Cryptid Cat: Maine Mystery Despite Fox Fur
Posted by: Loren Coleman on August 16th, 2007
This photograph was not published again with all the articles being run in New England (from Boston to Bangor) today on the results of the DNA sampling.
Oakland — A scrap of hair and skin from a rock where an Oakland man reported seeing a mountain lion came from a fox, according to a state biologist.
Still, the results of DNA testing on the sample neither prove nor disprove Oakland resident Kelvin Higgins’ assertion that he saw a mountain lion in his yard on a warm day in April, according to Keel Kemper, a state wildlife biologist.
“There are a lot of possibilities,” said Kemper. “The only thing I can say emphatically is the hair he submitted is (that of) a red fox.”
The sighting was one of several reported in the area in recent years. A Sidney resident also provided a grainy photo this summer of what appeared to be a large cat. Inland Fisheries and Wildlife spokesman Mark Latti has said the photo was inconclusive.
Reached at his home on Wednesday, Higgins said he remains convinced that the animal he saw on a snowy rock in his yard was a mountain lion, also known as a cougar, or panther.
“There is no doubt whatsoever,” said Higgins. “It (the rock) is so close and my eyesight is very good.”
Higgins said he believes the large cat was cleaning itself after eating the fox when it left the scrap of fur on the rock.
The Oakland man said he was standing about 100 feet away when he saw the animal and watched it for 10 or perhaps 20 seconds until it spotted him and moved off into the woods behind the rock.
The animal was perhaps six or eight feet long from nose to tail and probably weighed well over 100 pounds, said Higgins.
“That is not your average house cat,” he said.
Since the sighting, Higgins said he has talked to other people in the area who believe they have seen a mountain lion, including a farmer in Albion.
Whether those sightings and others like them are indicative of a breeding cougar population in Maine, however, is doubtful, believes Kemper, who calls himself open-minded but skeptical when it comes to the idea that the big cats are recolonizing the state after an absence of almost 70 years.
“I would say we certainly do not have a viable population of mountain lions,” said Kemper.
Mountain lions are found in some western states and also in parts of Florida.
Kemper said that wherever there are breeding populations, there are also bodies.
Despite the reported sightings over the years, Kemper said there is a notable lack of such proof in Maine.
That doesn’t mean that there are no cougars in the state, however.
“We know we have mountain lions in this state. They are in people’s homes in cages,” said Kemper.
People can legally keep a mountain lion if they have the appropriate permit.
It is possible that some of the cougar sightings are of pets that have escaped, Kemper said.
“We continue to search for conclusive evidence,” he said.
Kemper also said that he has investigated cougar sightings that appear credible, and he has a Plaster of Paris cast of a large paw print from one sighting in Monmouth.
“There are some intriguing sightings that keep me open-minded,” he said.
According to a newspaper listing on the Cougar Network, a nonprofit research group based in Concord, Mass., a Cape Elizabeth woman spotted what she believed to be a mountain lion while walking through an undeveloped area of the town in 1995.
Hairs were tested and confirmed to be those of a mountain lion, according to a story that appeared in the Patriot Ledger, of Quincy, Mass.
A spokesman from Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, however, said the animal was likely a pet, according to the report.“It was a fox, but was it also food?” Kennebec Journal Augusta, Maine August 16, 2007.
What do I think?
An open-minded approach continues to be the path to take.
1) Mountain lions have been seen and tracked in the state of Maine. Check the DNA sampling from Cape Elizabeth, please. Making a cougar with a cub into “it’s a pet” is the wildest fantasy of them all.
2) A photograph (at top) of a large mystery cat exists from Sidney, Maine. Finding a sample of fox fur and linking it to the animal in that photo was a mistake. The two animals are not mutually exclusive.
3) The final solution to this mystery will not be solved by one DNA sample, or news articles with funny headlines.
4) The cats certainly don’t care what we think. They will keep on being seen, despite those debunkers who feel it is important to view this issue through discussions about belief, instead of via the more appropriate focus – past, current, and future evidence.
5) This story demonstrates the usual “Wipe” technique to try now to make the Sidney photograph disappear. But the photograph is not of a fox.
About Loren Coleman
Loren Coleman is one of the world’s leading cryptozoologists, some say “the” leading living cryptozoologist. Certainly, he is acknowledged as the current living American researcher and writer who has most popularized cryptozoology in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Starting his fieldwork and investigations in 1960, after traveling and trekking extensively in pursuit of cryptozoological mysteries, Coleman began writing to share his experiences in 1969. An honorary member of Ivan T. Sanderson’s Society for the Investigation of the Unexplained in the 1970s, Coleman has been bestowed with similar honorary memberships of the North Idaho College Cryptozoology Club in 1983, and in subsequent years, that of the British Columbia Scientific Cryptozoology Club, CryptoSafari International, and other international organizations. He was also a Life Member and Benefactor of the International Society of Cryptozoology (now-defunct).
