This happens more than you think. My wife’s aunt lives in Harlan KY and her first cousin is a coal miner. This has been 15 yrs. of so ago, but he told her he and his friends kept seeing this state truck parked on the side of the road when they were going to work. With his drive this truck being there was out of place and not far from the mine itself.
One day while they were eating lunch him and the other miners were speculating on what this bunch was doing as they had been there a couple of days and he decided well I will just go ask them and did so. According to what they told him they were releasing copperheads and rattlesnakes into the wild as they wanted to increase the population. He was like WTH!
Yeah that was my cousins reaction. Like they need more poisonous snakes there.
They actually reintroduced elk in the area years ago which has been a huge success. Have been there during rut and they are pretty darn awesome. They are protected so not the least bit afraid of humans.
http://www.buffaloriverchamber.com/attraction_ponca_elk_ed.html#axzz3MMXo9IBv
One day while they were eating lunch him and the other miners were speculating on what this bunch was doing as they had been there a couple of days and he decided well I will just go ask them and did so. According to what they told him they were releasing copperheads and rattlesnakes into the wild as they wanted to increase the population. He was like WTH!
Reminds me of a conservation I had with a Game Warden. I live in East Tennessee a few miles from Norris Lake. I live in a rural area and I own some of the more dense land nearby with thickets. He was looking for a place to release deer and I obliged him.
Our conversation turned to snakes and I said yeah I've killed several Copperheads right outside my house in the past few years. He looked seriously at me and said They're protected you know. I said not near my house they aren't. He grinned and said mine either.
I've lived in my neighborhood over 50 years. Deer weren't seen until about the last decade. A couple ridges over closer to the lake there were deer but not in our area. Now I have to watch for them when I go down my driveway. The main things I shoot on sight if seen in my yard is Copperheads, Coons, & Yotes.
Black Bears can be an occasional problem in this area. One bear gets a wild hair and decides to go from the Appalachians to the Cumberlands and they have to cross at least one interstate and a 70 plus mile walk to get there. Last year one was hit on the interstate inside Knoxville city limits.
Mountain Lions? Yeah I think it's likely some have been in the Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, & Tennessee mountains all along. I don't think they ever completely disappeared and I think sightings are played down by GW's.
Mountain Lion was one theory some persons had about a small kid 7 years old I think disappearing on a hiking trail 45 years ago in the Smokies. http://www.wbir.com/longform/news/local/2014/05/22/dennis-martin-missing-45-years/9405607/ Although a cat attack was possible as was black bear I think the kid panicked and ran into very dense foliage and steep terrain. That was compounded by a bad storm the night he was lost, rain the next day and night as well. I was about 12 at the time and was going on a back country three day fishing trip into an area called Eagle Creek. My dad, a family friend, & I were on the trail from the Cades Cove picnic area that went to the place the next day unaware the boy was missing. The creeks and branches were roaring from the heavy rains. No sign of him except I think maybe a shoe was ever found. Anythings possible but in that area terrain, heavy foliage, and panic, is a deadly combination.