so im starting to get the feeling that there might be lions around.
In the summer of 2001, two seasonal staff members on the
Kenai National Wildlife Refuge were together driving down
Swanson River Road. Suddenly, on the road ahead of them
appeared an unusual animal. After crossing the road, it
paused in the vegetation at the edge of the road long enough
for them to get a good look at the animal, which they
described as a large, long, brown cat with a long tail. They
claimed it definitely was not a wolf, coyote, or lynx.
Was this merely a mistaken identity of a common animal from
persons unfamiliar with Alaska wildlife? Then what about
similar reports from longtime residents?
A number of years ago a 30-plus-year peninsula resident --
someone familiar with bears, wolves, coyotes and lynx -- also
reported seeing a large, long, brown, cat-like animal with a
long tail crossing Skilak Loop Road. And from his house,
another longtime peninsula resident, also familiar with the
area's wildlife, watched an unusual-looking animal at the far
side of an open field for more than 10 minutes through a
spotting scope. The description he gave was of a large, long,
cat-like animal with short ears that periodically switched its
long tail back and forth.
In yet another incident, a man reported that his dog rushed
up to his house obviously frightened, barking and looking
behind. At the edge of the forest nearby the man reported
seeing crouched a large, brown, cat-like animal with a long
tail, which then got up, turned broadside, and walked away.
What are these people seeing?
These are several of the best reports to which I personally
listened during my years as supervisory biologist at the
refuge. I have heard of other reports, but did not interview
the observers.
The people I talked with had several characteristics in
common. First, they were not seeking publicity or fame, did
not want their names mentioned for fear of ridicule, and they
appeared to me to be telling the truth.
Second, they usually said, "You're not going to believe this,
but I know what I saw," and they were convinced that they
had seen an animal out of the ordinary.
Third, with the exception of the two seasonal refuge staff
members who were not Alaska residents, but were competent
observers, most observers were residents of the peninsula
familiar with area wildlife. One said it was a "mountain lion,"
another said it "looked like a mountain lion," and yet another
person said "it was a very large, long, brown cat, definitely
not a lynx."
What are these people seeing? Is it possible that mountain
lions could naturally reach the Kenai Peninsula?
Mountain lions are slowly expanding their range northward in
Canada. Not too many years ago, the northern limit of the
mountain lion was in British Columbia and Alberta. However,
an updated distribution map now shows the mountain lion in a
small area of the southern Yukon, and there is a verified
record of a mountain lion in the Kluane Lake area.
There are even occasional reports of mountain lions in the
southern part of the Northwest Territory.
On November 25, 1989, the first confirmed mountain lion in
Alaska was shot in southeastern Alaska four miles from
Wrangell. A second mountain lion was found dead in a snare
on southern Kupreanof Island in Southeast in late December
1998. In 1999, the Juneau Empire newspaper reported that
two Alaska Department of Fish and Game employees had seen
a mountain lion at close range in 1992 in broad daylight on a
road near Yakutat.
Mountain lions -- usually subadults -- are certainly capable of
dispersing over long distances. A Canadian research biologist
said he had seen their tracks crossing glaciers and icefields in
mountains in Canada and had occasionally known
radio-collared mountain lions to disperse to unknown areas.
Another possibility is that someone could have accidentally,
or intentionally, released a captive or "pet" mountain lion on
the peninsula.
Could a mountain lion survive on the Kenai Peninsula?
Mountain lions in southeastern Alaska could probably prey on
deer, but they can also prey on moose, the most abundant
wild ungulate on the peninsula.
Ian Ross, a Canadian biologist who conducted research on
mountain lions in Alberta, is one of the few researchers who
have studied mountain lions in habitat occupied by moose as
well as by elk, white-tailed and mule deer and bighorn sheep.
In 1996, Ross reported in the journal Alces that in the winters
in his Alberta study area, moose were important prey of
mountain lions.
Fourteen percent of 312 kills of mountain lions that he
examined were moose. All of the moose killed by mountain
lions were young moose less than 20 months old -- calves
and yearlings -- and more than a third were in very poor
physical condition, based on the fat content in their bone
marrow. No adult moose were killed by mountain lions, but the
lions scavenged from the carcasses of four already dead adult
moose.
Both male and female mountain lions, and subadults, killed
young moose despite the fact that many young moose
appeared to be accompanied by their protective mothers
when they were preyed upon. The defensive behavior of the
cow moose was not enough to thwart the attacks.
Ross found that moose contributed 30 percent of the biomass
consumed by mountain lions in winter.
But because of the poor condition of the moose killed by
mountain lions, he concluded that mountain lion predation on
moose appeared to be "compensatory," meaning that the
chances were high that the moose that were killed by the
mountain lions would have died anyhow.
Finally, the climate on the peninsula would not appear to be a
limiting factor for mountain lions. Mountain lions inhabit areas
as cold or colder and areas with greater snow depths than we
normally have on the western Kenai Peninsula.
So, do we have a mountain lion on the peninsula? Do we have
a breeding population of mountain lions on the peninsula?
Scientists remain skeptical until they are confronted with
hard, preferably physical, evidence from a trusted observer.
This could be a good clear, close, authentic photograph,
casts or photographs of tracks in the snow or mud, scats
(feces) or hair confirmed by DNA analysis to be from a
mountain lion, or the most conclusive evidence -- a carcass.
I became familiar with mountain lion tracks in the snow,
having observed them in previous studies in Idaho and
Montana. I have seen hundreds of tracks of lynx on the
refuge over the years but have never observed what I
thought was a mountain lion track.
During most years of the 1990s, we captured many lynx for
research purposes on the refuge with trained dogs. These
same dogs were previously trained to trail and tree mountain
lions for research purposes in the state of Washington, but
we never encountered a trail of a mountain lion on the refuge
while using the dogs.
So what do I think? I do not believe that there is a breeding
population of mountain lions on the peninsula -- there have
never been reports of females with kittens -- but I also find it
difficult to just outright dismiss the periodic descriptive
observations of some apparently sincere peninsula residents.
Therefore, I would not be terribly surprised some day if
someone provides the hard evidence, in whatever form, that
may confirm that a mountain lion is -- or was -- present on
the peninsula.
Ted Bailey is a retired refuge wildlife biologist who has worked
on the Kenai Peninsula for more than 25 years.
He maintains a keen interest in the peninsula's wildlife and
natural history.
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