However, the cougar may be coming back to Tennessee. The best nights to visit are Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Are there cougars east of the Mississippi? They were extirpated from Indiana by the late 1800s. Cougar tracks are round and are 3-4 inches long and 3-4.5 inches wide. There are a lot of things that can go wrong when trying to find cougars, this isn't one of those. I dont know about you, but I am a believer. According to TWRA, all of the confirmed gator sightings have been in the extreme southwest part of the state. One of the biggest challenges guys seem to face when trying to meet cougars around Mississippi is WHERE to find them. Located in the Harrahs Casino in Biloxi, Mix & Mingle is a one-stop shop, especially if youre looking for cougars in Mississippi. Nonetheless, the subspecies, which originally stretched from Michigan and Tennessee in the west to Eastern Canada, Maine, and South Carolina in the East, was only declared extinct and removed from the Endangered Species List by the U.S. Midwest sightings are increasing, with hundreds of cougars spotted east of established populations over the past three decades. Unfortunately, the last known resident cougar in Mississippi was killed by a car in 2001 after surviving for two years in Lamar County. But now the federal government has officially declared the Eastern cougar extinct. In the first reported sighting to a newspaper since 2019, a Bogue Chitto man ignited a flame illuminating tales of black panthers across the state this week. But do note that it can get crowded because of the small bar area. Its clear the Eastern United States has the space, and the right type of space, for cougars to exist comfortably if we allow it. "I happened to see something out of the corner of my eye," Sluder said. Between 1995 and 2004, there were sightings of cougars reported from over 25 counties. Just because the landscape in the photo has been confirmed as real, doesnt mean the sighting itself has been confirmed. Either way, youll adore the Mississippi cougars all around! Weights range from 80-225 pounds (36-103 kg), averaging 140 (64 kg). Its also always on our annual ranking of the best sites to find cougars! Between 1995 and 2004, there were sightings of cougars reported from over 25 counties. Understanding Their Non-Aggressive Behavior Towards Humans, Exploring Are Giraffes Friendly? Finding cougars is a good bet here for the same reasons as a farmers market. Share. My friend took careful aim and fired. We have just seen so many more guys find what they are looking for compared to the other options out there. No black color phase (termed melanistic) of a cougar has ever been documented. What does it take to become an officially confirmed sighting? Of these, 13 had enough space to support long-term cougar populations. Contact Brian Broom at 601-961-7225 or bbroom@gannett.com. Its dark and the image is grainy, but its obvious the hind legs pushing the animal forward are tense with muscle. But it will require planning that must begin now, new state policies, public outreach, and education and support from the public for a creature that was once purposefully pushed toward oblivion. The MDWFP has never confirmed an official sighting of a wild cougar in Mississippi, Rummel said. There are three subspecies of cougar relevant in North America. If the folks in Florida wish to capture it and tag it, well assist in any way we can but that will be up to them.. At least two cougar sightings were reported near Royal Roads University in Colwood on Sunday morning. "The way that Wendy's is, when you pull up and drive around and make a U-turn. It would also likely include a pronounced education program to teach Easterners how to interact with the new predators, as well as a more robust protection program which, currently, is not in place (most states do have some level of protections in place for cougars, but reintroduction would require much more strict hunting laws to be effective). Chances are, it's not going to stay. We now know that large carnivores greatly benefit entire ecosystems and hold those ecosystems together. The disappearance of wildflowers, shrubbery, tree saplings and native grasses have also been linked to overbrowsing by the large deer population. If youre with a group of people, gather together. Another great unexpected location is your local upscale grocery store. Next to the jaguar, it is the largest North American cat. My second encounter occurred back in the mid- to late 1970s when I was invited to accompany a friend on a deer hunt in Southwest Mississippi. [], The Nomad Pursuit Convertible Vest is a minimalist vest with maximum features. Massachusetts They also found old scat at the scene. The drinks here are fantastic, with lots of specialty cocktails for you to try. To do this we use the anonymous data provided by cookies. Other times, an image of a cougar has been photoshopped on to a photo of Tennessee landscape. Cougars once had the run of the continent, ranging far and wide. A trail camera glimpsed one in northern Minnesota, for instance, while authorities captured another in Springfield, Ill., after it had made its way there from Nebraska. "He could be in Arkansas. Published April 28, 2023 1:19 p.m. PDT. River, Natchez topples Wilkinson to start season, Green Wave drown WCCA 35-6 in jamboree encounter, 2023, Mississippi's Best Community Newspaper. Cougar in Obion County in 2015. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. According to the Tennessee Natural Resources Agency, two photos of a cougar were captured. There are also occasional trail cam photos that show up on websites and message boards of what appear to be cougars as they cross deer food plots and woods roads. Even if you strike out in the bar itself, youre still bound to find plenty of sexy older women around the casino. She might already be yours before the evening is over. Cougars are shy, nocturnal, solitary, secretive animals, with large home ranges. A tail drops straight away from behind them, curling gently before touching the ground, culminating with a black tip carried delicately over the dirt. doi:10.1002/jwmg.396. Unlike the dog, the toes are teardrop-shaped and the pad at the opposite end of the paw has three lobes, while the dogs pad has two lobes. TWRA plans to monitor the natural expansion of the cougar from the western US as it pertains to Tennessee. You can look at the erect ears. These are listed below and are displayed in the Tennessee Confirmed Cougar Sightings Map. The food is a highlight, so dont hold back on those homecooked grilled eats, which come in large portions. ", 5 outdoor getaways within minutes of Jackson. Areas that could host isolated but sustainable cougar populations, Source: Researchers estimates and the I.U.C.N. The photo must be authentic. I work on research projects related to species conservation and endangered species protection. And with the lights down low, theres definitely an intimate feel to this place! A 2011 review of the subspecies status led to 2015 proposal to delist the animal. Although Sluder said the video was shot from a distance of about 75 yards, the video shows a cat that appears large. Adults are large sleek cats with small heads. Slight variations can make the solid brown cat have a reddish, yellowish, or grayish tinge. Keep up with the undrafted rookie free-agent signings with a team-by-team list of player acquisitions following the 2023 NFL Draft. And until October 2015, to residents of Obion County, Tennessee, the cat was a ghost. An animal enthusiast with an interest in zoology, studying the behavior and activities of animals in the wild habitat. On March 21, Mascagni saw an animal with bright yellow eyes, a long tail and later heard a long scream that sounded similar to a woman screaming. Photo analysis proved the cat wasnt doctored or added later. This means that itll just be you and all the cougars you could want. They'rein Arkansas and one's been confirmed in Tennessee. It is illegal to kill a cougar in Tennessee except in the case of imminent threat of life and injury. It would be a difficult battle, he said, largely because of the opinions and fears many Easterners already have toward predators like the mountain lion. Do not shoot the animal, even if livestock or pets are threatened. Mountain lions from the Dakotas have increased their range toward the Mississippi River and others have moved into Texas with confirmed sightings as far as Louisiana. Reports of sightings of these wild felines from local residents near the Mississippi/Louisiana border are increasing, mostly along the Pearl and Bogue Chitto Rivers. For years, the cats have been spotted all across their old habitat, including through Appalachia and the Northeast. This photo was different. Its a low-pressure environment, and you wont have as much competition. One of the biggest debatable aspects of this whole controversy revolves around the term black panther. Wildlife officials flatly deny the existence of any sort of native melanistic big cats, in spite of the fact that a surprising proportion of all big cat sightings reported in states east of the Mississippi River are of black cats with estimated weights that exceed 65 pounds. What is it? The photograph was taken by a trail camera on Nov. 23 and officials recently confirmed it was authentic. If youve tried to actively look for these cougars before, then you might have gotten frustrated because theyre not at the usual popular bars and nightlife spots. Lets now look at my personal list of encounters of the cougar kind during my decades spent living, hunting and traveling around Mississippi. As I yanked off the lens cover and fiddled with the on-off button, the cat got up and started slowly walking toward the wood line. When photographing suspected cougar tracks it is helpful to place a ruler or object such as a coin to enable size judgment. It was too large, not the color of a bobcat and, as I mentioned, had a long tail.. Unfortunately, the last known resident cougar in Mississippi was killed by a car in 2001 after surviving for two years in Lamar County. Maybe youve been living under a rock, but women are more career-minded, sex-positive and independent as ever. In January, the . Richard Rummel, an MDWFP biologist who has experience with panthers, agreed with Flynt after reviewing the video numerous times. Around 4:40 p.m., mother and son walked across the field, but they could not find any tracks because the ground was harder than they expected. There is still ample space for them to thrive in the East. After a short while, the cat walked back out into direct view in a freshly mowed area about 60 yards away and sat down on his haunches. ", RELATED NEWS: 2016: Season of giant bucks. Our growing understanding of the cats and the benefits they provide to ecosystems, other wildlife and people should inform that decision. This is especially important for people living on the front lines of a cougar comeback, like rural ranchers and small-livestock owners. Females will follow more slowly, so we are unlikely to see frolicking cougar kittens in the East anytime soon. There is no way of knowing.". Theres a welcoming ambiance from the start. PINE BELT, Miss. As a scientist who has studied these cats for years, Im confident that we can. Bobcats differ from cougars in their size, coloration, and tail length. 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. If we can have two cameras right there where the original tracks were left, we can double our chances of possibly getting a photograph of it, Flynt said. We have previously exterminated cougars in the East and we can do it again, he said. The Apothecary is a great example. But with the Eastern Cougar no longer, theres nothing left to protect. Mountain lions, panthers, cougars or whatever you want to call them, were extirpated in Mississippi over 100 years ago and none have been confirmed in the state since. About a quarter hour or so later, our friend said he saw the cat cautiously emerge from the brush along the steep bank at a deer crossing that was, as I recall, about 50 or 60 yards away from him. Claws are retractable and are very seldom part of a track. The cougar belongs to the family Felidae (cat family) which is in the order Carnivora. For over 80 years, there were no signs of cougars in the Eastern states, so federal wildlife officials declared them an extinct subspecies. Even a television