PUMAS: Learn more about Mountain Lions and their presence in Southern New England from Bill Betty

Wednesday, November 5, at 6:30 p.m., Bill Betty, a mountain lion lecturer from Rhode Island, will give a one hour presentation on pumas. In North America, cougars were nearly driven to extinction in the East and in the last century, they were limited to Florida and a dozen states in the West. But now the Big Cats are making a comeback virtually everywhere in the US and Canada. Learn more about Mountain Lions and their presence in Southern New England from Bill Betty, a Rhode Island native who studies these amazing creatures.

This program will cover all aspects of cougar behavior from reproduction to life span to habituation. Bill is very knowledgeable and a fascinating speaker with more than a dozen sightings and close encounters in the last 43 years with America’s most shy and secretive animal. His narrative of close encounters with nature’s perfect predator in the Ocean State gives compelling testimony about the presence of these animals in our region.

Many “show and tell items” - such as a skull, tracking maps, a motion detection camera, cougar lures, scat samples and various books and pamphlets will be available for attendees to examine. Part of this program will include a segment on how to recover evidence as well as advice on where and when to search for this fascinating creature.

Programs at the library are free, open to the public, and handicapped accessible.