Posted on 10/26/2007 9:21:24 PM PDT by Shermy
Greenbrier County officials are scouring the woods near Cold Knob after receiving multiple reports that a lion -- an African lion, not the mountain variety -- is on the loose.
"We're treating this pretty seriously," said Robert McClung, the county's senior animal-control officer. "Right now, we're trying to confirm the initial report. Once we do that, we'll figure out what we're going to do about it."
A local hunter, 72-year-old Jim Shortridge of Frankfort, was bowhunting for deer Oct. 17 when the lion reportedly approached him.
"I watched it for more than 40 minutes," said Shortridge, who owns the parcel of land he was hunting on. "I watched it from my vehicle and from my hunting blind."
Shortridge first saw the creature as he carried a cooler and his lunch from a vehicle to the 6-by-8 foot wooden blind.
"When I first saw [the lion], I thought it was a deer," Shortridge said. "Then it growled at me."
The cat ran away after Shortridge yelled at it. Convinced that the potential threat had disappeared, the slightly shaken hunter returned to his vehicle and retrieved his bow. Shortly after he began hunting, the creature came back.
"It paced back and forth, in front of the blind, about 10 yards away," Shortridge recalled. "I sat and watched him. I kept shining my light into his eyes. The more I put the light on him, the louder he growled."
Shortridge remains convinced that the animal was a male African lion. He estimated its weight at 250 to 350 pounds.
"It had a mane, so I could tell it was a male. And I'm sure it wasn't a bear. Bears are all over Cold Knob. I see six to eight of them every time I go hunting, and I can tell the difference. Bears don't shake me up at all. This lion made me pretty nervous," he said.
After Shortridge returned home from his hunt, he reported the sighting to a Division of Natural Resources official. "The person I talked to said mine was the second report they'd gotten about the lion," he said.
Curtis Taylor, the DNR's Wildlife Resources chief, confirmed that his agency received the reports.
"It has been reported twice now," Taylor said. "It's not outside the realm of possibility [for it to really be a lion], mainly because people keep as pets a lot of animals that shouldn't be kept as pets. When they get too big, too expensive or too dangerous, those people start looking for [remote] places to get rid of them."
For years, DNR officials have contended that most if not all of West Virginia's mountain-lion sightings have been of animals abandoned by their owners. Animal-control officer McClung believes that if the Cold Knob lion actually exists, someone probably turned it out.
"Either that, or it escaped from a pen someplace," McClung said.
The Tiger Mountain Refuge, located more than 20 miles away in Nicholas County, houses abandoned big cats. Refuge owner John Forga said the lion didn't come from his facility.
"No, it's not one of ours," he said. "I've been in contact with everyone I know, and no one reports a lion on the loose."
Forga visited the Cold Knob site earlier this week with Shortridge. The two baited the area with chicken carcasses in an attempt to keep the lion in the area. McClung said he would visit the site today to install motion-triggered cameras capable of making photographs at night.
"We want to confirm what it is we're dealing with. If we confirm that it is a lion, then we'll ask the DNR to loan us a trap to catch it," McClung said.
The DNR routinely uses large culvert-style traps to catch nuisance bears. The bears crawl into large sections of steel pipe to get at some bait. When they touch the bait, the traps' hinged doors slam shut.
"If there is a lion and we catch it, we'll try to move it without harming it," McClung added.
Forga said that if the creature turns out to be an African lion, he would ask that it be moved to the Tiger Mountain Refuge. "We're the only facility in the state that's equipped to handle it," he said.
In layman's terms - "I kinda suck at the bow."
I mew you would.
This isn’t good. A Safari Lion in Appalachia will get killed without prejudice. I hope they can trap it.
Adrian Barbeau is the target now.
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LION EXPRESSIONS |
    These lions, all being cuddled, display an open-mouthed response similar to saying "Aww!" |
    All three male lions here display a grin. All of them have a very good reason to smile, as you might guess. Note the lioness in the left photo is returning his gesture with an open-mouthed response. |
    This is called "Flehmen." Not a "yuck," it's a reaction to strange smells that lions of both sexes show, allowing the Jacobson's organ in the roof of the mouth to "taste" smells. Not even Einstein had a jacobson's organ...humans don't engage in flehmen. |
    The lioness on the left is giving you an intent look that could signal any sort of approach, from stalking prey to preparing for a play. In the center is a typical calm face. The lion on the right is panting. |
    No doubt about it, the first two have the look that says "Buzz off!" The male in the center is more confident...his ears remain forward. Hers go back. The female in the third is even more defensive. Humans, like lions, make a bite face, though they usually don't fight with their teeth. |
    The lioness on the left is stretching. She shuts her eyes and the corners of her mouth turn down. The male in the center is yawning. The male on the right is roaring. The tongue does not stick out while roaring. Humans don't stick their tongue out when yawning or roaring... |
    These lions are both cringing. It's a reaction similar to what you might do if someone sneaked up on you in a quiet library and grabbed you from behind. This man was just grabbed by the tax auditor. |
    The cause of the first two expressions is a bit racy. Let's say it roughly translates, "YESSS!!" The third is good old fashioned grooming, but it makes my tongue cramp just watching it! The man, like the lion, opens his mouth in a moment of extreme pleasure, but cannot lick his own neck. |
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Hmmm........An American Mountain Lion and an African Lion couldn’t breed could they?
I am 55 years old and have been hunting since I was 10. I have seen a lot of odd things in the woods but an african lion takes 1st place.I have seen several mountain lions here in central PA. Our game commision claims they are extinct here.
The government tells us to that all Chinese imports are fairly safe and we don't have enough money to combat the illegal alien problem. However, there's plenty of money some how to build the Trans Texas Corridor superhighway and railroad, but not enough money to build the southern wall / fence.
I’ve read hundreds of reports of cougar sightings in western Pa., western Md, West VA, and Va. Many reports came from park rangers and hunters. I believe you.
Could he have been drinking at the time?
“That’s what I was thinking. There is absolutely no way to confuse a bear for a lion. Now I can see an over-active imagination confusing a cougar with a lion...but a bear? No way.”
Earlier he thought it might have been a deer, then it growled. But he’s sure it’s not a bear. WTF?
“have been drinking at the time?”
No, he was just sniffing the bottom of the fruit jar. ;)
Black Panthers were sighted in Durham, NC last year.
I met and have hunted with Fred Bear (R.I.P)and he tells the story about a huge bear he killed in Alaska. Don’t know if this is the same one. Hid behind a large boulder on the beach and when the bear walked past him....ZAP.....one arrow.
So were those two little kitties in Tsavo...
I read many years ago about the first settlers in America actally spotting Lions with manes on American soil. They would hunt thme down etc. Looking through the internet I came across pictures (drawings) of the American Lion which I believe is supposed to have had a black mane and is bigger then the African Lion but they should be extinct now. How I wish it would really be an American Lion.
Durm should open its own zoo.
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