Published: July 17, 2009 09:06 pm      

Here, kitty, kitty!

On a number of occasions, people have told me they viewed mountain lions in these here hills. Often, they seek me out because I write this column. Sometimes it is merely something mentioned in passing.

Frequently, the person telling me about the observation is so casual about the experience that I am certain he or she does not know they are not supposed to be seeing such an animal. I say that because there has been no absolute, can’t-be-doubted, surefire evidence to support the existence of mountain lions in these parts.

By that I mean there has been no truck-struck cougar carcass along a highway. There has been photography, but the photos could always be questioned in one way or another by a doubter.

I would love to see a mountain lion in Maryland or West Virginia. The late Jolly J.R. — that is disc jockey Jim Robey of WCBC — told me he saw one behind my house on the golf course in Rawlings. That got my attention.

Jeff Munson said he has seen the big cats twice near his home in Pinto. Another friend told me he saw one on Dan’s Mountain. Recently, Tony Yurko, an avid runner and biker who has often told me about bear sightings, called me at home to report seeing a cougar.

Tony said he was biking in June near McCoole in the area of 21st Lane down near the North Branch of the Potomac River when the encounter took place. I asked him a lot of questions about what he saw and all of his answers said “mountain lion” to me. And to Tony too. He was certain about what he had seen.

Tony is a mechanical engineer.

I worked for six years for the Army Corps of Engineers and got to know engineers and their personalities pretty well. They are not prone to exaggeration or imagery. I’m not saying engineers have no romance in their souls, but they like everything to add up so that it comes to an appropriate result. A certain screw twists this many times before being fully seated. An arch of a certain form and strength will support this or that amount of weight. If something has all the parts to make it look like a mountain lion then it is a mountain lion.

My point is this. There are too many honest people saying they have seen mountain lions. They have no reason to fib and cannot all be mistaken about what they have seen. Many of them are not hunters or livestock farmers and have no horse in that particular mountain lion race.

Ergo, my take is that we have mountain lions.

On the other hand, I get a little short with the folks who whine and moan that the various state departments of natural resources know we have mountain lions and are attempting to hide it and lie about it.

During 30 years I have gotten to know a good number of wildlife biologists pretty well. They are professionals who take a great deal of pride in knowing what is out there in the boondocks of their particular bailiwick. Believe me when I tell you that if mountain lions are out there they would want to know about it and document it, but they are scientists and they want to have irrefutable evidence before they sign up.

A wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service told me a couple years back that even if a mountain lion is recovered in the East there is no absolute way to determine if it has descended from the genes of the Eastern mountain lion, which is said to be extinct. Apparently in the world of DNA a mountain lion is a mountain lion is a mountain lion, so that part of the puzzle will go unsolved.

Our Bear Watch feature has been perhaps the most popular item in the history of our Outdoors page. Maybe it is time to start Cougar Watch.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.