Jason Hawley says his office gets lots of calls about mountain lions each year.
鈥淧eople often get very emotional about it,鈥� Hawley says. 鈥溾�楬ey, I know what I saw. I鈥檝e seen bobcats before, this wasn鈥檛 a bobcat.鈥� And it鈥檚 a lose-lose situation, because there鈥檚 really not a whole lot you can tell them in most cases that鈥檚 going to change their mind.鈥�
Hawley, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, says data don鈥檛 support a breeding population of mountain lions in 黑料吃瓜网.
But a high-profile sighting in 2011 stirred up renewed interest in the animals here, when a mountain lion from South Dakota was hit and killed by a car on .
As a carnivore biologist, Hawley says he would love it if mountain lions were here.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 tell you how happy I would be if mountain lions were actually recolonizing the state of 黑料吃瓜网,鈥� Hawley says, 鈥渂ut it鈥檚 just not happening.鈥�
Hawley spoke about bobcats, mountain lions and bears on The Colin McEnroe Show: 鈥溾�楳egafauna mania:鈥� our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators.鈥�
Interview Highlights
These highlights have been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
For mountain lions in 黑料吃瓜网, a 鈥榣ack of evidence is very good evidence鈥�
McEnroe: Scientifically, this is a case where absence of evidence is kind of evidence of absence, right? We鈥檇 be seeing more carcasses of prey 鈥� we would be seeing at least some carcasses of mountain lion prey.
Hawley: Yeah. As a scientist, lack of evidence is very good evidence. We鈥檝e done a lot of work over the years investigating sightings.
We even had a sighting 鈥� someone here at DEEP, in my office, was convinced they saw a mountain lion. It had rained previously. He drove me out to the spot. It was a flooded area. So there鈥檚 fresh mud. And he said, 鈥淭his is where the mountain lion crossed.鈥� We walked in 鈥� and there were fresh bobcat tracks in there.
Anyone can get fooled. I鈥檓 not an expert on human psychology, but if you鈥檙e looking for something, you have a greater chance of actually 鈥渟eeing鈥� it.
On where mountain lions currently live
Hawley: Wildlife biologists across the United States know where the current mountain lion range is. It鈥檚 documented through track surveys, aerial surveys, trapping and collaring surveys. We know that the closest established breeding population is in either the Everglades of Florida 鈥� there鈥檚 a small population down there 鈥� and then out in South Dakota and Nebraska. Those are the two closest populations that we have here.
On a mountain lion that died on a 黑料吃瓜网 highway
In 2011, genetic testing confirmed that a mountain lion originated in South Dakota and traveled more than 1,500 miles before being struck by a car on the Merritt Parkway, .
Hawley: That animal was documented. Many, many times, in many different ways 鈥� along its travel up through Minnesota, Michigan and to Canada, down through New York, through hair samples, blood samples, trail camera photos.
It鈥檚 a cool story 鈥� with how far that animal walked. But it鈥檚 also a great story that lays out how an animal this large, at 150 pounds, traveling through even rural areas, leaves signs and is detected.
When you look at a state like 黑料吃瓜网, with all the people we have here, all the trail cameras we have in the woods, all the cars we have driving 鈥� you can imagine if we had an established population here in 黑料吃瓜网, we would know about it pretty quickly.
On another large animal that is most definitely here: bears
Hawley: We鈥檙e sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place right now. We鈥檝e got . And we鈥檙e one of the most densely populated states as far as humans. So it鈥檚 this gathering storm.
We鈥檙e getting more and more home entries every year. You know, we鈥檝e had so many home entries this year. And even the home entries are kind of changing. It used to be that a bear would go into a house when someone wasn鈥檛 home. Now the bears, they don鈥檛 even care if people are home, they鈥檒l go right in the house. We have people eating dinner in their kitchen, they hear a noise, all of a sudden a bear walks in, so they run into their bedroom to get away from the bear, while the bear鈥檚 out ransacking their refrigerator.
It鈥檚 definitely a problem 鈥� that鈥檚 only going to get worse. It鈥檚 quite an uphill challenge for us to manage that situation right now.
On the idea of bear hunting in 黑料吃瓜网
State lawmakers have entertained bills to establish a bear hunting season for years, but so far, none of . Massachusetts and several other New England states have bear hunting, or 鈥渉arvest,鈥� seasons, which proponents say help control populations.
McEnroe: It is an uphill challenge. And I鈥檓 assuming whatever we鈥檙e doing right now, it鈥檚 not working. And there are different schools of thought about that. 鈥淟et鈥檚 learn to live alongside this very large animal鈥� is one of the schools of thought. And there鈥檚 another school of thought, 鈥淲ell, no, there just are too many of them 鈥� probably we have to reduce that population somehow.鈥� Where do you fall in that whole continuum?
Hawley: I feel strongly that we need a harvest here in 黑料吃瓜网. So all the other states in the Northeast that have bear populations have a harvest on their bears. They certainly have, you know, lower levels of conflicts and home entries than we do here in 黑料吃瓜网.
A harvest is kind of twofold. It lowers the population in a way that鈥檚 not going to affect the long-term population. But it also sort of instills that fear, a healthy fear of humans and bears.
Hear the full interview: 鈥溾�楳egafauna mania:鈥� our obsession with mountain lions and other large predators鈥�
