An extensive article, "Stories of Pennsylvania Animals" by Henry W. Shoemaker, is online at http://www.altoonalibrary.org/books/stories%20of%20pa%20animals/stories%20of%20pa%20animals-html.htm It is a very interesting read. The article is specific to the Central Pennsylvania mountains, and tells of the various species of wild animals, many already hunted to extinction, that were commonplace during the lifetime of out ancestors. I think many of you will find this interesting. Sue (in Alaska where we still have beavers in the back yard!)

Interesting article, Sue! I gather from the various dates mentioned (and not mentioned) that it was written in the early 1900's? For those folks not from PA, not all those critters mentioned as gone from PA actually are: The Fisher was nearly gone, but a government project to repopulate them has been fairly successful. While I haven't personally seen any, they are said to be a growing population in the wild now. Wolves are still gone, Thank Goodness! Our ancestors killed wolves whenever they were found not only because they ate our livestock, but also because they killed our children! There are a number of environmental groups though, those that want to return much of N America to its 'pre-Columbian' state, who are actively working on repopulating wolves in the North East. They've reintroduced wolves, especially in Maine, and word is they are now being found all the way down into New York state. Rural folks could be endangered by these actions! Elk (western elk) were reintroduced by the PA Game commission decades ago in north central PA. They've pretty much established themselves up in far north Centre County and on north of I-80. The state is promoting Elk viewing for tourists up in that area, apparently thinking that will revitalize an economy devastated by the loss of manufacturing. The panther (mountain lion) is widely reported to be extinct north of Florida, yet sightings continue to be reported. In fact, those reports have increased significantly in the last decade or so. When evidence is found, the PA Game Commission attributes it to "escaped zoo animals or pets". The PGC only last fall started tracking reported sightings. They do have a possible financial reason to deny the existence of PA Mountain Lions though - in the 1980's USFW named them threatened, and ordered a search in each state. If they were found a protection plan needed to be made and implemented, if not they were to be declared extinct. PGC did neither - so if hard evidence is found of breeding populations they'll need to do a lot of work to come into compliance with federal law. They already claim to be underfunded, so a new department of mountain lion protection would be costly - and probably unpopular to, as the lions are dangerous. Despite the PGC position, sightings never stopped, and are in fact increasing. The area down by Penn's Valley known as "Black Panther" continues to have sightings of black panthers - my cousins husband has seen them. In the State College area alone, I know 4 people who have seen what they believe are mountain lions. One of those was my daughter, who almost hit one on our lane - she had to brake to not hit it, and there was no mistaking the description. The existence of wild mountain lions continues to be a subject of debate. On the deer - I don't know about the distinction between the "real Pennsylvania deer" and the "Southern Virginia deer", but I do know the dynamics of the deer population have been interesting over the last century. Deer were in serious decline when the state established the licensing/season restrictions decades ago. The strong restrictions on killing doe allowed the population to grow, and as the number of hunters (and time they each spent doing it) declined in conjunction with the demonization of hunting after "Bambi", the population exploded. In the 1990's there were more deer in PA than in the 1890's. The PGC took an interesting approach to the problem (framed as a biodiversity problem), and had huge numbers of doe killed in the last few years. The result is that in the rural, hunting part of the state the deer population dropped dramatically, while in the more urban areas (especially suburbia) where hunting is not permitted the overpopulation problem remains. Wolverines may still be extinct - I am not aware of them being around these days. Beaver have staged a comeback. With all the new stormwater detention ponds (that are expected to hold water for weeks) I expect we'll see even more of them. That's actually where I've seen them a couple times. The state requires highway construction now to include replacement "wetlands", and they are trying to attract beaver to them - but that doesn't seem to be where the beaver go! Maybe the suburban stormwater areas offer closer supplies of food (in people's backyards). Otters did not become extinct - they continue to live in the less-populated areas where the rivers run. The Lynx and Wildcat would seem to be what's commonly known as the bobcat. Those shy creatures too have resurged - so much so that there is a hunting season for them. The PGC '2006 scrapbook' section has pictures of some of those killed this year, and I have to admit to being surprised at how large they are! The people I know who've seen them have said they were maybe twice the size of a large housecat - but those in the pictures look a lot bigger than that! I know I wouldn't want to run into one while walking in the woods... Bears - don't know much about the brown bear, but the black bear has experienced a large increase in population also. I remember as a child my Dad, as a hunter. being very excited twice about seeing a bear around here - now they are pretty common. Out near the University Park Airport there's a den of about 9 of them! We see them in our yard on Bald Eagle Ridge 4-5 times a year. I hear that New Jersey has about 8,000 black bear so many they are trying to figure out what to do about them... Bison - still extinct, except for the buffalo farmers that have sprung up. Fox - both red fox and gray fox have grown in population since the article was written. Red Foxes, in fact, are fairly often being hit by cars and seen dead along the road. Gray Fox is less common, but still around. Just didn't want all the out-of-staters to think that Alaska and Colorado had all the game and that we were devoid of it here in central PA ;-) Deb ----- Original Message ----- From: "Sue Renkert" <[email protected]> To: "UNION COUNTY LIST" <[email protected]>; "SNYDER COUNTY LIST" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]>; "PA-CLEARFIELD LIST" <[email protected]>; <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, January 13, 2007 11:17 PM Subject: [PACENTRE] Stories of Pennsylvania Animals > An extensive article, "Stories of Pennsylvania Animals" by Henry W. > Shoemaker, is online at > > http://www.altoonalibrary.org/books/stories%20of%20pa%20animals/stories%20of%20pa%20animals-html.htm > > It is a very interesting read. The article is specific to the Central > Pennsylvania mountains, and tells of the various species of wild animals, > many already hunted to extinction, that were commonplace during the > lifetime of out ancestors. > > I think many of you will find this interesting. > > Sue > > (in Alaska where we still have beavers in the back yard!) > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >