Recap of Mt Lions In Southwestern Maine

by
A. Sayward Lamb

For several years I have been hearing from several friends and acquaintances, telling me of sightings of the very elusive mountain lions which they have seen personally, or have been told of sightings by their friends. My earliest recollections of sightings were back in the mid-nineteen fifties, when I was living in South Woodstock. My friends, Leon Poland, and Joe Pete Appleby, repeatedly told me of sighting a Mt. Lion that crossed the highway in front of their vehicles on several occasions, just about dusk or shortly after dark, about a quarter of mile from where I resided. Others were reluctant to tell about their sightings for fear of people thinking that they were “crazy” and making up these stories. In more recent years more people have reported their sightings and still Maine wildlife officials deny any knowledge of such an animal being present in Maine.

Of course this has caused some people to wonder just what the “cat-like” animal was that they were seeing. These sighting were hard to substantiate because positive proof was not available. Most of those whom I talked with described the tawny color, sleek body, and the long curving tail. Some of the people who saw these animals and talked with wildlife officials were even told that they were seeing other species of animals, such as dogs; coyotes, etc., so no positive proof was established that mountain lions existed in Maine.

In recent years we have repeatedly read in newspapers of sightings in Oxford , by several neighbors who live on Schoolhouse road. One of those persons, Lorna Letourneau, has tried for years to convince wildlife officials that she has seen a Mt. Lion from her home on more than one occasion. She also has taken photographs of tracks made by the animal she has seen. Yvonne Roberts, a neighbor of Mrs. Letourneau, also reports that she has seen this animal. Mark Chag, a former reporter for the weekly Advertiser Democrat, published in Norway, Maine, became very interested in these sightings and wrote several articles for that newspaper. I have saved those articles from the Thursday, July 19, 2007; Thursday, August 2, 2007; Thursday, August 23, 2007; and Thursday, October 18, 2007 editions, which have stimulated much interest, not only from the Oxford area ,but from others in southwestern Maine, who feel positive that they have seen mountain lions. I have taken excerpts from these published reports for this article.

A sighting occurred on McWain Hill, In Waterford several years ago, according to Pete Blackman, who said his wife, Nancy, saw the mountain lion. Peter Leslie, of Waterford, took a photograph of what appears to be large cat tracks that were imprinted in the snow on Hawk Mountain, in Waterford. The photograph was printed in the August 2nd, 2007 edition. John Towne, of Bridgton reported his sighting of a mountain lion in the backyard of his home on Sunday morning, July 29, of this year.

I wrote a story that was posted on the online sporting magazine, U.S. Hunting Today, about the possibility of mountain lions existing in Maine. Early in October of this year I was contacted by John Lutz, who is the Director of the Eastern Puma Research Network, located in Mayville, West Virginia. He has had forty two years of experience in searching for, and gathering evidence of Pumas (mountain lions) in the eastern United States. Mr. Lutz was referred to me by Tom Remington, who is the managing Editor of U.S. Hunting Today. Mr. Lutz learned that I had a photograph that was given to me by Lorna Letourneau, of a track that she felt was made by a mountain lion. I mailed a copy of that photograph to Mr. Lutz to see if his organization could determine if the foot imprint was made by a mountain lion. I received an email message from Mr. Lutz on November 12th of this year. His answer was: YES, the Letourneau picture was of mountain lion tracks—the right front paw.

This has to be great news for those Schoolhouse Road residents, and confirms what they sighted was indeed, a mountain lion. It will be interesting to see if the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will acknowledge this as a fact. As for my personal opinion, I have to say that the opinion of Mr. Lutz, who states that his organization has confirmed over 7,500 Puma (mountain lion) sightings in the eastern United States, since the Eastern Puma Research Network was established in 1965, has to be very credible. I will believe his statement and confirmation until proved otherwise

In closing, let me urge anyone who believes they have sighted a mountain lion to contact the Eastern Puma Research Network. The twenty-four hour hotline number is: 304-749-7778.

Copyright 2007
A. Sayward Lamb

*Update* Since Mr. Lamb wrote this story, he received the following email from John A. Lutz of the Eastern Puma Research Network.

Hi Sayward:

Read your article on USHunting website and thank you for it.

One correction is needed….we don’t have 7,500 sighting confirmations of reports.

What we do have are “over 7,500 credible reports from trained observers with professional backgrounds in wildlife, forestry and game management, and law enforcement”.

Since 1965, we have amassed over 15,000 sightings that include reports from every state east of the Mississippi River.

We have confirmations on the continued presence of wild or native mountain lions or black panthers (aka cougars, leopards, jaguars or pumaprads) in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachucetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Some confirmations date from the early 1900s thru mid-2007. There are multiple regions of “cluster” reports where sightings of pumas or panthers have occurred on a regular basis since the late 1800s, which indicates their continued presence.

All sightings are collected by EPRN,, then place into state reports….and dowloaded into counties. Each regions include up to 10 counties, depending on size, then checked for repeated events over larger areas, forming clusters.

Eventually, it can take years, but some form of confirmation or documenation will make an appearence within the area showing a big cat presence. Once a presence is made known, field investigations begin in ernest to locate more proof in form of buried prey, bones, tracks, scat, etc.

The USF&WS conduct similar searches in the western states to determine the population of predators….

Western Maine has had dozens of sightings for over 100 years…a few by trained observers, which indicated to us the very credible lilelihood on a cougar presence, even though NO concrete proof was documented until Lorna’s photograph in Oxford County was made puiblic.

Now, we have established, confirmed cougars have been documented in Maine in Oxford Co, along Allagash Wilderness Waterway, and at Long Lake.

Several other locations are highly suspected with a cougar presence…..all we need it time….

Sincerely,

John A. Lutz
Eastern Puma Research Network
www.easternpumaresearch.com.