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Friends of Connecticut Mountain Lion is a grass roots organization formed in 2007 to educate the public on the value of the return of mountain lions to the Northeastern U.S.
Mountain Lions, (aka Cougars, Puma, Catamount, Panther) once inhabited the entire Eastern United States. Habitat loss and hunting pressures of the previous century decimated the population so severely in the Eastern U.S. it pushed their breeding populations as far west as South Dakota, and as far south as Florida..
In spite of decades of credible sightings and a road killed confirmed wild mountain lion in Connecticut in 2011, State and Wildlife Officials throughout the Northeast U.S. maintain there are no native mountain lion populations east of South Dakota.
We believe wild Mountain Lions have now reestablished their historical habitat in the Northeastern U.S.
For more information on this topic, please take a moment to view a short local news videos by clicking on the cougar kitten:
In response to numerous credible eye witness accounts throughout the Northeast, particularly in Connecticut, the ctmountainlion.org website was launched.
Founder/Director Bo Ottmann has diligently lead this effort to provide data collection for sightings and investigations through his website, as well as collaborating on numerous public education projects throughout the Northeast.
Connecticut Mountain Lion is asking for your help to transform our efforts to undisputedly prove and document a native population of Mountain Lions in the Northeast.
This campaign will fund a major coordinated trail camera initiative to capture on high definition video these majestic cats in the wild. Reaching our goal, would allow us to purchase at least twenty high def trail camera set stations to be placed and monitored by our volunteer researchers
Funds will be used additionally to transform our organizational structure to an educational non-profit 501(c) 3 entity to continue our public education and research projects.
We are appealing to friends of wildlife everywhere to support our efforts to document and protect these great cats.
With your generous support, we will document and publish undisputed proof of a wild mountain lion population in the Northeast U.S.
UPDATE 11/13/2012:
As of 11/13, our web site has had over 6000 viewings since the story of our trail camera project was reported on by Hartford Courant reporters Peter Marteka & Richard Messina on friday 11/09/2012 !!
In addition, a couple of hundred calls and emails to us directly.
News media inside and outside of CT have picked up the story, including the Boston Globe and Providence Journal, with more to follow.
To the thousands of you, who like us , get involved and interested in this important issue...THANK YOU!
There remains a big gap between eyewitness reports and supporting photgraphic/physical evidence of our mountain lion population.
The goal of our trail cam initiative is to overcome that gap and provide video documentation of mountain lions in Connecticut and the Northeast.
Our goal is to raise enough funds in this campaign to purchase at least twenty hi def trail cams, as well as lure scenting stations to enable not only video documentation but also attainment of biological specimens for DNA analysis.
We need donations to make this happen...
All the money raised in this effort goes directly to capital equipment necessary to carry out the research. We are all volunteers in this effort, there is no paid staff.
This our first appeal for support since the web site went up in 2009, and our initial efforts started in 2007.
Every contribution is important, and we are very grateful to everyone who cares about these special cats.
Check out the unique perks our great organization has to offer !
We think our neatest perk is the ability for supporters to not only buy the same hi-def trail cams we use, complete with all accessories...we will personally deliver it to you, actually set it up with you, and share our special tips on how to maximize wildlife capture.
Note: The onsite delivery and set up is only available in the State of Connecticut. We will ship to all others in the U.S., and make one of our team available by phone/email to assist as needed.
This is great for a naturalist, sportsment, and familes looking for an exciting new hobby. Also, it is definitly one of those gifts for someone who is hard to buy for.
Here are some some examples of actual hi dif videos we captured in Connecticut with this set up:
Here is the "Cougar Finder" perk that comes with your $550 support
"Cougar Finders" supporters receive the following:
1-Compact Bushnell Trophy Cam HD with 8 AA batteries
1-Master Python Lock which is designed to secure/prevent theft
1-Bushnell Steel Bear case with lock
2-4GB SD cards
Onsite instruction by one of our field researchers.
