Pennsylvania lion siting procedures

[Emily]

http://www.pennlive.com/columns/patriot ... thispage=1

Commission close to new system
Sunday, January 06, 2008
The Pennsylvania Game Commission soon should have a new procedure in place for capturing information from reports of mountain lions in the state.

Often criticized for a condescending, naysayer attitude toward people reporting what they believe to be sightings or physical evidence of mountain lions, the commission is designing the procedure to emphasize an interest in the reports.

"This [standard operating procedure] has not yet been finalized but will be in the near future," said Matt Lovallo, supervisor of the commission's Game Mammals Section.



"Although this SOP has not been formally adopted, several PGC regions are already using the procedures outlined in this draft to handle mountain lion reports and complaints."

On two occasions in the past few months, once each in the northeastern and southwestern corners of the state, commission staff has conducted field investigations but found the tracks to be those of dogs, according to Lovallo.

The lack of a standard procedure and the resulting variable response from different agency personnel also "has invited biased involvement by individuals and organizations determined to prove that mountain lions persist in Pennsylvania," the introduction to the new procedure notes.

Despite all that outside effort, no mountain lions have been confirmed to be living and reproducing in the wild in Pennsylvania since the last confirmed kill of a native cat in the late 1800s, particularly no naturally occurring cougars.

Confirmed sightings generally trace back to a cat that's escaped or been released from captivity.

Most investigations lead to mistaken identifications of domestic dogs and cats, coyotes, bobcats and foxes.

Outright hoaxes have surfaced at least once or twice each year for decades, and they are becoming more frequent with the spread of the Internet.

Claims that the commission stocked mountain lions as a means of control on the state's deer population also surface regularly, although never with any real evidence and rarely with anything more than secondhand and thirdhand sources. The commission consistently has denied those claims.

The commission expects the new system will bring new credibility to their observations on mountain lions in the state.

With the new system, rather than noting that "we investigate many reported sightings and we have yet to record a mountain lion in recent years," as press secretary Jerry Feaser said in October 2006, commission spokesmen will be able to offer the number of reports investigated without finding concrete evidence.



Calvin DuBrock, director of the Bureau of Wildlife Management, said, "We're not looking for more accounts. We are looking for more credible accounts."

The eastern mountain lion has been listed as an endangered species in its entire former range, including Pennsylvania, since 1973.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service last year began a review of scientific and other information to determine the status of the eastern cougar. It's the first review of the animal's status the service has done since publishing a recovery plan in 1982, which required a review within five years.

As part of the review, the service is seeking information on the status of the eastern mountain lion in 21 states east of the Mississippi River.

Lacking definitive evidence of the species' existence, the service has presumed the eastern cougar to be extinct. The Pennsylvania Game and Wildlife Code classifies the mountain lion as a protected mammal.

Under those federal and state classifications, any mountain lion found in the wilds of Pennsylvania would be given strong protections, including civil and criminal penalties for anyone responsible for killing or possessing it.

The new procedure requires any commission staffer receiving information about possible mountain lion occurrence in Pennsylvania to complete a form within two weeks.

However, if there is a chance of collecting physical evidence or it seems a field investigation is warranted, a wildlife biologist or conservation officer will be brought into the process as soon as possible.

And, if a mountain lion attacks or shows unprovoked aggression toward humans, an immediate field response will be required and an attempt might be made to destroy the animal.

If mountain lion depredation of livestock or pets is verified by the commission and the landowner requests action, commission staff will make an immediate effort to pursue the animal.



As the commission doesn't have the staff that would be needed to investigate every report, the new procedure directs staff to ask the person making the report to photograph the track and protect the track with a five-gallon bucket or coffee can until information that illustrates dog, coyote, bobcat and mountain lion tracks can be provided for comparison. If they still believe the track was made by a mountain lion, staff may ask them to make a plaster cast and send it along with photos to the commission.

The standardized report form will gather details from each sighting, from the size of the animal to the length of its tail to location and conditions of the sighting.

Reports will be classified as confirmed, if a specimen, photograph or videotape of an animal, photo or plaster cast of a track, or hair or feces samples have been confirmed by commission staff; unconfirmed, if details of the observation are generally consistent with mountain lions; or improbable, if details of the observation are inconsistent with mountain lions or the observer is unsure of details.

Lovallo said the draft procedure for Pennsylvania is based on a process already in place in Missouri, where mountain lions have been confirmed recently.

MARCUS SCHNECK: 610-562-1884 or mschneck@comcast.net

[Farmhand]

There are some parts to that report that just are NOT true. The last mt. lion killed in Pa. was NOT in the 1800's, but the 1940's in Potter County. Others have been killed (one by a log truck recently) but the PGC sweeps that under the carpet really quick or writes it off as an escapee from captivity. That is mostly BS. The concensus of most of the population is that if they do live here the PGC should just tell the truth about it instead of lying. It is the dishonest, hedging answers provided by the PGC that get most of us POed.

[whoflungdung]

For somebody that doesn't cat hunt being able to tell the difference between a lion and a dog could be really tough even in snow.