Addressing Mountain Lion Mania in the Midwest and the East
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Cougar Hysteria Addressing Mountain Lion Mania in the Midwest and the East Above: an acual cougar. Note the relative size of the body and tail, as well as the “masked” face. Dave Hamilton there was already a long line of usually get for a Friday night high Missouri Dept. of Conservation pickup trucks and cars way down the school basketball game – but they 1110 S. College Ave. rural road heading into town, and we normally didn’t come armed! We Columbia, MO 65201 weren’t “on” for another 20 minutes. hadn’t planned on a hot public debate, Five minutes before we were to open but they sure did, and two and a half Some time ago, a couple of us the meeting, more than 300 people hours later, we realized why. from the Missouri Mountain Lion were already sitting quietly in the The topic was “Mountain lions Response Team were in the parking gymnasium (in a northeast Missouri in Missouri – what we know,” and lot of a small community high school, town of 150) in eager anticipation for it was designed as a platform for the waiting for folks to arrive for an the “debate” that was about to take Missouri Department of Conservation evening public meeting where we place. One gentleman remarked that to relay factual information about the were about to speak. Remarkably, this was a bigger crowd than they big cat that had been mostly missing Wild Cat News - www.cougarnet.org 1 confirmed cougar occurrences thrown in the mix (more than 100 confirmed with evidence in the last decade) that often warrant front-page headlines and always several “I told you so’s” down at the coffee shop. This element of an occasional confirmed cougar isn’t a prerequisite, though, for mountain lion mania to exist, as Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Mississippi, and a growing number of other eastern states can attest. The rumors and first- person accounts of mountain lions and Above: The real deal - a the “mystical” black trail camera photograph of a cougar taken in panther sightings Livingston County, and their mysterious Missouri, on December 7, 2006. Photograph by Joe behaviors are just Neis. as powerful – and Right: A photo of a house maybe more so – than cat in Milan, Missouri, photographs and believed to be that of a mountain lion by news about the real the photographer and thing. In the last neighbors. Photograph by Jesse Powell. year alone, we have witnessed television from Missouri’s fauna for almost across Iowa and in Arkansas, Ohio, and newspaper news alerts, warning 100 years. After the 40-minute slide Indiana, and southern Michigan, signs posted along public trails, public show and the “what you should and it is growing in other areas of school and work-site closings, and know” business, we opened it up for the country. It is marked by wide- city police warnings issued in several questions and comments. More than spread fears about cougar attacks eastern states over nothing more than an hour of stories and sometimes on children and livestock, fueled by reported sightings backed up with heated exchange was followed up hundreds of eye-witness testimonies videos and photographs of bobcats by some “one-on-one” time, with about mountain lion and black panther and housecats mistaken to be cougars emotions running high – ripe ground occurrences. Its hallmark is that and black panthers. It seems that for grandstanding and some anti- – despite detailed descriptions of deep down, somewhere in our psyche, government paranoia. This meeting the sightings that accurately match many want these animals to exist was held in a small and aging rural those of cougars – almost all of the so much that these kinds of events community in a sea of agriculture evidence submitted as cougars turn have become commonplace, even in (about 80% of the landscape), with a out to be misidentification of other our populated and heavily-modified healthy white-tailed deer population animals (more than 95%), primarily environments. This phenomenon even and a growing bobcat population. bobcats, dogs and their tracks, and a exists in Great Britain, Australia, New This setting is typical of the areas large and growing portion of common, Zealand, and other countries that don’t where the phenomenon that we everyday housecats (videos reveal that have native large cats. The term often have dubbed mountain lion mania is some of the black cat varieties even used to describe these mysterious rampant. have white stocking feet and chest sightings of pumas or panthers is Mountain lion mania is at near- patches). Fueling the fire here in the “Phantom Cats” or Alien Big Cats fever pitch in northern Missouri, all western Midwest are the occasional (ABCs). Wild Cat News - www.cougarnet.org 2 In efforts to stem the tide of nearly a century. Understandably, report cougar sightings often do not panther paranoia, both the Missouri conservation department biologists realize the difference between being Department of Conservation and from the Midwest and the