Don’t know how many of y’all have followed this story, but it is legit interesting to me. This is 25 miles from my house. 3 miniature horses and 1 Husky dog were killed Sunday morning in Tompkinsville, Ky. The sheriff believes it was an animal attack like a mountain lion, cougar, etc.... Kentucky Fish and Wildlife believe it was not an animal attack. Tons of links that I’ll try and add tomorrow when I get on desktop, but here is one for starters: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/ky-officials-investigate-mysterious-animal-killings
If a mountain lion killed those horses, there will be mountain lion DNA on them. It's an answerable question. Don't know if anyone will put that money down for it, though. I wish the facebook pictures of the wounds were still up.
A lion typically attacks the back of the neck, not the side. I don't see any punctures from retractable claws as it pounced, either (but it is hard to see). When a mountain lion's incisors are damaged, they end up deviating from the normal attack behavior and also going after different prey, like pets or even people. Check out Beast in the Garden, about Boulder's troubles in the early 90's. Is that second one a photo of a creature thought to be the attacker? Has anyone brought up this being possibly a bear?
They’re in Tennessee, and may also be in Kentucky. TWRA Link: https://www.tn.gov/twra/wildlife/mammals/large/cougars.html
They certainly were, and could be again. Cougars once roamed this continent from the dry forests of Mexico to the fringe of the boreal forest, across the plains, in the deserts and swamps, etc. The state of Vermont for years refuses to acknowledge lions are back, but they very much are.
They were shot, it seems. Link: https://www.newschannel5.com/news/ky-officials-investigate-mysterious-animal-killings
TWRA didn't want to acknowledge them being in Tennessee either. Just hard to keep denying it with so many trail cameras out there.
They most certainly are. Friend from back home has several shots of at least one on a video system around his barn/farm.
I was told a very funny by a TWRA agent on mountain lions in Tennessee. An older guy brought in an arrow to their office, claimed he shot a mountain lion. They tell him that's illegal unless his life was in danger. He looked the guy right in the eye and said "I shot it with a bow at 30 yards. It looked at me and can climb trees." Sure enough, the hair and DNA samples came back as a mountain lion.
If you make money off selling licenses to hunt, do you want people scared to go out in the woods before daylight? Another one, do you want a bunch of jackasses trying to kill one for no reason?
