Big cat sightings more likely during cold months
A mountain lion sighting is a rare thing, but the winter might be the best time for spying the reclusive cats.
Corey
Class, a wildlife biologist with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department,
said mountain lions can be anywhere in the mountains, even if people
aren’t aware of their presence.
“Sometimes you see them, sometimes you don’t,” he said. “They’re pretty secretive.”
During
the winter, however, as mule deer and elk herds migrate to lower
elevations in search of bare ground and available forage, so do the
carnivorous cats.
“They’re just following dinner,”
Class said. “In winter time, we’re bound to see more signs and more
encounters with lions, just based on the biology of the cat and their
prey.”
That means the winter months, before the high
country clears of snow, offer the best chance of a mountain lion
sighting near human development. Mule deer and elk move into the
Centennial Valley and Sheep Mountain area west of Laramie during the
winter, for example, and out of the high-elevation Snowy Range.
Mountain
lions are one of two species of big cats in North America. Jaguars live
as far south as Argentina and as far north as the southwestern United
States. Mountain lion range extends from South America to Canada.
One Centennial resident recently snagged a few early morning photos of a mountain lion and two cubs.
He
said he’s lived in the area since the 1990s and seen lions near his
home half a dozen times. He asked that his name be withheld to protect
the location of the sighting.
“It’s not unusual,” he said. “There’s quite a few people in here that have seen them.”
For
those interesting in hunting the big cats, Wyoming Highway 130
straddles two mountain lion hunt areas designated by Game and Fish. Both
areas extend roughly from Laramie to Saratoga and include the Snowy
Range. Both hunt areas have a year-round season, and the quota was
increased two years ago.
“There’s ample opportunity to kill mountain lions there,” Class said.
One
reason for the increased quotas, he said, was to decrease the number of
predators in the area as part of an initiative to boost the mule deer
population. The Sheep Mountain Mule Deer Initiative is part of a
statewide effort to increase the number of mule deer in Wyoming.
According
to Game and Fish, as of last week, six mountain lions had been killed
in hunt area 31 since September. The area, which includes the northern
portion of the Snowy Range, is bordered by Highway 130 on the south and
west and U.S. Highway 30 on the north and east. The area has a quota of
11.
In hunt area seven on the southern end of the
Snowy Range, nine mountain lions had been killed since September. The
area is enclosed by the state border with Colorado to the south, Wyoming
130 on the north, U.S. Highway 287 on the east and Wyoming 230 on the
west. It has a limit of 14 lions.
In hunt area five between Laramie and Cheyenne, seven lions had been killed. The area has a limit of 12.
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Two
more panther carcasses were collected over the weekend, upping the road
kill mark for this year to eight with 10 documented deaths overall.
Those numbers, through March 8, are the most state biologists have recorded during that time period, and the eight road kills is twice as many as in any previous year through March 8.
But biologists say the string of deaths is just that, a string. Nothing else.
"If we were having this happen every weekend or every week for a period of time, it would get our attention," said Dave Onorato, a panther biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Anytime we lose a panther it's not a good thing given they're endangered. But we do have periods where we get several in a row and then we go a period with none."
Most of the road kills (five) have involved young panthers, cats that have recently left their mothers and are looking for their own hunting and breeding territories. The panther recovered Sunday is thought to have been between 2 and 3 years of age. Four others were 18 months or less, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records.
"For males, between 1 and up to 3.5 years is when they're trying to get things figured out," Onorato said. "They're apt to be moving a lot, and they're mortality risk is high."
Another carcass recovered in January, in Big Cypress National Preserve, is being attributed as a 2014 death, which upped the record to 34 deaths for a single year. All 10 carcasses this year were recovered in Collier and Lee counties.
Most of the road kills happened on Interstate 75, State Road 29 or County Road 951. The most recent cases were a panther found dead Saturday near the I-75 and Corkscrew Road exit and another found Sunday along 951.
Nancy Payton, Florida Wildlife Federation Naples office, said those areas need more wildlife crossings and adequate fencing, enough to force roaming panthers to either go under the road or well around it. These areas, where road kills occur repeatedly, are travel corridors for panthers and other wildlife and should be retrofitted with safe underpasses, some panther advocates say.
"That stretch of 951 is becoming more troubling to the federation," Payton said. "That is the road that panthers seem to be taking to Picayune Strand across the wetland system north of Hammock Bay. When the cat that was caught in (Naples neighborhood) Port Royal (in February) was released, he came back into Rookery Bay by that route."
