Posted on 10/29/2007 7:45:23 PM PDT by jdietz
We have a Lion problem in WV!
I read this in the local paper (The Bluefield Daily Telegraph) last week but they did not have it on line.
The AP and Fox have now picked up on it.
LEWISBURG, W.Va. — Using a video camera and raw chicken, state officials hope to learn whether the king of the jungle is prowling the woods of West Virginia.
Bow hunter Jim Shortridge believes he saw a full-grown, male African lion weighing between 250 and 300 pounds at the foot of Cold Knob Mountain earlier this month. The state Division of Natural Resources confirmed that at least one other person has reported seeing the lion.
Using a camera normally employed to catch people dumping trash illegally, the state Department of Environmental Protection has joined with Greenbrier County Animal Control Officer Robert McClung and exotic animal expert Jim Forga to see if they can substantiate the sightings.
Twenty pounds of raw chicken left on the site last week were devoured, but McClung said that doesn't prove the lion's existence.
"Anything could have eaten that," he said.
If officials do spot the lion on videotape, they may set a bear trap for the animal. If caught, it would be turned over to Forga, who runs Tiger Mountain Refuge in Rainelle, a shelter for exotic animals.
I thought the article would be about a Mountain Lion. That is bad enough, but an African Lion...Yikes!
He11, a pair of labs coulda ate twenty pounds of chicken, or even one big one.
Mountain lions (cougars) have been increasing their range. They’re in Wisconsin now; maybe they’re in WV too. They aren’t the big-maned lions of African fame but they’re impressive cats nonetheless! Watch out for them... here in suburban Kalifornistan they are increasingly bold in suburbia, eat house-cats let out at night, and even attack small children and mountain bikers. One stalked a friend in his driveway when he went out one morning to pick up his newspaper.
http://www.timeswv.com/statenews/cnhinsall_story_296222815.html
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/10/29/1057995-african-lion-alleged-to-be-in-wva
I bet lots of WV hunters are salivating over the thought of that mount.
Maybe they should stake out Robert Byrd.
Oh, wait...there are some things so old and stale that even a hungry lion won’t eat them.
It could be a large mountain lion. The males do sometimes get over 200 pounds.
At 250-300 lbs, he’d be a might puny for an adult male.
If officials do spot the lion on videotape, they may set a bear trap for the animal
They outta be setting the trap since the 20# of chicken disappeared, not waiting to catch it on camera first.
I’m pretty sure an African lion would freeze to death in the West Virginia winter.
My teenage son could have wandered by and done it.
Should make hunting season more interesting.
I’m not sure a lion would freeze in WV. Siberia has tigers and the Nepal has snow leopards. The mountain states have cougars so big cat can survive in colder climates. I think if they had adequate food supplies and some shelter they would make it in WV.
Easy to believe. It seems like every few months we read a story about some loon who raised a tiger or lion in an urban apartment.
It’s the easiest thing to believe some such individual decided their pussycat was too big and decided it would be more “humane” to drive it out into the wilderness and leave it to starve.
I used to read all about man-eaters of history. Nobody really knows why lions and leopards take up people-eating. Only the tigers actually do it when they get crippled. Nobody knows why mountain lions don’t eat people when they could do so easily.
A farmer out near Eastview lost several cows to a large predator, so he took photos of the tracks and sent them to the Game Warden, who informed him that it was probably coyotes or maybe a black bear.
The farmer didn't believe this, so he set up a motion activated camera that snapped a couple of pictures of what appeared to be a mountain lion walking across the field. A lot of folks dismissed this as a close-up shot of a domestic cat, but the farmer swears that it was a mountain lion.
“When I first saw [the lion], I thought it was a deer,” Shortridge said.
“Then it growled at me.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1917089/posts
That's ok, we have had male lions in WV and Virginia for a long time, have seen their tracks just have never seen one in the woods.
You mean the dumb game warden couldn't tell the difference in bear tracks and a coyote. LOL
Their historic range includes areas of Europe and the mideast that get pretty cold. They will grow a thick winter coat and seem to do well during the winter months at outdoor parks across North America and Europe. I assume zoos in Northern China, Northern Japan and South Korea also have lions running around during winter months.
Isn't that like setting a dog trap for a cat? How about a big pussy magnet instead?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.