Vermont
‘This guy did not look like a bobcat’: Rare Canada lynx is captured on video in Vermont
Canada lynx seen in Shrewsbury, Vermont
Gary Shattuck, a retired federal prosecutor, captured the video of the lynx at about 6:30 in the evening as it walked along the edge of a dirt road leading to Shattuck’s home of 50 years in Shrewsbury.
A Canada lynx was spotted in Vermont for the first time since 2018 in a video recorded on Aug. 17 in Rutland County.
“Canada lynx are endangered in Vermont and threatened nationally,” Brehan Furfey, wildlife biologist and furbearer project leader with Vermont Fish and Wildlife, said in a statement. “That makes any verifiable lynx sighting in our state important. This newest sighting is especially exciting because the cat was spotted in Rutland County, far south of most confirmed lynx reports in Vermont.”
Gary Shattuck, a retired federal prosecutor, captured the video of the lynx at about 6:30 in the evening as it walked along the edge of a dirt road leading to Shattuck’s home of 50 years in Shrewsbury.
“I wasn’t too far from home when I noticed this large feline on the side of the road, walking in the same direction (I was driving),” Shattuck said. “I pulled up to it and couldn’t tell if it was a bobcat. I was concerned because it looked so thin.”
As it happened, Shattuck, 73, did not have his iPhone with him in the car, so he drove home to get it. When he returned, the lynx was still walking along the road and Shattuck began shooting the video from inside his car.
“I was curious, I have never been that close to an animal like that,” Shattuck said. “I would expect it to run off actually, so its behavior was a little strange.”
After shooting the video, Shattuck returned home and called the local game warden, getting voicemail. The next morning, a Sunday, Shattuck sent the video to the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department and heard back within a half hour via email, saying he would receive a call the next day.
Furfey called Shattuck on Monday to confirm he had captured a rare Canada lynx on his video, and that the animal’s behavior was not all that unusual for a young male passing through the area, nor was his appearance, which Shattuck feared was too thin.
“This guy did not look like a bobcat because he’s so thin,” Shattuck said. “I didn’t know if he was sick.”
Why are Canada lynx rare in Vermont
Vermont is on the southernmost edge of the Canada lynx’s range, Vermont Fish and Wildlife said in a news release, and most confirmed sightings in the state are from the relatively remote Northeast Kingdom, near the Canadian border.
“Lynx are specially adapted to hunt snowshoe hares,” Furfey said. “Both species (lynx and hare) need young forest habitats and reliable snowpack to thrive. In Vermont, the best combination of climate, habitat and enough hares to support lynx is in the Northeast Kingdom, and even that is on the low end compared to areas of New Hampshire and Maine, where lynx are more common.”
Rutland County, where Shattuck captured the lynx on video, is not a suitable habitat for large snowshoe hare, or by extension, lynx. Rutland County does have, however, plenty of well-connected wild landscapes that allow wildlife to move between different habitats.
Furfe suspects the lynx was a male moving through the region looking to establish its own territory, a behavior called “dispersing.” Dispersing lynx can cover a lot of ground quickly and it’s possible the lynx is no longer in Vermont, according to Vermont Fish and Wildlife.
“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. “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.”
What should you do if you think you see a lynx
Vermont Fish and Wildlife has received more than 160 reports of lynx since 2016, but only seven of those sightings were confirmed, with the most recent credible report coming from Jericho in 2018.
“If you think you’re looking at a lynx, the most helpful thing you can do is take a photo or video and send it to the Fish and Wildlife Department,” Furfey said. “The large majority of photographs our biologists receive are bobcats, but that doesn’t exclude the possibility that a Canada lynx will show up one day.”
Contact Dan D’Ambrosio at 660-1841 or ddambrosio@freepressmedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanDambrosioVT.
Vermont
Noah Kahan, Vermont consumers and venues voice support for ticket resale limits
A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month. “This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate. “Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers. In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.”We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time. The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap. The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill. “I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state. “When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said. The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.
A movement to limit the resale price of concert and event tickets is growing in Vermont.
Last Thursday, renowned Vermont singer Noah Kahan submitted a video to a state Senate committee voicing his support of H.512. The bill passed the House last month.
“This bill is a critical step in eliminating predatory resale behaviors and offering promoters a great solution for exchanging and reselling tickets in a safe marketplace,” the Strafford native said to lawmakers.
The bill would limit the resale of tickets to 110% of the value they were originally purchased at. Other Vermonter’s testified that day and said they found themselves purchasing tickets online, not from the event’s venue or artist. They said the price was way above the original rate.
“Now I was not just mad at myself, but I was mad at this person who did it to me,” Marina Cole of Wheelock told lawmakers.
In 2024, the National Association of Ticket Brokers told NBC 5 that they were against price caps, which this bill is currently pursuing.
“We have really good businesspeople who are doing the right thing,” Executive Director Gary Adler said at the time.
The bill, as passed by the House, would charge the Vermont Attorney General’s Office with enforcing the resale cap.
The office would have the authority to conduct audits, issue penalties and revoke a reseller’s license. Resale licenses would be a new requirement under the current bill.
“I suspect the enforcement won’t be easy,” executive director of the Champlain Valley Exposition Tim Shea said Monday. “But it’s something we’re looking to follow and advocate for the right ticket buyer.”
Shea said the Expo has been approached by consumers who have faced high resale prices and even some cases of ticket fraud through online reselling. He believes the legislation would help avoid those issues and keep revenues for Vermont venues and artists within the state.
“When tickets are marked up to the level, they are that money’s going out of Vermont. It’s not staying here. It’s not going to the promoter. It’s not going to the concessioners on the ground,” Shea said.
The bill is currently being reviewed by the Senate Committee on Economic Development, Housing, and General Affairs.
Vermont
Meet the 95-year-old Vermont herbarium volunteer who had a fern named for her
BURLINGTON, Vt. (InvestigateTV) — For 28 years, Hilda White has shown up at the University of Vermont’s Pringle Herbarium to do a job most people have never heard of: mounting plants.
Now 95 years old, White has carefully preserved more than 50,000 plant specimens — pressing and affixing them to archival paper so they can be studied and referenced for generations to come.
“If I mount the plants, the plants will be around for hundreds of years, barring any unforeseen accidents or anything,” White said.
Birthday gift unlike any other
For her 95th birthday, the herbarium gave her a gift unlike any other: a newly discovered fern, found in Colombia in 2023, was officially named for her.
The plant — a Christmas fern — was discovered by Wes Testo, now the director of the Pringle Herbarium collection, during a research trip to South America.
“I was walking through the forest there, and I saw this just spectacular fern,” Testo said. “I knew immediately it was something I hadn’t seen before.”
After further research confirmed it was a species new to science, Testo and his colleagues decided to name it for White: Polystichum hildae.
“Oh, I was absolutely blown away,” White said when she learned of the honor.
“You can’t imagine, I cried all afternoon.”
‘Library for plants’
White’s work at the herbarium is kind of a library for plants.
“I can’t draw, but this is my artistic outlet,” she said.
Testo said White’s contributions have been essential to the research conducted in the collection, which now houses 400,000 plant specimens in a single room.
“Hilda mounted a huge amount of the specimens you see here,” Testo said. “Her contributions are absolutely essential to the research we do here.”
The collection’s survival is not something White or Testo take for granted. In 2017, a fire broke out at Torrey Hall, where the collection was housed at the time. Testo was in South America doing research when he received word.
“All I could see from an email in Colombia — the roof on fire. I thought my whole Ph.D. was going up in flames along with the whole collection here,” Testo said.
White was on her way into work when the fire broke out. Staff and volunteers, including White, worked to restore and remount the damaged plants. The collection has since been relocated to the Jeffords Building.
No plans to stop
White says she has no plans to stop.
“Oh no! I’ll be here as long as I can,” she said.
And when asked what she planned to give Testo for his birthday in return for the honor of having a plant named after her, White kept it simple.
“He just got good wishes!”
Read the full story.
Copyright 2026 Gray Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Vermont
Swanton honors WWI soldier with new historic marker
A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.
A new roadside historic marker was unveiled outside Riverside Cemetery, honoring Cpl. Leonard A. Lord, the first Vermonter killed in action during World War I.
The Vermont Division for Historic Preservation dedicated the marker during a ceremony held at the site, recognizing Lord’s service and sacrifice more than a century after his death.
Lord was killed in April 1918 in France during heavy artillery fire while serving with the 26th “Yankee” Division. He had enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1917 at Fort Ethan Allen.
After his death overseas, Lord’s remains were later returned to Swanton in 1921 and reinterred at Riverside Cemetery, just yards from where the new marker now stands.
Officials say the marker is part of Vermont’s long-running effort to preserve local history and highlight individuals who shaped the state’s past.
U.S. Army SSgt. Stephen Prochniak reflected on the importance of remembrance.
“History is alive in all of us,” Prochniak said. “It’s something that will probably be here longer than any of us are alive. And that’s important. It preserves it not just for us, but for our kids and their kids.”
The marker now stands as the 335th installed through the state’s historic preservation program.
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