mountain lion loose in middle tn

cindyc · #1 05/19/06, 04:15 PM

Here's the news story.

http://www.wsmv.com/Global/story.asp?S=4923907

My babysitter and my husband's friend both have seen the thing within a few miles of here... should I be worried? We are out on 18 acres. I have told the kids to stay close to the house...

Cindyc.

symple-lyfe · #2 05/19/06, 04:19 PM

Is that anywhere near Lawrenceburg? My grandma lives out on 260+ acres there.

cindyc · #3 05/19/06, 04:24 PM

lawrenceburg is considerably south of here... I wouldn't think the thing would have that large a "range", but I don't know that much about mountain lions.

rkintn · #4 05/19/06, 04:26 PM

Yes, but not sure how close. I have a friend who lives in Spring Hill and I know Culleoka is only like 30 mins or so away.

celina · #5 05/19/06, 04:35 PM

IT WAS WEARING A COLLAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

so we know it is familiar with humans....uck...what a mess...

cindyc · #6 05/19/06, 04:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by celina

IT WAS WEARING A COLLAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!

so we know it is familiar with humans....uck...what a mess...

Kinda what I was thinkin' ...

Pink_Carnation · #7 05/19/06, 05:20 PM

I believe the normal range for a cougar is about 50 miles

Phillip · #8 05/19/06, 05:51 PM

We've seen mountain lions here before....

crystalniche · #9 05/19/06, 06:06 PM

It could also be an African Lion that has shed his mane. We had a neighbor who had one here and everytime it got out they called the school warning them to keep the kids inside. Very, very dangerous especially as it was used to people and going to them for food. Without his mane Tojo looked just like a big Cougar, wasn't tho. The people who had him were "experts" who had rescued him, were licensed and he still got out on them every so often. They admitted how dangerous he was especially to kids. If I lived there my kids would be VERY close by until he was safely caught. That is what I did here when Tojo was loose.

marvella · #10 05/19/06, 06:10 PM

i *bet* the sheriff wants to see them. i'm pretty sure it is illegal to keep wild animals like that. had a case near here not long ago.

a cat wearing a collar is probably used to humans. i wouldn't think that would make it a greater risk. however, the longer it is loose, the hungrier it is going to get. it probably doesn't know how to find food. i'd say housecats and stray dogs might be in danger first.

if it is a pet, it will probably be easily found. it won't avoid people like a cat in the wild would.

bet dollars to donuts someone will get excited and kill it.

insanity · #11 05/20/06, 08:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marvella

i *bet* the sheriff wants to see them. I'm pretty sure it is illegal to keep wild animals like that.

Nope not illegal.When my dad lived in Nashville TN his neighbors had two cougars.They stayed inside the house.They where licensed to have them and they could keep them in the city as long as they stayed in there cages.But they often had them out in the yard for exercise illegally.No leash or anything to stop them from just running off.We where glad to see them get exercise out side,but they did need leashing of some typ.
Later i heard of a cougar getting lose and killing a small child there.Not sure how many cougars there are in Madison but ill bet not to many.It had to be one of theres.
Ive played with them out in the yard many times.They where kinda like big house cats.But could get rough if you weren't careful. But id image if you where a small child that didn't no they where friendly, and you ran the prey drive might kick in.Figuring that what happened anyway.

Its way to easy to own things like that.I think they should allow folks to own them in the event of a rescue or something of that nature.They have to do something with the ones already in captivity.But not every idiot should be allowed to own such.And they shouldn't be breeding and selling them like puppy mills do dogs.Should be some required training or something along those lines. Its also cruel for animals like that to be confined to small spaces IMO and is what causes many of the attacks that are home based.There home rage can be up to 400 miles.Whats an animal in captivity to do with such energy levels when there legal cage dimensions only require enough room to stand and turn around.

Anybody seen the Crocodile hunter on TV.His wife is from the states and used to own one when she was here.

Just do some searching on the web.You can Buy anything you might want.And you'll be surprised how cheap some of them are.Bobcats 75 bucks im thinking ive seen courger kits as cheap as 150.

TNnative · #12 05/20/06, 08:52 AM

A friend of mine used to condition her endurance horse on Short Mtn several years ago and saw one up there. We live in West TN and my husband saw one cross the road in front of us, about a mile from our house, around 12:30 pm this past Sunday. We were on our way to the inlaws' for lunch. We came around a curve and he saw the back half of it slipping into the brush on the side of the road. That's unusual for around here, though people hear them occasionally and my fil has seen one here before. A few months ago, my mom was coming home from work at midnight and one jumped across the road in front of her right at the scenic boardwalk on the Wolf River. We have/had a rolling pasture behind our house and a few years ago, my husband watched one stroll across the hill on the far side and go into the treeline.

All this to say, they are around, even if you don't see them and the game wardens deny their existence. However, I would be more concerned about the one you have loose. Since it has a collar and someone was taking care of it, it's more used to humans and could be more dangerous. No fear of man there.