Loren Coleman’s daily blog, as a member of the Cryptomundo Team, served as an ongoing avenue of communication for the ever-growing body of cryptozoo news from 2005 through 2013. He returned as an infrequent contributor beginning Halloween week of 2015.
Coleman is the founder in 2003, and current director of the International Cryptozoology Museum in Portland, Maine.
The one thing I simply cannot fathom is that why, with photographs and other reasonable proof, the Wildlife folks continue to insist that these cats just aren’t there.
Not a “we don’t know” or “we haven’t yet found conclusive proof” nor even a “we’re investigating” even if everyone knows they’re not — but Nope-Noway-Nohow are there big cats in Maine.
What reason do they have to completely deny it? There is absolutely no insinuation or accusation of anything in my question — it’s simply a question.
I’ve never been to Maine, but have seen enough of the state via books, TV, and the Internet to reckon that a big cat would find much of the state a pretty good place to be. One would think that it would be a huge PR opportunity to proclaim Maine as so unspoilt that populations of rare animals can thrive there.
I’m no expert….just a curious person thinking out loud…
Note to self: When I get a pet Puma, secure cage tightly. Seem to be great escape artists.
ROFL!
That was a good one about the pet cougar escaping!
Sunny asked,
“What reason do they have to completely deny it? There is absolutely no insinuation or accusation of anything in my question — it’s simply a question.”
In a word fear. People fear what they don’t understand. Cougars as an apex predator generate fear in many people. There have been a number of cases with high profile media coverage of attacks on children, joggers etc. Then there are farmers who fear for the safety of their livestock. The percentage of cougar attacks on humans is extremely small – death by bee stings or lightening is exponentially greater. But in many people’s minds, any risk from any animal is unacceptable.
If the Fish & Wildlife people say too much and appear to condone or encourage the presence of cougars, they will get flack from the segment of the population that fears these things. That flack will then translate into political repercussions – endless testimony before legislators, restrictive legislation, cuts in budgets or staff as “punishment.” Perfect example: In Missouri, it was proposed to reintroduce wild elk into the state. A 10 county area was identified but the outcry was overwhelming “What if someone hits one with their car?” “What about spreading chromic wasting disease or brucellosis to my cattle?” “What about my fences that elk will knock down?” “The elk will compete with my livestock for forage” etc. etc. etc. The senators and the reps in the study area got on board with their constituents and the plan was compleltely dropped.
So the best thing for these wildlife agencies to do is play like the three monkeys “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” and simply let nature takes its course. Gradually over an extended period of time, people get acclimated to the idea of these animals are around. That’s pretty much the case with black bears in New Jersey and Massachusetts. Thirty or forty years ago they were a rare transient. Now they have thriving reproducing populations but the citizens aren’t calling for wholesale extermination of bears or threatening lawsuits against their Fish & Wildlife people for introducing a dangerous animal.
To Sunny & Alligator:
“Alligator” gets it just about right. Though I’d say it’s not so much fear on the part of the experts/conservation officers etc. as it is a tactic.
I work at a major eastern university that I’d prefer not to name, in a state that I’d prefer not to name. Now, I have no proof for what I’m about to say, but I feel it’s true nonetheless because the information I was given came from people who should be well in “the know.”
Wolves were wiped out in my home state a very long time ago… I think over a hundred years ago. It’s well known that farmers in particular were and are vehemently opposed to the “above ground” reintroduction of the wolf into the state.
Well the story is that in fact there is a breeding population of wolves in the state now; I have been told this by people whose job it is to know such things–let’s just put it that way. Whether the wolves were actually reintroduced to the state or whether they simply migrated in on their own, I’m not sure… but they’re known to be there and are considered to be protected. BUT this is kept secret because of course it’s expected that farmers and other locals would be up in arms. The tactic, then, is to A) be silent about it, and B) if someone says, “hey, I saw a wolf” to deny that such a thing is possible and/or deliberately mis-identify the sighting as that of a coyote or coy-dog. In a state where the latter two animals are still routinely shot by gun-toting rednecks, one can see why you wouldn’t want people taking arms against a tiny population of wolves.
