In 2011 a cougar that originated in the Black Hills area made national headlines when it was discovered that it had traveled an astonishing 1,500 miles before being struck and killed on a roadway in Greenwich, Connecticut. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. The Tennessee animal, or animals, are believed to be western cougars wandering east, outside of their range. Undermining the credibility of a number of Tennessee cougar reports is the fact that many are described as black panthers. To wit, in 2015, the Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency confirmed, for the first time in 100 years, the presence of mountain lions in Tennessee, after a man in Humphreys County—west of Nashville and about 300 miles from the Smokies—captured photos of one on a trail camera. “As of right now the population in the Black Hills of South Dakota is breeding and expanding. (615) 353-1133. There are several possible reports in East Tennessee, but none confirmed by the TWRA. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. https://tnwf.org/tennesseewf/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/cougar.jpg, https://tnwf.org/tennesseewf/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/75th-logo-horizontal.png, 2016 Tennessee Wildlife Federation Calendar, The TOP FOUR tips for pursuing a collegiate shooting career. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Bleeding badly, Sparks dashed for his cabin. Western cougars have been expanding their range eastward, recolonizing the Midwest, and it’s well-documented that cougars can travel hundreds of miles exploring territory. There’s a chance, however small, that native panthers remained in the park in the years following the Sparks attack. However, TWRA has confirmed a cougar … For many years the Eastern Cougar, the subspecies to which the population in Tennessee belonged, has been thought to have gone the way of the Passenger Pigeon. After over 100 years they are back! The rumors of the animals roaming East Tennessee and Middle Tennessee have persisted, but those “sightings” have never been confirmed. TWRA: Cougars Are Back In Tennessee To Stay - YouTube. Until recently this was considered unlikely but in 2008 a deer hunter in Troup County Georgia near the Alabama border shot and killed a cougar. The animal jumped off him and vanished into the thicket. Donald Linzey is a wildlife conservation instructor at Virginia Tech who has dedicated 40 years to studying panthers and other mammals in the Smokies. reproduces a powder rifle with Despite the many claims of cougar sightings that have been reported in Tennessee over the years, wildlife officials insist there are no wild cougars in the state. At one time, they lived in every Eastern state in a variety of habitats including coastal marshes, mountains and forests. But so far, the TWRA has yet to verify a panther sighting in East Tennessee or the Smokies, much less whether one that may or may not be there originated locally or moved in from elsewhere. Though many residents believe these great cats have maintained small breeding populations across the state, data has consistently suggested that cougar was extirpated in Tennessee during the early 1900's. “Sparks showed me the scars on his arm and body,”  Horace Kephart, author of Our Southern Highlanders later reported. There was insufficient proof, however, that breeding populations existed. The bottom line is there are lots of reports, but no hard evidence to back them up. “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,” reads the agency’s website. In many cases, these are described as being completely black, but most describe a huge brown cat that makes a cry like the cry of a woman and has a tail three to four feet long. Nearly everyone agrees that it’s only a matter of time before cougars make their way back into Tennessee’s woods. In 1977, the the National Park Service conducted a large-scale study to get to the bottom of whether the reports were true. Alligators and cougars are protected by state laws in Tennessee." The scars found on its body, it was said, matched those left by Sparks’s blade. It knocked him backward, and bit his wrist and his elbow. The scream came from the woods. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Could wandering cougars from known western populations have ventured to Tennessee? Tony Lance is a writer, naturalist, and birding enthusiast who has worked for Tennessee Wildlife Federation since 2011. 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. The Cougar Network, a non-profit science organization, lists on its website sightings documented with physical evidence in a number of nearby states including Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, and Missouri. In the first match of the day, BYU claimed early victories in second and third doubles. A few months ago we reported on cougar sightings in the area. “We’ve gotten bobcat; we’ve got bear; we’ve got hog; we’ve got lots of different mammals,” he says. Something was following him, he was sure. More photos have been taken farther East, and five dead cougars provide solid physical evidence. BYU vs. East Tennessee State Box Score. Every year, dozens of individuals in East Tennessee claim they have seen a cougar. As the animal tried to bite into his neck he hunched forward instinctively to protect himself and blindly stabbed as hard as he could over his left shoulder. Young males often travel great distances in search of a new territory.”