Onorato said cool weather, short days and tourism season can put panthers at an increased risk of being hit by a vehicle.
"With the cool weather, panthers are more apt to be moving around, even during the day," he explained. "And that makes them more susceptible. And the roads are full of people. But all of that aside, we could have the same thing happen."
Panther habitat has shrunk considerably in the past 200 years. Big cats once roamed the entire Southeastern United States but are not mostly found on preserve and farm lands south of Lake Okeechobee.
Males are known to fight to the death over territory, so young males must often travel great distances to find land that isn't already claimed by a dominant male. In recent years they've wandered to Clam Pass beach in Naples, Six Mile Cypress Preserve on the edge of Fort Myers, and, most recently, into the ritzy Port Royal neighborhood in Naples.
Panthers aren't the only large mammals that are at risk on roadways, Payton said.
"You have to be careful about your own safety, and not put your life in danger," she explained. "People do swerve because they don't want to hit an animal and they crash. There's lots of concerns."
PANTHER
Puma concolor coryi
Sources: Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
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Those numbers, through March 8, are the most state biologists have recorded during that time period, and the eight road kills is twice as many as in any previous year through March 8.
But biologists say the string of deaths is just that, a string. Nothing else.
"If we were having this happen every weekend or every week for a period of time, it would get our attention," said Dave Onorato, a panther biologist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. "Anytime we lose a panther it's not a good thing given they're endangered. But we do have periods where we get several in a row and then we go a period with none."
Most of the road kills (five) have involved young panthers, cats that have recently left their mothers and are looking for their own hunting and breeding territories. The panther recovered Sunday is thought to have been between 2 and 3 years of age. Four others were 18 months or less, according to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission records.
"For males, between 1 and up to 3.5 years is when they're trying to get things figured out," Onorato said. "They're apt to be moving a lot, and they're mortality risk is high."
Another carcass recovered in January, in Big Cypress National Preserve, is being attributed as a 2014 death, which upped the record to 34 deaths for a single year. All 10 carcasses this year were recovered in Collier and Lee counties.
Most of the road kills happened on Interstate 75, State Road 29 or County Road 951. The most recent cases were a panther found dead Saturday near the I-75 and Corkscrew Road exit and another found Sunday along 951.
Nancy Payton, Florida Wildlife Federation Naples office, said those areas need more wildlife crossings and adequate fencing, enough to force roaming panthers to either go under the road or well around it. These areas, where road kills occur repeatedly, are travel corridors for panthers and other wildlife and should be retrofitted with safe underpasses, some panther advocates say.
"That stretch of 951 is becoming more troubling to the federation," Payton said. "That is the road that panthers seem to be taking to Picayune Strand across the wetland system north of Hammock Bay. When the cat that was caught in (Naples neighborhood) Port Royal (in February) was released, he came back into Rookery Bay by that route."
Onorato said cool weather, short days and tourism season can put panthers at an increased risk of being hit by a vehicle.
"With the cool weather, panthers are more apt to be moving around, even during the day," he explained. "And that makes them more susceptible. And the roads are full of people. But all of that aside, we could have the same thing happen."
Panther habitat has shrunk considerably in the past 200 years. Big cats once roamed the entire Southeastern United States but are not mostly found on preserve and farm lands south of Lake Okeechobee.
Males are known to fight to the death over territory, so young males must often travel great distances to find land that isn't already claimed by a dominant male. In recent years they've wandered to Clam Pass beach in Naples, Six Mile Cypress Preserve on the edge of Fort Myers, and, most recently, into the ritzy Port Royal neighborhood in Naples.
Panthers aren't the only large mammals that are at risk on roadways, Payton said.
"You have to be careful about your own safety, and not put your life in danger," she explained. "People do swerve because they don't want to hit an animal and they crash. There's lots of concerns."
Puma concolor coryi
- Appearance: Long, tan with whitish fur underneath. Females weigh 70 to 100 pounds, with males weight 100 to 160 pounds.
- Range: Once common across the Southeastern United States, found mostly in preserves and farm lands south of Lake Okeechobee
- Diet: Strict carnivores, with 90 percent of diet coming from wild hogs, deer, raccoons and armadillos. Ambush predators that typically grab prey by the back of the neck. Can leap 15 feet.
- Reproduction: Females reproduce every two years or so, although females that lose kittens will readily mate again that same year. Litters typically range from one to four kittens, which stay with their mother for 18 months or more before searching out their own territory.
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