conspiracy theory

[vayotehowler]

I am here in roanoke va and  Have noticed the biggest "problem" areas here are the ones near the national forest , bedford county , craig county, and montgomery counties are all near the jefferson nation forest ,  Since the biggest populations are in areas where the national forest is , got me wondering if the government dint bring em in here . also they say no cougars here in VA but people always see em , Guy saw one my place 3 yrs ago and a horse was attacked up there . anybody else have the pahnotm cougars the game dept wont admit to. I know this will stir the pot about migration and cougars but the L

[Jimmie in Ky]

Any time you have nationla foprest you have protected animals for most if not all of the year. Our government is only interested in moving wolves around. Couger and coyotes do quite well on thier own without help.  If you  check any telemetry studies you will find the young males of these two species among the top wanderers in the wild. 250 To 500 miles in many cases.  Given the fact that the coyote will breed with any canine that looks similar and you have the makings of some strange tales. Jimmie

[vayotehowler]

I have done alot of research on them and knwo move alot. here in va they are fairly new .(yotes) and seems like out bigest populations are in ntl forest areas . in this admin they probably have mice and cats that get alon or mice that eat cats (govt)

[FinsnFur]

Thats the way the Dept of Fish and Wildlife works. I've not spent a lot of time trying to figure it out, but we got the same thing going on with wolves......"that dont exist"

[vayotehowler]

yeah just seems hard to believe that for hundreds or thousands of years and didnt migrate until 15 or 20 yrs ago to the east. just thinking aloud

[Jimmie in Ky]

The coyote has been moving steadily since the last wolves were killed out in the western states. They were filling the gap left open. So it's actually been going on for nearly a hundred years now. Considering it took them eighty years to get here from the plains , the trip was a doozy. And it's taken another 30 years , with constant hunting pressure, for them to saturate this state.

Withthe lions , I do believe they have had some help, but not from dnr. Wouold you want your base support, the landowners of the state , Looking to hang you in hte court square? Haven't you noticed the fad of owning exotic animals? We have a felllow near here with african lions for petes sake. And in hte last fifteen years at least 3 pythons have been found loose in Paducah Ky of all places. These animals get to be too much for the idiots that purchase them and htey get turned loose to fend for themselves in many cases. The road killed cougar cub found near you in Ky was found to have dna from south america, so that would explain something right there.

Jim, yoru state is not going to admit to a resident population as long as every state around you keeps coming up wiht road killed transients. Jimmie

[vayotehowler]

dodnt think about exotic trade , when i was 6 used to live in the country where my land was and saw a cougar by our house run into the woods, that was like 78 so i think they are here but sparse and maybe getting more because of the animal trade, wouldnt be suprizsed if brought in to control whitetail pops