Denise

backwoods · #13 05/20/06, 08:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phillip

We've seen mountain lions here before....

Just wondering what area of TN you are in. Our neighbors claim they've seen one and heard it here in southern Overton county. I was hoping they were mistaken, and it was just a bobcat. I've seen one of those in the middle of the road just before dusk.

insanity · #14 05/20/06, 09:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by backwoods

Just wondering what area of TN you are in. Our neighbors claim they've seen one and heard it here in southern Overton county. I was hoping they were mistaken, and it was just a bobcat. I've seen one of those in the middle of the road just before dusk.

Nah i dought they where mistaken Ive read reports of them being spread from coast to coast for years.Not sure why they like for us to believe they all went extinct in the first place.But they are making a come back.They clam it must be the Florida panthers moving north.

Every time theres an attack in Cal. or anywhere out west its always an escaped pet.I highly dought that to since theres a great number of them been living wild for over 40 years that we no of in the mountains between AZ and NM where my dad and his mom have lived.

Seen any Black ones? Those are the ones I'm most interested in.Yep Ive seen a family of those when i was young.Now they may have been released pets.Or maybe not, who noes.The wild life agencies will not release DNA info /or keeps it all hush hush.

Theres been several shot and killed around here in the last few years.Along with regular cougars.

Theres not much reason to fear them here.Do to the game being so plentiful.The reason for all the attacks out west is the lesser amount of large game for them to hunt.

crystalniche · #15 05/20/06, 10:12 AM

Ya know~this might be a job for the NAIS~something useful for them to do instead of picking on innocent cows. Send all those gov't officials to round up and put chips into Cougars, Bobcats and other preditor species. That should keep 'em busy for a good, long time and get them off farmers' backs. In the meantime we can all be turning in reports of a Cougar being seen waaaay out in the middle of the desert or on top of Mount St Helens then Mount Washington and send them scurrying from here to there to do their chipping. Just a thought.

auntieemu · #16 05/20/06, 10:46 AM

This is odd. I can't remember who it was, someone on this board posted an article a few weeks ago about a tiger wearing a red collar being seen in someone's backyard in Cullman County (northern) Alabama. One article and then nothing. Now we have other big cat sightings in middle Tennessee?

backwoods · #17 05/20/06, 11:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insanity

Nah i dought they where mistaken Ive read reports of them being spread from coast to coast for years.Not sure why they like for us to believe they all went extinct in the first place.But they are making a come back.They clam it must be the Florida panthers moving north.

Every time theres an attack in Cal. or anywhere out west its always an escaped pet.I highly dought that to since theres a great number of them been living wild for over 40 years that we no of in the mountains between AZ and NM where my dad and his mom have lived.

Seen any Black ones? Those are the ones I'm most interested in.Yep Ive seen a family of those when i was young.Now they may have been released pets.Or maybe not, who noes.The wild life agencies will not release DNA info /or keeps it all hush hush.

Theres been several shot and killed around here in the last few years.Along with regular cougars.

Theres not much reason to fear them here.Do to the game being so plentiful.The reason for all the attacks out west is the lesser amount of large game for them to hunt.

No black ones but I wish I could see one here.

nodak3 · #18 05/20/06, 12:36 PM

We live in Co, have one in the neighborhood, and the attacks in this state are not escaped pets. They are wild animals upon whose territory we have encroached. NEVER EVER run from one. Back away slowly, making yourself appear large and talking firmly and loudly.

TnTnTn · #19 05/20/06, 03:35 PM

Lots of people report sightings but no one ever produces a photograph or roadkill carcass. They are sort of like bigfoot. An excaped 'pet' is always an option. 1000s of man days are spent every year by hunters of deer and other game in TN and no one has brought home a carcass.

The last sighting I heard about was a roadkill on I24. It turned out to be a yellow pit bull.

There may be 'some' around but I am skeptical without hard evidence. TnTnTn

FourDeuce · #20 05/20/06, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by insanity

Nah i dought they where mistaken Ive read reports of them being spread from coast to coast for years.Not sure why they like for us to believe they all went extinct in the first place.But they are making a come back.They clam it must be the Florida panthers moving north.

Every time theres an attack in Cal. or anywhere out west its always an escaped pet.I highly dought that to since theres a great number of them been living wild for over 40 years that we no of in the mountains between AZ and NM where my dad and his mom have lived.

Seen any Black ones? Those are the ones I'm most interested in.Yep Ive seen a family of those when i was young.Now they may have been released pets.Or maybe not, who noes.The wild life agencies will not release DNA info /or keeps it all hush hush.

Theres been several shot and killed around here in the last few years.Along with regular cougars.

Theres not much reason to fear them here.Do to the game being so plentiful.The reason for all the attacks out west is the lesser amount of large game for them to hunt.

Just because there's more(other) large game doesn't mean the cats will go after it. We had an incident here where a mountain lion killed a woman, and there are plenty of whitetail deer around. Of course, deer are more aware of their surroundings and harder to catch than humans.