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For the first time in six years, some Vermont residents have officially caught sight of an elusive creature: the Canada lynx.
In August, officials with the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department confirmed that a Canada lynx had been spotted in the state for the first time since 2018. It was captured on video in Rutland County.
Now, officials are saying that that same individual cat has roamed about 60 miles north, into Addison County. The animal is traveling about a dozen miles at a time, staying in the same area for a few days, and then moving on again. When Canada lynx are seen in Vermont, they are overwhelmingly found in the state’s Northeast Kingdom area. Officials explicitly said that Rutland County is not a suitable habitat for lynx.
“We’ve had 15 confirmed lynx sightings since August and signs point to these all being the same dispersing juvenile male,” Brehan Furfey, a furbearer biologist with the Fish and Wildlife Department, said in a statement this week. “The lynx has moved steadily north from Rutland County into Addison County. That’s a conservation success in its own right because Vermont’s network of protected lands is what makes this journey possible. We’re rooting for this lynx to keep heading north where it will find more young forest habitat and plenty of snowshoe hares to eat.”
More videos of the cat were posted to social media by the department this week.
There are four types of lynx: the Canada lynx, the bobcat, the Iberian lynx, and the Eurasian lynx. Bobcats roam much of the United States, and are easy to mistake for Canada lynx. The latter, however, is much more rare in the lower 48, where they are listed as a threatened species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service can only confirm the presence of stable lynx populations in Maine, Montana, Washington, and Colorado.
Most reports of Canada lynx end up being bobcat sightings. The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department has received over 160 reports of lynx since 2016, but only seven of these were confirmed. The two can be easily distinguished by their tails. Bobcats have both black and white on their tails, while the tail tips of Canada lynx are entirely black.
Juvenile lynx often travel long distances in a search for new territory, a process called “dispersal.” This particular one appears notably thin, but experts say that should not be a cause for alarm.
“Although this lynx appears to be on the thinner side, its calm behavior around passing cars as reported by observers is not unusual for a dispersing individual,” Furfey said in a statement in August. “This lynx was probably just focused on finding food in an area where hares are not abundant and on avoiding competition with bobcats and fishers while passing through southern Vermont.”
Canada lynx prefer to hunt snowshoe hare, and both species need young forest habitats and reliable snowpack to thrive. In more southern areas, they can hunt grouse and small rodents.
The animal was listed as a threatened species in the lower 48 in 2000, after populations took a hit from deforestation and trapping.
Generally, the animals are not a threat to humans. Those that think they have spotted one are encouraged to take a photo or video and send it to the Fish and Wildlife Department. However, people should maintain a respectful distance from the cat.
“Vermonters can be proud that decades of land protection and management for connected habitats have allowed this rare wild cat to make its way through our state,” Furfey said. “It’s a sign that conservation is working.”
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Score: UAlbany 4, Vermont 14
Location: Virtue Field | Burlington, Vt.
Records: UAlbany (10-5, 5-1 America East) | Vermont (8-6, 4-1 America East)
Short Story: UAlbany women’s lacrosse fell to the Vermont Catamounts on Saturday afternoon.
Key Stats
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The Great Danes will next have a bye week and wait to see the outcome of next week’s Vermont vs UMass Lowell game to see who will host the America East Tournament.
Social Central: Stay up to date with UAlbany women’s lacrosse by following the team on Instagram (@UAlbanyWLax), Facebook (UAlbany Women’s Lacrosse), and X (@UAlbanyWLax) for all of the latest news and highlights throughout the year.
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Here’s another reason Vermont is the best New England state: It’s home to one of the top 5 happiest cities in the United States.
Plus, it has another within the top 15.
Massachusetts, on the other hand, doesn’t even break the top 50. Nor, does Connecticut or Rhode Island.
The personal finance website analyzed 182 of the largest cities in the country, and ranked Boston 63rd overall. Although the city is home to some of the nation’s top universities, high-ranking hospitals, and well-regarded companies, it didn’t break the top 50.
To get the rankings, WalletHub compared the cities using 29 metrics, including life-satisfaction index, depression rate, poverty rate, job security, and acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. Each metric was graded on a 100-point scale, and cities were assigned an overall happiness score.
Here’s a look at how the cities ranked.
South Burlington came on top for Vermont in WalletHub’s list of the happiest cities in the United States, ranking at No. 4. In scored very high for emotional and physical well-being coming in at the No. 4 spot, which made up for coming in No. 48 for community and environment. It was No. 9 for income and employment ranking. That gave it a total happiness of score of 70.15
Burlington wasn’t far behind at all, taking the No. 11 spot on the list and a happiness score of 67.54. It’s highest score was for income and employment ranking where it came second. It ranked No. 13 for community and environment and No. 21 for emotional and physical well-being.
Here are the 25 happiest cities in the U.S., and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:
Here are the 25 least happy cities in the U.S., and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:
Here are the 12 happiest cities in New England, and their happiness scores, according to WalletHub’s 2026 list:
A tornado touched down in Vermont Thursday, when a strong storm system moved through the area, the National Weather Service said.
Winds are believed to have hit 90 mph when the tornado churned through Williamstown at about 9:15 p.m., the agency said Friday. That makes it an EF1 tornado on the Fujita Scale, which goes from 0 at the weakest to 5 at the strongest.
Lasting three minutes, the twister traveled for more than four-tenths of a mile, with a maximum width of 100 yards, according to the National Weather Service’s preliminary assessment. It damaged a pair of buildings and numerous trees, shearing tree tops. Golf ball-sized hail was also reported in the area.
Severe thunderstorms popped up across the North Country Thursday night, including in central Vermont — Williamstown is south of Montpelier.
The town thanked its road crew, firefighters and locals who spent hours in the wake of the storm cleaning up.
“We appreciate all that you do to keep the town functioning though an emergency situation,” the town said.
People in the area told NBC affiliate WPTZ that the storm was shockingly powerful, and National Weather Service staffer Marlon Verasamy said that while tornadoes in Vermont are rare, they’re even rarer in this part of the state.
“Generally, when we do see tornadoes around the area that they’ve been in Addison County and not here, so it make it really, really unique to get a tornado in this kind of terrain in this part of the state,” Verasamy said.
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