All this may apply (and probably does, though again, I have no proof of this) to cougar/mountain lion sightings. The animals may be making headway into states where they were previously exterminated. Biologists, zoologists, and Wildlife/Conservation officers would be interested in protecting and even encouraging small populations of these animals, and rightly so, I think. It’s a way around the stupidity, ignorance, and baseless fear of local people and farmers. Now, granted–it could be argued that cougars are more dangerous to human beings than wolves (we now all know that there has never been a documented report of a wolf attack on a human being in North America) but then, we’ve come to tolerate–to a point–the rising bear population. Presumably the hope is that we’ll learn to live with these predators rather than simply wiping them out again. (Bears, of course, are harder to deny than wolves and cougars. There’s nothing else in nature that looks like a bear, or is as large as a bear. Whereas if someone sees a wolf, you can say it was a coyote. If someone sees what they claim was a cougar, you can say that all they saw was a lynx or a bobcat).
I believe that what I’ve been told about wolves in my state is true; I have reason to believe this. I see no reason why reports of cougars should be any different.
I say, let’s leave the animals alone, ignore the sightings, and hope that they manage to come back where they belong without people exterminating them again.
Just be cautious and expect that if you go camping in some wild area, you might come across something more dangerous than a raccoon or a possum.
Alligator- Great post. I agree that the negative general public perception of these animals as well as unfounded fears help to drive the aversion to having these animals hanging about. The media frenzy that can erupt from sightings of predators near residential areas also tends to put an ominous spin on things and I feel usually makes the situation seem more dangerous than it perhaps really is. Reports can magnify the threat even when no one has been attacked. This sort of sensationalism and exaggeration of the threat only fuels the public’s fear, which in turn makes it more of a headache for these agencies. You mentioned the reintroduction of elk and I would even go farther and point out some opposition that has happened in some places concerning plans to reintroduce predators such as the wolf.
They better lock up their pet dogs in Sidney each night!
Loren is right, linking the fox DNA to the animal in the photo is a mistake. I believe Higgins was correct in his assumption of the fox being a meal and that was the DNA left behind.
Rbhess- I enjoyed your post. You bring up exactly what I mentioned in my post about the aversion that the public, and especially farmers, can have when top predators start gaining a foothold in certain areas. I personally think the threat is greatly overblown for the most part, but it seems that these animals can instill irrational concerns in some.
I agree that these animals should be left alone and allowed to slowly repopulate, but the problem as I see it is that once the media gets wind of a sighting they tend to go to town with it and I am not certain how this hurdle can be side stepped. The sad truth is that there is a lot of misinformation, fear, and ignorance about these creatures. In my experience it doesn’t matter if it is a cougar or a wolf, the popular notion of these as dangerous animals remains and the average joe isn’t going to make much of a distinction when it comes down to one in the vicinity. In the end, I feel that these animals get a bad rap and unfortunately often provide a good scary story for the papers. As much as scientists would like to avoid people’s ignorance by remaining quiet, we have the media to contend with and unfortunately I think that is going to make it hard to let these animals go about their lives in peace.
Mystery Man:
All that you say is true (sadly true) but I suppose the one thing we can be hopeful about is that we don’t live in a totally ignorant age. There have been attacks by cougars on people out west, but so far–as far as I know–no great call for wiping the animals off the face of the earth. People have come to realize that these animals can be coped with, and that as we encroach upon their habitat, we have to expect to interact with them somehow. The trick is to keep said interactions from becoming tragic.
The next step, then, is to allow the re-introduction of these animals into places from which they were previously driven, and to get people to gradually accept this. I hope that will work.
I have a strong feeling that the cougar is migrating from the west to the east. I’m in favor of their reintroduction in large private fenced preserves in the east.
I may be crazy but that photo looks a bit doctored to me. The crypto community is getting very good at using Photoshop or whatever program they used to create this image. This is definitely a hoax.
Alligator you basically just explained why back in ’93 that Ranger blew off my cougar sighting at Mingo State Park here in Missouri. They just wanted the cats to be left alone. Personally I think we do have a breeding population here in Missouri.
Cougars are apex predators that can’t be denied, but they only attack (usually) on extremes. Starving to death, hurt, sick, frightened, or feel their cubs are in danger. OK I admit the attacks on small children were most likely cause the cougar thought “Hmm small, moving slow, looks like it can’t fight. LUNCH!!” That cougar I saw could have easily swiped my face right off of my head, I was that close to it, but it didn’t. It just left the area. Basically cougars just want to stay well away from people. They’d rather go away than deal with a full grown human.
Ever since my sighting I’ve added them to my watch for list while out hiking. As of right now that list is cougars, bears, wolves, and poisonous snakes. Most predator attacks happen when a person just suddenly appears close to an animal within it’s area of comfort. I know they are there so it’s better to watch for them so I don’t surprise them.
rbhess and mystery man,
I can see your points, but obviously neither are farmers nor have raised livestock / fowl on a farm. On my 60 acres I have a horse or two, two donkeys for the coyotes and several dogs, one, a Basset, is a survivor of a coyote attack. The only reason she survived, I believe, is that I shot the offending animal (the redneck that I am). I also sent the head to the health department in our state for determination of rabies, which thankfully came back negative. Not so with the next two I shot, these had rabies and I had to have my dogs quarantined even though they were up to date with their immunizations.
