Mountain Lions
By Ray Bendici | Category: Cryptozoology
The Damned Story: Eastern mountain lions, or pumas or cougars, were last officially seen in Connecticut near the end of the 19th century. A threat to livestock, they were hunted out of the state and driven to parts more wild. With land cleared for farms and factories (nearly the entire state was deforested at the turn of the 20th century), there was no place for big cats to hide and nothing for them to feed on, so they disappeared not only from the Connecticut landscape, but from the Northeastern U.S. in general.
For nearly a century, there were no cats bigger than overfed tabbies in the region. But as farms disappeared and land reverted to forest, habitats for larger mammals grew. Deer (i.e. “food”) were among the first to come back, followed by the predators. According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, bobcats, coyotes and black bear now again roam the woods (and suburbs) of Connecticut, but mountain lions and cougars have yet to return.
Or have they?
In April 2005, Connecticut Magazine ran a story called “Seeing Ghosts,” written by Brigitte Ruthman. In the article, Ruthman, an avid hunter and outdoorswoman, claims that she has seen Eastern mountain lions in the woods of the Litchfield Hills, as have many others in the state. Since the story was posted online, it has generated a very busy comments section which has dozens of reported cougar sightings.
After maintaining for years that the majority of these reports were either misidentified bobcats or coyotes, and that there were absolutely no cougars in Connecticut (aside from those hanging out at the casinos looking for young boy toys), the DEP is coming around to the possiblity that there may be big cats again on the prowl here. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Northeast Region, has established a good website on the subject, welcoming eyewitness reports and other evidence to conclusively prove the return of these elusive creatures.
Of course, like with many mystery creatures, until an actual specimen is caught digging through garbage cans behind the Capitol in Hartford, the debate will continue. In the meantime, keep an eye out for the big cats!
For an interesting cougar story check out the articles from the Hartford Courant (iCONN) from 12/27/57 to 9/25/60. It tells the story of sitings of a blank panther in Granby, Simsbury, and Barhamsted. The sitings and nearly 30 news articles set off a general panic in the area, but no one mentions it today. Read the articles and decide for yourself – real or imaginary?
Thanks Shirley, i’m going to try to find this and get it on the page. Thanks for the iCONN listing, this is a great site that I was not aware of.
Steve
[...] there are many people who would beg to differ with the DEP. As I mention in our article about mountain lions, there have been many claims that these “ghosts of the forest” are back — over at [...]
It’s not that the DEP doesn’t know there here, we do. It’s just the fact they need proof of their residence through a dated photograph, trail cam pic, or even a carcass,before it can be made known to the public that they are around.
There are still mountain lions in Litchfeild county
Thanks Wayne.
Why is that fact so effin hard for people to understand? You want people and the dep to announce cougars are in connecticut,………bring in a pic at least!!
Look at Utube. Under cougar in connecticut. This is EXACTLY why the DEP doubts ALL accounts.
Pic, please. Body, maybe?? How about tracks? All these sightings and NOT ONE TRACK? NOT ONE????? What were all the sightings during a drought? How about the scat supposedly found by more than one poster? Uhhmmmmm maybe you scoop up a sample….MAYBE?
Me, I thing there are cougars here. But wanting the dep to believe it just because YOU’RE POSITIVE you saw one is just stupid.
KODAK.
I for one know the Granby Panther stories are true.
I lived in Granby from 1954 to 1966. I lived about 1000 feet from what we called “The big lake”
Lake Manatuck and my best friend Randy lived at the other end of the lake, across from waht was then Edgerton’s.
if I recall correctly, it was in 1960. Randy called me one morning, all excited. The police were at his house. Most likely Shariff Hotchkiss or it might have been Don Algren.
He was investigating an attempted break-in at Randy’s house.
Randy’s dad worked second shift. He had a habit of cooking his own dinner when he got home late, as was the case most nights. Being summer, his dad kept the door & windows open, not wanting to stink up the house with his cooking. Since the door and windows had screens he wasn’t concerned.His ususual dinner was bacon & eggs.
After eating he went to bed.
