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Post by Donald Copy on Sept 13, 2019 15:23:42 GMT
And according to Vermont Fish and Game, Catamounts are extinct in the State of Vermont...so what might have done this...? The Rutland County area where this occurred is known for Sasquatch sightings and is spitting distance from Winhall, NY. Possibility another cryptid may be in the area ?
BENSON, Vt. (WCAX) A Rutland County farmer is living a nightmare after discovering last Sunday that 13 of her meat goats were gone and seven were found dead. But just what killed the animals remains a mystery.
A Vermont Fish and Wildlife biologist visited Falkenbury Farm in Benson Tuesday but was unsuccessful finding tracks from the predator. The farm's Jacki Ambrozaitis says seven of the goats were found dead Thursday but that six remain missing.
The dead goats had bite marks on their heads and broken necks but otherwise were completely intact. Wildlife officials say if the goats were killed by a cat, they would have scratch marks, but there are no scratches. And because their bodies are intact, the hunter wasn't looking for food.
Vermont Game Warden Lt. Justin Stedman says that makes domestic dogs the likely suspect. "It's like your house cat playing with a ball of yarn. To them, it's like they're playing, so they go out and things run, so they grab it and they shake it and it dies and then they go chase the next one," he said.
But the warden isn't sure because some of the dead goats were large. Vermont Game Warden Spc. Robert Sterling says a dog or a wild coyote could be the killer. "We don't know for sure if it was domestic or wild, however the indications from the animals that I've seen leads towards it could be a wild coyote," he said.
State wildlife officials granted the family permission to set traps out of trapping season to hopefully catch the predator. "They'll use a foot-hold style trap so if the animal turned out to not be a wild animal, that it wouldn't harm it, it would simply be able to be identified so they could find the animal that might be damaging the property and then it would safely be released," Sterling said.
As for the six missing goats, officials say they were either killed and eaten or ran off. "If anyone were to see some goats roaming around, definitely call the state police in New Haven, or call fish and wildlife, or if you know the farmer -- they're from the area -- to call them," Lt. Stedman said.
Ambrozaitis says there is one neighbor with a dog who walks by, but it's always on a leash. Other neighbors know their dogs are not welcome on the farm.
The 25 or so goats that survived are being kept in the barn. Ambrozaitis says she hates to see them cooped up, but since the attack was during the day, she's afraid to put them out in the pasture.
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Post by trolljegeren on Sept 13, 2019 17:05:24 GMT
Interesting story, is this a recent event?
I'm not saying that a cougar did this but fish and game of most New England states deny the existence of big cats. I know 5 people who've told me of their most definite sightings in Mid-Coast Maine. But "officially" they are not there...
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Eoin
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Organising credible sightings in Washington. Collecting data and forwarding to National.
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Post by Eoin on Sept 13, 2019 18:31:00 GMT
Interesting story, is this a recent event? I'm not saying that a cougar did this but fish and game of most New England states deny the existence of big cats. I know 5 people who've told me of their most definite sightings in Mid-Coast Maine. But "officially" they are not there... Absolutely sounds like a big cat kill. If we had the dimensions of the bites and the pattern we could with some certainty tell the type of cat, or excluded cats. Head bites and neck suffocation follow their MO. Big cats will attack, based on movement as part of their predatory instinct, any object in their field of vision, so killing without consuming or light consumption can easily take place. They are interguild predators (I believe that’s the descriptive phrase) that will kill other predators including other big cats. Based on sightings it’s very likely there are In and around New England, or so I believe. |
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Post by ag47 on Sept 13, 2019 18:39:07 GMT
trolljegeren - I think we have them in central PA too - same deal - officially they don't exist here. When I was a kid there was a mountain lion scare around where I lived in Northern Maryland - but officially denied. I remember walking home from the school bus over about a half mile of farm path across my grandpa's 135 acre farm and there was a place at the top of a hill where the path went past a dense woods and on the right was a pile of old lumber and debris. One day something BIG growled at me from behind that cover and it scared the living **** out of me. I never saw anything but after that I was more scared than I already had been taking that walk. The above story is interesting and more than a little scary as several animals were killed by a large, toothed, predator and not for food. Cats will kill for sport and mangle things to play with them. There was the case in Africa from which the story The Ghost and The Darkness (if my memory serves me, which it frequently does not, lol) was derived. That story told of multiple human victims from a village - they were terrified to go out and something like 200 people were taken over time. They found a lair with bones in it and cat(s) did it. I hope I didn't botch up that story, as it's been years since I visited it. Would like to know what kills our animals like this in rural areas of the U.S.. Something is sure as hell out there.