eastern able to verify reports and accepting the Iowa Department of Natural United States have little or no cougar reports without hard data. This can Resources have taken public programs training. Because of years of wild- lead to resentment and distrust that to the people. The forums are widely goose chases resulting from sighting spreads throughout a community. advertised ahead of time so they are reports, many of us working for As the debate unfolds, the usually heavily attended – and at public agencies have developed a credibility of conservation agencies times emotionally charged – with fairly cavalier attitude about cougar is at risk, and with them, the citizens looking for assurances that sightings, and are quick to dismiss credibility of wildlife biologists the agencies aren’t protecting, or them as erroneous. Thus, we discount – innocent bystanders perhaps, who even actively restoring a dangerous the accompanying fears as being get labeled “inept” (or worse) when animal at their expense. Several merely overreactions based on faulty the public perceives us as being years ago in Missouri, we formed the information. arrogant and uncaring. Obviously, Mountain Lion Response Team: a However valid these view points losing credibility over cougars could group of trained biologists scattered might be, we risk alienating the public affect our agencies’ effectiveness in strategically across the state. We with what is sometimes viewed as other arenas of conservation work. have had additional training from condescending treatment or public Unfortunately for us, the game is specialists in cougar habitats from ridicule of the citizens who report largely played out in local bars, other states, and we are working cougar sightings, especially when coffee shops, restaurants, the local proactively to respond to cougar their sightings aren’t taken seriously. media, and Internet chat rooms (the issues. We have learned some This is partly because of the fact that modern-day “electronic taverns”). things with this experience, and we biologists need concrete evidence All of these are perpetual minefields recommend our approach to others. to confirm a cougar sighting, while for government workers. In news people making the reports simply reports about an alleged incident, the What is at Risk? want to be believed. Those who absence of an official response from Like it or not, state fish and wildlife conservation agencies are involved in a public debate about big cats, and as a rule, are poorly prepared for it. Other than the small remnant population in southern Florida, cougars have been absent east of the Rockies for Sterling Heights, Michigan – In March 2005, two housecats residing in this heavily urbanized southern Michigan community created a media sensation. Local residents mistook them for cougars, specifically an adult female (tan and white animal on left) and its spotted kitten (black and white animal above). The city’s Chief of Police held a televised press conference to address the hysteria surrounding the “cougars.” CNN later reported on the story, claiming video footage of the tan housecat was actually of a cougar. Above photograph courtesy Dr. Christine L. Marossy. Wild Cat News - www.cougarnet.org 3 your agency is a response – but not a a major part of the story as it unfolds, of habitat and have simply gone very good one. Agency reputation can and if mentioned at all, it is near undetected for decades, and that suffer mightily in a short time, and the end of the story and in passing, the conservation agencies deny may take years to recover. Credibility mostly to illustrate the government’s their existence. Regrettably, a is hard to earn, easy to lose, and once dismissal of the incident as being surprisingly large number of citizens tarnished, can cost more time and hyped and off base. Depending upon actually believe these wild charges, money in the long run trying to fix how this statement is couched or undermining their faith in and respect than will ever be spent by working reported, it could serve to only deepen for the conservation agencies and their proactively. the resentment between the public and staff. As surprising as it may be in our agencies. Extraordinary claims require this era of increased dependency extraordinary evidence, despite the on government support for all A Vacuum fact that such evidence is frequently facets of American life, our public In the vacuum that is created missing, a hungry news media too conservation agencies suffer from a because of our collective inattention frequently reports unsubstantiated perceived lack of relevancy to much (or absence in the news reports), claims as being factual. Consequently, of our modern-day public. Our individuals, other than recognized many people now believe rumors seeming irrelevancy on this issue cougar experts, have at times become that small populations of cougars is revealed in many of the popular the popular source of information reside in places such as Indiana and media reports of cougar sightings and the “go to” people.