list.
“I’d really like to get a photo of one of these critters,” he laments of the cats. “That is the only way I could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are out there.”
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Top o’ the morning!