About an hour or so after going to bed, his collie dog “Duke” started whining & barking and then crawled under the bed. Randy’s dad got up, put his pants on, & got the 12 ga. double out of the closet.
As he walked into the kitchen he caugt site of a black animal with it’s head part way through the screen door to the kitchen. As he described it, it was more like a mountain lion than a dog, and was pretty sure it wasn’t no dog! Dad flipped on the lights as the animal was pulling out backward.
He went back to bed about an hour later, sure that whatever it was wasn’t coming back.
In the morning, Randy’s dad called the police.
They found long scratches on the wood frame of the screen door, and the screen had been torn all to hell.
They searched out in the back yard and found two cat-like prints about the size of a small person hand, in the mud right along side of the fence that separated the lawn from the tobacco fields.
Now, if Paul Johnson was still alive, you could ask him about the investigation. He said he had found a written report of the incident shortly after being hired as a police officer in Granby.
There hhhhheeeeeeerrrrrrrreeeeee!!!!!!!!!!! But i will not tell where cause i do not want the cat to be killed or taken away. If you think you see one the easy way to tell is the tremendous muscle structure they have compared to there cats and the tail is long They are fast and can hide 10ft away and will not see them
[...] of tearing things apart with sharp claws, people still report seeing mountain lions all over Connecticut, despite the continual assurances from the state’s department of [...]
I was living in Granby last year on Manitook Lake and one night in the middle of winter I was sitting in my car and saw something walking on the opposite side of the road, it looked like a really big cat. I mentioned it to my step-father thinking maybe there was something living in the area like fisher cats or something and he told me it was probably a coyote but I told him it was too big to be a coyote and the tail was wrong(it was too skinny) I was certain that it wasn’t a dog(the head wasn’t right and it didn’t move like any dog that I know of) and it wasn’t a bear. So maybe…? But I didn’t get out of my car for quite a while until I was sure that it was gone(a little freaked out seeing something possibly wild and large). I mentioned it to someone who had been living in the area and she said that she had seen mountain lions or large creatures(not bears and bigger than coyotes) before but I don’t know anymore about it. I know that there is a pack of coyotes living on the other side of the lake but they stay there(you can always hear them at night). Has anybody else ever seen anything like that?
Facts: I have an advanced degree of forestry management
I placed first in state of ct forestry contest in high school
i placed second at the big e in college for forestry management practices
i was awarded a bronze medal at the FFA national convention in kansas city kansas in college
Forestry management covers, well, anything to do with the management, consevation of wildlife, aquatic life, plant life forestry, and land management principles. I can legally teach any one of the courses that the DEP run throughout connecticut. I happen also to be a licenced hunter as well. I have extensive background in plant and animal identification. I can i dentify every tree and mamal species in conn.
O.K. Enough about me. My point is that i have been told by the state DEP that there are no mountain lions in ct. BS. Just this am on nettleton hollow road on the woodbury/roxbury line in a large field half way up the hill, something caught my eye. I stopped and looked as there are usually deer there at 6am. This time is was a little different. It was a mountain lion, absolutely zero question in my mind. It was approx 100 feet away, just on the edge of the woods/field where i usually see the deer. It was sitting looking at me and then back and forth to the field. Didnt seem to care i was there(i was in my truck) Golden color with flecks, dark tipped ears clear as day golden eyes, and as i opened my truck door it jumped about 10 feet in the air as i startled it. It darted off with its long cylindrical tail(3 feet long) waving behind it……….Yea some bobcat i know!!!!! But that what the dep said i saw. I go by here everyday atleast 3 times. Dawn and dusk. I will get that picture, i promise you that and i will hand deliver it to white memorial.
Well, someone needs to rethink that. I have several pics of a MOUNTAIN LION taken on a friend’s back deck in SHARON, CT from this past winter (only a few months ago – late winter 2009), that was looking pretty comfortable lying out there sunning itself. This was no small animal either and absolutely CANNOT BE MISTAKEN for anything else – IT IS A HUGE MOUNTAIN LION.
Pics have been sent to CT DEP already – so anyone over there denying it can eat their words. Would upload the pics here, if there were a way to do so – ???
In 2006 while going down Sarah Sanford Road in Bridgewater I watched a mountain lion cross the road very casually at about 630AM. It was about 150 feet in front of me and 100% guaranteed to be a mountain lion.
Ok. That guy with the degrees and awards. I admit, if YOU say you saw one, I would give it more credence. But, now, since you are obviously, NOT a joe blow, tell me…………You don’t think its a BIT funny, with ALL THE STORIES OF PEOPLE CONVINCED THEY SAW SOMETHING, not ONE footprinty, not ONE scat, NOT ONE PHOTO.????????????????????????????????????????? Now, the next post said he had photos. OK, print them, show us. ………………………………What do you think the odds are that any pics get posted? And if they do, that these aren’t the same pics that show up on the net, with the location ranging in any one of 50 states?
I WANT ML to be in CT. BUT, you NEED proof IF you want others to believe you.
Pic or it didnt happen!
Stumbled across this site while looking for more MT lions reports. Some are hoax and some appear real enough. Look – the DEP are in charge of managing the wildlife in CT. They are not responsible for managing released or escaped pets – intentional or unintential. Those animals fall under the pet catagory as the true MT lion has been long gone from the east coast. They view what is reported as nothing more than that and this is the reason they will not declare there are mt lions in CT regardless if you show up with a track or picture of the animal. Again this animal has been wiped out and what you see or hear for reports is related to released animals. I am sure if a carcass turns up you will see some excitement and they will test its DNA but most likely it will will come back as having some west coast gene’s in it. Still exciting never the less to read about them. But again don’t expect the DEP to acknowledge them – my two cents.
OK. Here’s one hard to believe. But true…
Yesterday (July 28, 2010) around 3 PM, my 18 yr old
son and I were driving on Wolfpit Road in Wilton, nearly to the New Canaan border, when an animal ran out of the woods right in front of my car. Loping across the street – from the left (passenger side of the car) to the woods on my left. I was driving – and if I didn’t slam on my brakes, I’d have likely hit it. It was very, very close. And though it was moving quickly, I got a good look at it from above, as did my son.
The animal had all the appearances of being a feline cub. Not a mature animal. Paws too big for the body, body a more compact than adult felines. It’s coat was very short hair, but clearly dense, colored a spectacular golden brown, with a hint of a reddish cast. Tawny. The side of the face had some black stripe-like markings, possibly with some white mixed in. We did not get a good look at the tale.
But the most striking thing about this animal was how sturdy it was. Clearly densely muscled. Very densely muscled. From chest to rump, I’d estimate between 26″ and 32″ long. Height at the shoulder – a bit harder to guess as we saw it from above – but I’d say about 16″ to 20″. But it was stocky. I’ve got a good size house cat that weights about 15 lbs. So if my cat is 15 lbs, I’d have to estimate this to be 55 lbs if it was an ounce. My son’s guess was 60+ lbs.
Mountain lion cub?
Hard to say. We didn’t get a good look at the tail. You’d think we’d have clearly seen a big long tail. So that originally had me thinking bobcat or lynx. But every picture I can find of either of those, adult or juvenile, have some form of spotting, however subtle. We got a real good look at the very broad back and flanks of this animal, and there were no spots. None. Likewise in every picture of bobcat or lynx that I can find, their hair is not short and dense, but instead more like a medium haired cat. This animal’s fur was very dense, and short. And finally, you’d have to have seen how stocky this animal was. Not fat. Stocky.Built like a long furry brick on legs.
Mountain lion cub? You be the judge. But from all the pictures I’ve been able to find on-line, it looks like a dead ringer to me.
I’ll leave my email address – stephen.g@colley.org – just because I’m very happy to stand behind this story. I know what I saw.
Ok went out this morning to take my 2 small dogs out,, I was walking around the yard and came across a very large Scat in the grass. I know we have Coyote’s here and Fisher Cats, But this was very BIG POOP, It Is shaped like dog poop rounded at the edges,, It does have hair in it.
Called the DEP and they told me it is most likely coyote scat,, well if it is he’s got to be very big,, i took pictures of it,,with a ruler next to it,, There are 3 pieces one piece measures 6″ long and about 11/4 in. in diameter,, the other one is 6′ long same diameter and the 3rd piece is like 4′ long..If anyone can help me with this i would appreciate it…. Branford,CT
I still am having a hard time believing this myself because it is West Hartford (The Simsbury side) however I saw a cat in my backyard a couple days ago that was about the size of a boxer. I grew up in Litchfield County and have seen both Bobcats and Coyotes. It definitely was not a coyote and the color and body profile was all wrong for a bobcat. My wife and I watched this cat from my son’s bedroom window as it prowled along the edge of the bushes in my back lawn. Like I said above it appeared to be about the size of a boxer (if I had to take a guess I would say 60 lbs). It was a tan color with a deep chest and the ears had black tips and a really long tail probably about the length of the cat. It was about 8:00 pm and slowly crept along the line of bushes that runs along the back of several houses. It reminded me of watching one of the cats I grew up with stalking something. By the time I got working batteries in my camera it was about two houses down and I couldn’t get a picture that wasn’t blurry in low light zoomed in with my camera. Based on the couple bobcat sightings I have had and pictures of bobcats and mountain lions on the internet I don’t see what else it could have been other than a small mountain lion.
I ride my bike home from work on the trail from Simsbury to Farmington frequently. On Friday, August 6, I saw a large, reddish animal with a long tail step out onto the trail. At first, I thought it was a dog and I expected to see a person step out onto the trail behind it. It stood there for a second or two and looked down the trail where a man was walking towards it (and me). It swished a long tail, crouched and then leaped up onto the opposite side of the trail in a motion that could be only be described as feline. This was near the Nod Brook Wildlife Area at about the 7.5 mile mark on the trail. Every one I have described it to has had the same reaction: mountain lion. My brother suggested I report it to the DEP but I get the impression they wouldn’t believe me.
Don’t be so sure about cougars being extinct. In 1958, a boyhood friend of mine was visiting East Rock Park outside New Haven. This kid was a trapper, well acquainted with bobcats and all CT wildlife. He swears he saw a cougar in the woods right off the road…I believe him. We questioned him closely: he was 18, not just a kid, and said is was definitely NOT a bobcat, which were common in our neck of the woods. (Mt. Carmel hills outside Hamden.) We didn’t give it much thought at the time; why would cougars be extinct? Most of the farmers were long gone, and farms had reverted to woods. Very few people hunted anymore, either…
Remember our land was cleared and burned way back at some time. Even the whitetail was down to an estimated less than 20 individuals. The mountain lion was hunted and killed up and down the east coast. All eastern states reported it gone. Whitetail came back, bear came back and turkey came back due to remnanate populations in neighboring states. For mountain lions there are no remnant populations nearby. You have to go to Florida. Thats based on scientific fact. What did Brad Yaegers friend see in 58 – possible a mountain lion but not an eastern mountain lion. Back then there were a lot of side shows or traveling circus. It is speculated they may have let loose a cat or one escaped. I followed up a friends report of one several years ago and collected a picture of a track. People are seeing animals because there are some around but again they are not the ones native of the area and yes that does make a differenct to the DEP and yes they will tell you they are extinct because they are. Still call in your report but don’t expect the green trucks with the dogs to show up and don’t expect the great fan fair over the phone from the DEP. The cats have a history of roaming very large areas and don’t stay still long. I would encourage you if you did see a cat to report it also to some of the cougar sites dedicated to those reports found on the internet. (I can’t help wonder though if they might not have knowledge of how these cats came to be loose in the wild in the first place!)
September 7, 2010 – Burlington, CT
My wife and I both saw what was unmistakably a mountain lion walking apx. 100 yards from our back deck. It was close enough that you could see it’s long tail and muscular build as it walked along the edge of a beaver pond in our back yard…possibly hunting the beaver family that resides there. I don’t believe that was a bobcat, coyote, dog, deer, fox, bear, or any other animal that we have seen before in the back yard. This was a VERY large cat with huge muscles walking slowly along the water’s edge. I wish I had a camera nearby, but of course I didn’t at the time, and the cat was only visible for about 30 seconds before it disappeared into the brush.
Correction – that last reported sighting was on September 4, 2010, not the 7th.