station in Memphis reported it was a black panther. While the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks officially claims there has never been an official reported sighting, hundreds of people have chimed in to tell their stories. According to the National Wildlife Federation, the historic range of the Florida panther once extended from Florida to Louisiana throughout the Gulf Coast states and Arkansas. And heres our email: letters@nytimes.com. With a population of over three million, there are a lot of older women for you to choose from in Mississippi. They serpentined in and out of the cover once or twice more, and then everything went quiet. Removing federal protections for the Easts cats makes one thing much easier: reintroduction. In recent years, there were no proven sightings of cougars in Mississippi until 2019 when one was surprisingly sighted in the southwest region of the state. It was barely visible. I was in the middle position and hadnt been settled in too long with I heard the loud report of my brothers 12-gauge slug gun. "This is not a panther or cougar or mountain lion. []. Coexisting with cougars will require education around perceived versus actual threats, what benefits the cats bring and how to be around them safely. 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. There have also been confirmed sightings in Arkansas in recent years. 1-Beier, P. Cougar attacks on humans in the United States and Canada. This subspecies is likely recolonizing and expanding their range in the Midwest and is likely the subspecies that is the subject of Tennessee cougar sightings. He said sightings have become more common because of home . It's likely the reptiles are migrating from Mississippi, where there is a. I was sitting in a box blind late one afternoon in a big field surrounded by woods, armed only with a digital camera. Do not play dead. Their cocktails are also excellent, and your cougar would appreciate being treated to a martini or whiskey, especially in combination with dessert. "It looks like it's about 40 or 50 miles from the Mississippi River.". It was at the top of Thompson Hill at the house owned by Jose. She noticed the driver was looking out across a field. Mark Elbroch is the director of the puma program at Panthera, a nonprofit group focused on protecting the worlds wild cats and the ecosystems they inhabit, and the author of The Cougar Conundrum.. 1-LaRue, M. A., Nielsen, C. K., Dowling, M., Miller, K., Wilson, B., Shaw, H. and Anderson, C. R. (2012), Cougars arerecolonizingthemidwest: Analysis of cougar confirmations during 19902008. Wed like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. This video has been edited to remove the background audio from the original video. The Easts big cat, by todays standards, would have only been considered a regional population of the broader North American mountain lion, Puma concoloran animal with one of the largest ranges of any mammal in the Western Hemisphere. What weve noticed is that the guys who arent mixing online dating in with meeting women in real life are missing out on a huge section of the dating pool. The risk of a cougar attack on people or domestic animals is extremely low, and almost zero with pragmatic precautions. It's a house cat. Whether it's phone calls, e-mails or social media, every day wildlife biologists are besieged with reports of unusual wildlife sightings. (WDAM) - A possible panther/cougar sighting was captured on video in Perry County in the Buck Creek community this past Monday. Numerous cougar sightings were reported east of the Mississippi River last fall, encounters that have become more frequent in recent years. The only problem with those is that the only truly large, wild black cats are leopards and jaguars. The Lobby Bar is open until midnight from Sunday to Thursday and up to 2am the rest of the week. Another study separate from ours showed similar results. We should take steps now to secure their future. The animals head and front legs are obscured by the tree in the foreground. The ladies youll meet here are up for some low-maintenance fun over barbecues and drinks! In the 100 years between 1890 to 1990, in the U.S. and Canada, only 10 humans died due to cougar attacks. PINE BELT, Miss. An excellent dive bar that has attracted many loyal clients, The Crossing is the kind of nighttime hangout that you can visit time and time again. The flash of the game camera extends to a narrow strip of open dirt, worn with muddy boot prints, the deep tread of machineryand cat tracks. Because its an unexpected place, theres not as much pressure to impress. Results revealed 17 areas in the Upper Midwest, Ozarks, Appalachia and New England, each at least or nearly twice the size of Yosemite National Park, that fit the bill. None of that snooty, upscale dress codes and uptightness. "In 2015, we had a cougar show up that we were able to confirm with hard evidence was actually a cougar and was actually in our state" explained Sweaney. It can get a little loud in here. But if youre up for some dancing, thats just right up your alley. Its a significant distance they have to travel, but its just a matter of time before they begin expanding in various directions.. If youre looking for a place that has everything, head to Mix & Mingle. The video was taken by Mandy Dye around 7:30. Fish and Wildlife Service officially took the subspecies off life support. I also leverage zoology to become an educator, educating others about the importance of protecting our natural environment and the beauty of animals in their natural habitats. Sluder posted his video to his Facebook page and the comments poured in by the hundreds. Even if the chances of encountering a cougar are minuscule, it doesnt hurt to know what to do! The closest a wild cougar has been spotted to Mississippi was in 2008 when a male juvenile. On another occasion, while predator calling, I called up a huge cat that crept through tall grass to a distance of about eight steps from my position, before its head and shoulders suddenly materialized in a crouch, looking intently for the source of the distressed fawn call that I had been making.

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