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Post by Copy Donald on Sept 13, 2019 18:55:43 GMT
I live in Vermont and I've spoken with more people that I can count that say that Catamounts are still around and have personally seen them while out hunting, on their property, etc... I was out a few years back camping with a group of friends and found several fresh large cat prints in the Windsor County area of Vermont. Definitely bigger than a Bobcat's prints, so I'm sure they are probably still around, just not in big numbers. The reason that I posted this article though was because we've had some reported DM activity that has occurred over the Summer in the Orleans County area of Vermont (very rural area of the state), so when I saw the article, it perked my interest.
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Post by Donald Copy on Sept 13, 2019 18:58:20 GMT
And I almost forgot, yes this did just happen over the past few days. Article was posted on WCAX on line.
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Post by ag47 on Sept 13, 2019 19:04:14 GMT
Thanks Donald and Eoin!
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Eoin
Full Member
Organising credible sightings in Washington. Collecting data and forwarding to National.
Posts: 190
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Post by Eoin on Sept 13, 2019 19:55:40 GMT
trolljegeren - I think we have them in central PA too - same deal - officially they don't exist here. When I was a kid there was a mountain lion scare around where I lived in Northern Maryland - but officially denied. I remember walking home from the school bus over about a half mile of farm path across my grandpa's 135 acre farm and there was a place at the top of a hill where the path went past a dense woods and on the right was a pile of old lumber and debris. One day something BIG growled at me from behind that cover and it scared the living **** out of me. I never saw anything but after that I was more scared than I already had been taking that walk. The above story is interesting and more than a little scary as several animals were killed by a large, toothed, predator and not for food. Cats will kill for sport and mangle things to play with them. There was the case in Africa from which the story The Ghost and The Darkness (if my memory serves me, which it frequently does not, lol) was derived. That story told of multiple human victims from a village - they were terrified to go out and something like 200 people were taken over time. They found a lair with bones in it and cat(s) did it. I hope I didn't botch ustory, as it's been years since I visited it. Would like to know what kills our animals like this in rural areas of the U.S.. Something is sure as hell out there. The largest of the 2 lions from that event is in the Field Museum in Chicago. |
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Post by ag47 on Sept 13, 2019 20:20:01 GMT
Thanks Eoin. I couldn't remember the details and too busy to look it up at the moment.
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Eoin
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Organising credible sightings in Washington. Collecting data and forwarding to National.
Posts: 190
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Post by Eoin on Sept 13, 2019 21:05:53 GMT
Thanks Eoin. I couldn't remember the details and too busy to look it up at the moment. It’s a great story and the largest lion ever catalogued, or so I’m informed. A huge lion helping an old infirm lion by picking off humans. If “we” ever think we’re the Alphas, even with weapons, we need to think again! 😉 |
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Eoin
Full Member
Organising credible sightings in Washington. Collecting data and forwarding to National.
Posts: 190
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Post by Eoin on Sept 13, 2019 21:07:53 GMT
Thanks Eoin. I couldn't remember the details and too busy to look it up at the moment. It’s a great story and the largest lion ever catalogued, or so I’m informed. A huge lion helping an old infirm lion by picking off humans. If “we” ever think we’re the Alphas, even with weapons, we need to think again! 😉 Oh, and I have no doubt my little Bengal cat would have me for lunch if he were as large as a bobcat! LOL |
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Post by ag47 on Sept 16, 2019 0:20:06 GMT
A detective who had responded to many dead body calls once told me, "That cat sittin' on grandma's lap.....he's just waitin'."  |
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Eoin
Full Member
Organising credible sightings in Washington. Collecting data and forwarding to National.
Posts: 190
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Post by Eoin on Sept 16, 2019 1:37:57 GMT
A detective who had responded to many dead body calls once told me, "That cat sittin' on grandma's lap.....he's just waitin'." LOL! |
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Post by Donald Copy on Oct 15, 2019 22:29:12 GMT
Just saw this article from Vermont that happened recently. Fish & Game and a state biologist believe a canid of some type killed several goats. The goats had teeth marks on the backs of their heads and their necks were broken. No tracks were found at the scene. Several of the animals were missing. None of the goats that were found had been eaten. From the information I gathered, F&G thinks it's a domestic dog or coyote. This does not sound like a dog or coyote did that and the wardens that investigated it were adamant that it was not done by a big cat (there use to be catamounts in Vermont, but they are allegedly extinct and the attack wasn't consistent with a large cat attack. Very interesting... www.wcax.com/content/news/Rutland-County-mystery-predator-kills-farmers-goats-560163481.html |
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