Vt. lawmakers discuss catamount reintroduction proposal

[Pantheraman]

Vt. lawmakers discuss catamount reintroduction proposal

"They have been gone from Vermont for over 100 years and were officially listed as extinct back in 2018, but could the catamount make a comeback in the Green Mountain State?

Taxidermy, a gift shop, or the University of Vermont campus is the only way you might see a Catamount in Vermont today. But a bill at the Statehouse could change that.

“We’re the catamounts, and people get excited at the thought of restoring the catamount to Vermont,” said Rep Amy Sheldon, D-Middlebury, who says lawmakers have been discussing the idea of reintroduction of the big cat. “We are just at the very beginning of a conversation about what a feasibility study to reintroduce catamounts needs to contain.”

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

Oooooh, yes please.

 

[The_Leopard_Seal]

There is a problem with overpopulated white-tailed deer in Eastern North America. Cougars will help solve that issue.

 

[birdsandbats]

I didn't realize there was a place where Catamount was actually the preferred term for them. Yes please. We need a deer predator, and this species shouldn't have any trouble spreading across eastern North America from Vermont.

 

[PossumRoach]

Does Vermont have a livestock industry that would say “nay” and get in the way?

 

[Wisp O' Mist]

Does Vermont have a livestock industry that would say “nay” and get in the way?

I know that dairy farming is big business in Vermont.

 

[Pantheraman]

Does Vermont have a livestock industry that would say “nay” and get in the way?

It does, with cattle being the biggest form of livestock production in the state. But since Panthera looks like it might get involved and they deal with human-big cat conflict, hopefully the livestock industry would be more open to it.

Personally, I'm more concerned the hunting industry might get in the way.

 

[Pantheraman]

 

[Pantheraman]

When I went on the media outlet's facebook page post on this story, looking in the comment section, I saw something interesting.

The most common response to the news wasn't concerns about people's safety or attacks on domestic animals. Instead, the most common reaction was something like, "They're already here!" because of the conspiracy theory that there are already breeding populations of cougars in the East and Northeast, and the agencies don't want to acknowledge it.

Why the heck a wildlife agency mostly funded by the hunting and fishing community would cover up the existence of an animal that eats prized game species is beyond me, but it looks like this might be the biggest obstacle in reintroducing them.

 

[Pantheraman]

I bumped into this last night. (Be Wary of Push to Reintroduce Mountain Lions to Eastern US) Basically, it was written by someone who doesn't want people to vote on it, like with Colorado's wolf reintroduction. Of course, what the author fails to mention is that reintroducing large carnivores is something you have to make state game agencies do, rather than hope they do it voluntarily, simply because of their funding model.

Case in point:

"He is, of course, referring to the white-tailed deer, the most popular big game animal in the United States. In fact, deer hunters spend millions upon millions of dollars to enjoy their pastime, while also paying for conservation of all wildlife species through license and tag fees paid to state fish and game agencies. It’s likely those agencies wouldn’t like to see deer populations plummet, which could in turn cause license and tag sales to plummet."

When it comes to hunters being concerned about cougars potentially reducing deer populations, I have only one thing to say, since they and their agencies are the only people who benefit from overabundant deer populations: