Maine

Have you ever heard a bobcat cry?

Published

11 months ago

January 19, 2025

Bobcats are common in all parts of Maine except for the most northwestern corner where there normally is deep snow and colder temperatures, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

They are versatile, which means they live in multiple types of habitats including woods, farms and close to urban and suburban areas, resulting in an increase of complaints about them. They eat rodents, making the cats important to Maine’s wildlife ecosystem, according to MDIFW.

Other foods are snowshoe hare, grouse, woodchucks, beavers, deer and turkeys. Predators looking for them include people and fishers. Predators such as eagles, great horned owls, coyotes, foxes and bears can cause injuries that may become fatal, according to the state.

They resemble the endangered lynx, but are smaller, have a longer tail and shorter ear tufts. Their feet are half the size of a lynx, making it harder for them to navigate deep snow.

Bobcats have several types of vocalizations, including a mating scream that sounds like a woman screaming, a cry that sounds like a baby crying, They also hiss, snarl, growl, yowl and meow like domestic cats.

You can hear one of those vocalizations in this incredible video shared by BDN contributor Colin Chase.

Bobcats usually mate from late February to late March and produce from one to five kittens in May. The babies stay with the mother for about 8 months but can stay up to a year old. The state has documented some interbreeding between bobcats and lynx and bobcat and domestic cats, according to MDIFW.

They like to hunt at dusk and dawn and seeing one in person is rare.

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Maine

Woman dies after crashing into stopped tractor-trailer on Maine Turnpike

Published

11 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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Woman dies after crashing into stopped tractor-trailer on Maine Turnpike

YORK, Maine (WGME) — Police say an 81-year-old woman died after crashing into a tractor-trailer that had stopped in the breakdown lane on the Maine Turnpike in York.

Maine State Police say 81-year-old Janice Goldsmith of Massachusetts was driving on the Maine Turnpike in York around 3:15 p.m. on Monday when she crashed into the rear of a tractor-trailer that was stopped in the breakdown lane.

Goldsmith died at the scene.

According to police, the tractor-trailer had stopped in the breakdown lane due to a mechanical malfunction, and the driver had placed reflective warning triangles in the breakdown lane as required.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation.

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Maine

‘Just b——-‘: Rep. Pingree says she was lied to about ICE facility in Scarborough

Published

23 hours ago

December 9, 2025

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‘Just b——-‘: Rep. Pingree says she was lied to about ICE facility in Scarborough

PORTLAND (WGME) – Congresswoman Chellie Pingree says what she was told about an ICE facility in Maine is “B.S.”

Pingree says she and her staff got to tour the ICE facility in Scarborough Monday.

She says there was one person being detained while she was there.

The facility has three holding cells, and she says she was told there have never been more than five people inside.

Pingree and an attorney raised concerns about detainees being denied their Constitutional rights to have an attorney present.

“We checked out that office,” Pingree said. “We were told there were space limitations of bringing attorneys, so that’s just b——-, there’s plenty of room in there, you can bring in an attorney or the attorney can stand in the doorway.”

“In my particular case, my client was enrolling in an alternative, was forced to enroll in an alternatives to detention program, where he would have his whereabouts monitored,” Melissa Brennan of ILAP said. “He didn’t even understand what he was signing, and I think what’s most important is that people are deprived of that opportunity to consult with someone, to have that reassurance of having your legal counsel next to you.”

Pingree says she was told no one is held at the detention center overnight.

She says she didn’t see anything inside that was out of line for a facility like this.

CBS13 reached out to ICE for comment late Monday afternoon on Pingree’s visit, and we are waiting to hear back.

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Maine

Penobscot County’s first case of bird flu confirmed

Published

1 day ago

December 8, 2025

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Penobscot County’s first case of bird flu confirmed

A strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, has been detected in a flock of backyard birds in Penobscot County this month for the first time since it appeared in Maine almost four years ago.

The case of H5N1 was confirmed on Dec. 1, according to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, which reports cases by county and does not specify towns. Federal disease tracking data show the new case affected 90 birds and is one of the few known cases in eastern or northern Maine. Two flocks were affected in Hancock County in 2023, following two in Washington County the year before.

It’s only the third known detection in a backyard flock in Maine this year; the first two, in Cumberland County, were confirmed in February and affected about 110 birds. Statewide, health officials have raised the current risk level to high in response this month as the wild birds that typically spread the disease are migrating.

That risk level reflects the likelihood of birds getting sick, not people, according to Jim Britt, spokesperson for the state agriculture department. Commercial flocks haven’t been affected. The disease has been detected in numerous wild birds around Maine this year, primarily in southern and coastal counties.

While people can get bird flu, this strain isn’t considered a big public health risk, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said. Human cases have come from exposure to birds and dairy cattle, according to the CDC, but there are no confirmed U.S. cases of people spreading it to each other.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza is generally spread to poultry through the droppings of wild birds or exposure to them. It was first found in Maine in 2022, and has been detected in a handful of flocks annually after numerous cases that year.

Signs of infection in poultry include low energy and appetite, soft or misshapen eggs, swelling around the head, purple wattles, combs or legs, coughing and sneezing, nasal discharge or sudden death.

To limit risk to their flocks, poultry owners can protect them from contact with wild waterfowl by providing indoor shelter and covering outdoor areas. Sick and dying birds can be reported to the state online.

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