(UPDATE 11/26, 3:15 p.m. -- Times' reader JR Wolfe has noted that the photos we were sent were not taken in Nebraska, according to the Omaha World-Herald. The photos actually originated from the Black Hills of South Dakota. Our thanks to JR for his timely correction and for recounting the story of his own siting.)Earlier this week, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission announced it is looking into the shooting of a mountain lion south of Chadron. On Nov. 22, a 16-year-old boy shot and killed the 100-pound female cat when it approached within 15 steps of the hunter.
The mountain lion was reported to have shown no fear of the boy, who was with a group of deer hunters. Mountain lions are a protected species in Nebraska, but the Commission says the boy won't face charges because he apparently shot the cougar in self-defense.
Over the past 19 months, the Times has received a handful of e-mails from readers who claim to have spotted mountain lions or mountain lion tracks in the Dorchester area. There is no evidence of the cats in Saline County, according to the Game and Parks Commission. However, we certainly don't rule out the possibility that a mountain lion or two are roaming surrounding countryside -- especially after seeing the photos we received from a reader of who resides in Nebraska's Washington County, north of the Omaha metro.
According to our Washington County reader, the pictures accompanying this story were taken a few weeks ago by a wildlife camera attached to a deer stand near Fort Calhoun, Neb. on the county road back behind the local school. We have not been able to confirm whether or not these photos are legitimate.
Most of Nebraska's 56 confirmed cougar sightings since 1991 — some of them duplicates — have been in northwest Nebraska between Chadron and Harrison. However, in the last decade there have been several reported sightings of mountain lions in eastern Nebraska.
As the Omaha World-Herald reports, railroad workers near Blair said a mountain lion trapped them atop a railcar earlier this month. A Ponca Hills man watched a mountain lion eating acorns and apples outside his house in mid-October. A mushroom hunter saw a mountain lion near a deer carcass near Verdel in northeast Nebraska in May and later got photos of the cougar.
Bottom line, the Times staff doesn't fault any Saline County resident who is on the lookout for cougars in his or her own backyard.
Just so you know, the Omaha World Herald had an article about the photo on your site, and said the story is a fake. The photos were actually taken in the Black Hills.
ReplyDeleteBack a few years ago, I saw the illusive York cougar while on patrol. There was no mistaking what it was either. Dozens of people saw it, but Game and Parks will not consider that a confirmed sighting without photos or bodies.
They are out there, but cougars are nocturnal by nature, and very shy creatures. Odds of seeingone in the day time are VERY rare.
You should ask my sister Julie Holly about her encounters with their cougar welll over a decade ago!
JR Wolfe
York
I have seen a mountain lion in this area. When I saw it I thought I was seeing things but it was daylight and it was walking down the road. I couldn't figure out what it was at first til I got closer and it turned and glanced at me then took off running. It had a really long tail and I knew what it was then. It darted off into the ditch and wooded area so couldn't see where it went.
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't the first time I saw one. We were driving around the countryside west of town and saw one running down the dirt road ahead of us. There were 4 of us in the car and we all saw it.
So yes, people, they do exist around this area.
Yeah right .............. next thing you know bigfoot will be coming to get me ............................. or worse yet the headless turkey of saline county ..................
ReplyDeleteWell Cynical Richard, live in your own little world as usual. You can believe what you want to but they are around this area. And if bigfoot would find you, i will be the one in the front row cheering him on.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, the plains were teaming with game, and their preditors. Elk were native to the plains, and were driven west by settlers. Cougars were saught and hunted, as were wolves.
ReplyDeleteOccasionally, there are elk, and even moose seen in our area. So Richard, I ask you........why not a cougar? When I was a young child, there were hardly any white tail deer in Nebraska, now look at them. And the mule deer are being pushed out by the white tails.
So I ask again, why not a cougar in Saline, or York Counties?
I think your nom de plume says it all, Cynical, just Cynical! But that is why we enjoy your musings so much!!! :-)
JR Wolfe
JR,
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize you were also a Czech who spoke French.
"Comme ci, comme ca"
We had a cougar in our pasture woods 6 miles south of Dorchester a dozen years ago. Used to lay out in the sun in the middle of the gravel road. My dogs were varmit dogs but even they had the sense to stay home while the cat was visiting.
ReplyDeleteA friend of ours that lived along Johnson Creek north of town had a blue tic hound tangle with one and get chewed up. (The dog lived.)
My boss' wife saw a cougar walking along the trees north of Milford just west of Hwy 6 too.
Didn't used to have porcupines here either but Gary Lothrop pulled quills out of a dog's nose a few years ago. The dog tangled with a porky in the West Blue Church Area.
And several of us saw a pair of fishers playing on my boss' hayfield north of Milford a couple years ago. They ain't supposed to be here either. :)
Remember the cougar that got shot near the school in St. Paul? Or the one they tranquilized within the Omaha city limits? (That one ended up at the zoo.)
Just because you don't see 'em doesn't mean they don't exist. :)
Global warming is causing all this movement. These animals can move further north now.
ReplyDeleteThat is why the Mexicans are moving north too............global warming.
I agree.
ReplyDeleteIt's an inconvenient truth.
The animals are moving farther north? These animals (cougars, fishers, porcupines, etc.) are moving in from north and west and heading south and east because their natural habitat is being over run by humans. Doesn't have a thing to do with global warming.
ReplyDeleteThe Mexicans are and always have been moving north because life is better here for them than in Mexico. Again nothing to do with global warming.
And yes I believe that the border patrol needs to be given some teeth to fight with. I lived in Arizona long enough to figure that out.
I believe the posters were joking about the global warming matter.
ReplyDeleteFrom the Journal/Star:
ReplyDeleteThe Nebraska Game and Parks Commission will present information on the status of mountain lions in Nebraska at a meeting next month.
The 7 p.m. meeting will be held in Beatrice on Jan. 7. The public is invited.
The meeting will include the commission’s protocols regarding mountain lions and a question-and-answer session.
The commission has more information about mountain lions in Nebraska on its Web site at http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us.
http://www.journalstar.com/news/nebraska/doc49568d30b3fa7352655080.txt