ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 13, 1996 TAG: 9605130011
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FORKS OF BUFFALO
SOURCE: DAVID REED ASSOCIATED PRESS
John Eaton was hiding in a sycamore tree when he saw movement at the edge of the woods. He drew his bow, hoping a deer would venture into a clearing beside the Buffalo River.
``I saw something coming left to right,'' Eaton, 56, recalled. ``I thought at first it might be a dog. I knew it wasn't tall enough to be a deer.'' But dogs and deer have slender legs. ``This animal had heavy legs and big pads, with a blunt snout like a cat rather than a long snout like a dog.''
Definitely not a bobcat. Bobcats have no tail, and they're scarcely larger than a tomcat. This animal was grayish brown, had a long tail and weighed at least 80 pounds, Eaton says. On that clear November day, the big cat came within 25 feet of him, and in seconds it was gone.
``I know what I saw,'' said Eaton, a hunter since age 12 who has hunted the same spot on private land in southern Nelson County for a decade. ``It was a cougar.''
The last confirmed wild cougar, or mountain lion, in Virginia was killed in Washington County in 1882. But in ``A Guide to Endangered and Threatened Species in Virginia,'' published in April, the cougar is listed as endangered, not extinct or extirpated, as the passenger pigeon, elk and gray wolf are.
That's because new cougar sightings began coming from the mountain counties in the 1960s and, since 1970, there have been an average of 20 sightings a year.
``The mountain lion possibly could live today in Virginia in extensive mountain hardwood forest or mixed forest with rock outcrops, ledges and thickets of mountain laurel, rhododendron and greenbrier,'' the guide says.
While some biologists believe the state should be more aggressive in investigating cougar sightings, the state's designated expert on cougars doesn't believe a breeding population exists.
``That's not to say we don't have some,'' said Denny Martin, a research biologist with the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. There may be a few cougars in Virginia that have been released or escaped from captivity, but none that is native to the state, he said.
Most of the sightings, Martin said, are probably from people who mistake bobcats, foxes or large house cats that have gone wild for cougars.
Like many of the people who tell wildlife biologist Don Linzey that they spotted cougars in Virginia, Eaton was reluctant to come forward.
Eaton, dean of Virginia Tech's graduate school, kept it to himself and his hunting partner until he happened to meet Linzey at a grocery store in Blacksburg where they both live.
``It's not exactly like saying you saw a flying saucer, but not far from it,'' Eaton said. ``I get notoriety from plenty of things other than being that crazy guy who said he saw a cougar. It was a treat for me to see it, and that's enough. I don't expect I'll ever see one again.''
Linzey, a professor at Southwest Virginia Community College, has been compiling reports on cougar sightings since 1977, shortly after organizing a regional conference on endangered and threatened species.
On a framed map of Virginia, Linzey began putting colored pins marking each sighting he deems credible.
He also has been sent two photos, one taken along the Appalachian Trail and another from the Blue Ridge Parkway, that appear to show cougars. Both were taken from a long distance, and one is faded, so Linzey can't be certain.
Ten years ago, a neighbor in rural Montgomery County said he saw a cougar while hiking. He took Linzey back to the spot to investigate. They pulled some hairs off a barbed-wire fence they thought the animal had run through and had them examined at the Smithsonian Institution. The lab scientist said it was some kind of cat species but couldn't be certain it was a cougar.
Linzey discredits about 60 percent of the cougar reports he gets, but he has run out of room to put colored pins in two areas with the most sightings - the Brush Mountain Area north of Blacksburg and the Peaks of Otter area of the Jefferson and George Washington National Forests.
Charles Handley, chief mammologist curator for the Smithsonian, said he believes some of the cougar sightings are true. ``I've talked to people who would have no reason to be perpetrating a hoax.''
But he also doubts there is a reproducing population in the state.
In Western states, cougars periodically are killed crossing roads in remote areas, but that has not happened in Virginia, he noted.
``I don't think there are any native cougars in Virginia of the original stock from 100 years ago,'' Handley said.
In some Western states, the native cougar population is growing. In 1994, cougars killed two women joggers in separate attacks - the first such fatalities in California since 1909. Four other people have been attacked by mountain lions since 1990.
``A cougar is a dangerous animal,'' Handley said. ``If it has its eye on a person, there's not much that can be done without a weapon.''
Finding cougars in Virginia's wooded mountains could present all sorts of headaches for government, Linzey said. Large areas of land would have to be put off limits to logging, hunting, camping and hiking, he said.
``Politically, it's to their advantage to say, `No, the animals don't exist anymore,' so they can use their money for other purposes.''
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. Cougars, or mountain lions, are endangered inby CNBVirginia, and some scientists believe none are native to the state.
2. Wildlife biologist Don Linzey (below) has been compiling reports
on cougar sightings since 1977. color
3. map showing cougar sightings. color STAFF