Now to the photo: It sure looks like a leopard to me. Someone’s exotic animal has escaped.
I wonder if leopards/pumas/mountain lions/cyptid cats eat coyotes? Foxes obviously.
You’re all absolutely right, of course — despite the fact that I’m getting more and more cynical as the years tick past, there’s still a part of me that wants soooo badly to believe that human beings could find something miraculous and special about the tenacious survival of a magnificent species that we so callously tried to eliminate.
I suppose that as unfortunate as it is, it is better for the various wildlife agencies to look foolish than to have a bunch of wannabe YouTube heroes crashing through the brush with a firearm, looking to be the Great Hunter at the expense of an animal who has done nothing to deserve the torture that would no doubt be broadcast worldwide.
Another reason their existence will be denied until one ends up on the front steps of a state capitol is that the “experts” (I’m talking about the book learned people without common sense) cannot be wrong. They were taught that all pumas and the such do not live east of the rockies (or somewhere there). Their professor and text book said it, therefore it is not only fact but to them an absolute truth. I have nothing against anyone who melds their book learning in order to graduate with some hands on common sense wisdom from getting outside and actually looking around and learning. I put nothing past mother nature. She loves to play with us.
Nightflight, no offense… but are you trying to intimate that a couple horses and some dogs are worth more than an entire species which pre-dated you on your land?
This is the kind of thinking, (which you hear from farmers but also from a lot of rural folk in general) that drives me absolutely nutty. I mean, okay—you didn’t say that exactly, but then… what are you saying?
No one’s advocating that wolves and cougars be allowed to multiply freely, with no checks. Clearly there has to be a balance between the needs and safety of human beings and the “right” of these animals to exist in the habitat which was once theirs. (I use the word “right” guardedly there).
Now, no, I’m not a farmer, but I’ve lived all my life around farms, my family were farmers, and I’ve worked on farms. I understand the life of the farmer is tough and the last thing a struggling farmer needs is another threat to his livestock. But on the other hand, you know—we have to stop acting like we (as humans) can just run roughshod over nature, annihilating species as we see fit, either because they get in our way or inconvenience us. I’m sorry for farmers who might have to deal with a small additional threat to their livestock, and rural folk who might have to worry about their pets (and I’m a dog lover) but all I can say is, suck it up and live with it. Just because we have the means to destroy cougars and wolves doesn’t mean we should. We should instead learn to live with them. We all know it’s right, it’s just that some of us don’t want the trouble and the expense.
And since I brought expense up, I’ll say that I’d be all for a government compensation plan that would pay farmers a certain amount for lost livestock. But pets? Come on. You take a risk having a pet no matter what—they can get run over by cars, etc. Should we ban cars from country roads?
Lock your animals up at night, keep watch on them, and accept that, for the good of the natural world overall, you’ll have to cope with this kind of thing. I know, I know–easy for a non-farmer to say. But at the same time, not easy for some of us to accept that the world doesn’t (and shouldn’t) revolve around homo sapiens and our day-to-day needs. It’s one thing if it’s a question of the life of a human being against the life of an animal… then, yes… the animal loses. But the existence of a species against the annoyance and economic trouble of a few human beings? Come now. We should be able to handle that wisely, without having to wipe predators out that bother us.
Some of the eastern states have a problem. It is a deer population that has gotten out of control. The insurance companies don’t like to pay for all the damage these deer cause to cars and property. They put extreme pressure on the various state wildlife commissions to lower the deer population. The obvious answer is to increase the number of deer that hunter’s can harvest. The problem here is that people who are not educated about wildlife populations believe this approach will cause the animals to become extinct. Their political pressure hamstrings the game commissions in solving their problem.
Next solution? Establish a predator population that will help control the deer population. This solution will work, but it will not be popular with the majority of the state’s population. Because of this, wolves will not work. They are too visible and too vocal. Mountain lions, on the other hand, are very secrative and can stay hidden. On those rare occasions when they are seen, officials can simply say that it was a case of mistaken identity because mountain lions do not live in that state. Problems solved all the way around.
Does this sound familiar?
I have no doubt that there are mountain lions in Maine. I just think that photographs today aren’t proof of anything. If they can make a movie about a giant monkey and put him on the top of the Empire State building I’m sure someone can copy and paste a mountain lion in a picture. To me the eyes in this picture are very rounded as well as the head. Are there any other pictures of this cat? If there are no other pictures and he watched the cat for 10 to 20 seconds, why did he take only one picture?