. The last time Sparks had seen them behave like this a bear was in the area. With the Oct. 2015 confirmation of a cougar sighting in Obion County and, a month later, in Humphreys County, we thought the story was timely once again. TWRA said they will be monitoring the natural expansion of the cougar. The population of the cat’s favorite prey, white-tailed deer, is booming and cougars have already been confirmed only a few hundred miles away from the state’s border. Movement between populations in the East and West has probably always been a normal part of the species’ existence. If you hate litter, you'll love this.tennesseeCLEANact.org. There now have been a total of ten confirmed cougar reports in Tennessee. Indeed, all across Tennessee and in surrounding states people are claiming to have seen these big cats. Then, without warning, the panther lunged. In other words, the Eastern Cougar was erroneously labeled a subspecies to begin with and was never different from the cats that occur in the western part of the country. This is an isolated population, individuals of which are referred to … Linzey agrees. Here’s how she makes the store-bought stuff her own, G&G contributors, editors, and Southern book lovers share new releases and old favorites to read right away this year—and a couple forthcoming releases already on preorder. “Until we get more evidence, preferably DNA, we’re not going to know where those animals actually came from,” Linzey says. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. “Not too long ago you could walk into a pet store and purchase a cougar kitten. The panther followed. (NOTE: This story, reprinted courtesy of The Tennessee Conservationist magazine, first appeared in that publication in 2012. In 2011 that view was made official when, after being on the Endangered Species List since 1973, the Eastern Cougar was declared extinct by the U.S. Cougars have small heads but can grow to 5 feet, 8 inches in length and weigh more than 200 pounds. In the past year, there have been seven confirmed sightings of cougars in West and Middle Tennessee. There haven’t been any cougars in Tennessee since the early 1900s. He took out his folding knife. Alligators and cougars are protected by state laws in Tennessee" Biologists at TWRA said Alligators have been documented in the southwest corner of Tennessee. © 2007-2021 Garden & Gun Magazine LLC. That same year, in Carroll County, DNA from hair samples definitively linked a female panther to populations in South Dakota. It concluded that panthers may have never gone extinct in the Smokies and had survived in small numbers in inaccessible, mountainous areas. There are three possibilities. But a number of recent sightings in Tennessee reveals they may be returning—or never left, photo: Credit All Canada Photos / Alamy Stock Photo. Meet thousands of single Cougars with Mingle2's free personal ads and chat rooms. Eastern cougars historically ranged from Michigan, southern Ontario, eastern Canada and Maine south to South Carolina and west across Tennessee. Yet the number of panther sightings increased over the following years. All of the confirmed sightings listed are in Middle or West Tennessee. Cougars have been documented in Tennessee The aspect of the return of the onetime apex predator to Tennessee strikes fear in some and exultation in others. The recent cougar confirmations in Tennessee and Kentucky appear to represent a continuation of the increasing trend of male cougars dispersing from established western populations into the Midwest. Remember that we share the landscape with these animals. The animal had a scar on its left shoulder; its shoulder blade had been cut it two. Conventional wisdom declared the big cats extinct long ago. They cite a glaring lack of hard evidence. The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency website mentions nine photos taken with trail cameras between September 2015 and September 2016. The last confirmed records of the Eastern Cougar’s existence were in 1938 in Maine. Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. The panther that attacked Sparks that cold February night in 1916 may well have been the last native cat in the park. He had been herding sheep all his life, covering the range from Little Bald to the Hall Cabin, and he was keenly attuned to their behavior. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. Sparks had stopped by this point. First, he points to the sheer numbers of cougar reports throughout the region. The eastern cougars, which once roamed the hills of Tennessee, are now extinct, wiped out in the early 1900's to hunting and loss of habitat. Bobcats. You really don’t have anything to be afraid of here, so if you see a Bobcat just enjoy! Who knows what happened to all those animals.”. It does not store any personal data. Though the government states the species is extinct, hundreds of sightings are still reported on a daily basis, particularly after the 2011 sighting of a mountain lion in Greenwich, Conn.
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