Comments on: Mountain Lions

By: Allie cah

Allie cah — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 18:10:43 +0000

NCK, the reason I find the situation so disconcerting is the extent to which people seem to jump to the conclusion that I am mistaken about what I saw. I did not see something and jump to the conclusion it was a mountain lion. I saw certain features on a dead animal lying on the left shoulder of the rd. One post even questioned how I saw as much detail as I did passing by at 65mph. I did not see much detail at all. Red/tan/orange..much larger-longer than a domestic…long tail…round face w/some raccoon like markings but no muzzle or dog like features and dissimilar to the puma faces I initially saw because the face was round without narrowing around the nose-had a heavy appearance to the face not dainty but sweet ( very similar to pics I have seen more recently of kitten/cubs-very close to one featured today on zoo news-very round small but heavy head)..left with impression of very thick fur but not long fur.And, once I started reading about the topic it became clear that the officials had told people in the Lake George area that they had not seen what we now know they had seen.

By: Allie cah

Allie cah — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 17:52:18 +0000

Rodeo-rider-I saw a dead young mountain lionin NY on I-81 in November. No pics cause I did not know it was a big deal. Now I do. But I do not believe that the DEC is releasing pumas. Why? Because it is a government agency. What government agency-state or federal-do you know that could do something competently? Supposedly they are doing this quietly. Do you really think there is any government agency able to pull something like this off? (not counting CIA or military) I don’t. I have also been reading the published work on Pumas and see nothing in the professional/scientific journals that would suggest this was happening. No evidence revealed by FOILS. The DEC say they do not believe there are Pumas out there and I do not believe that there is a government agency competent enough to release Pumas covertly without bumbling the entire operation. Just look at the incompetence of the whole lot of them. The FDA can’t manage to do anything but bungle the supply of medications to those who need them. The CDC is a mess as is the FAA–so, what are the odds that the DEC or similar state agencies can keep a secret, allocate resources to the endeavor, execute a release without shooting themselves in the foot?Thinking it’s not too high.

By: doc

doc — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 16:04:18 +0000

Rodeo – Rider
Fishers account for a high kill of small pets as well. I suppose your neighbor still has some pics. If you have they can be posted for the public to see if you can get them. So far noone has had a decent picture to post or for that matter come through with a picture. The DEP stocking cats is an old tale told in every state around and has been dissmissed as just an old tale.(hows my typing in this post Bruce)

By: Rodeo-Rider

Rodeo-Rider — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:44:48 +0000

I am a little late to this party. I am the generation that is the “last to play outside”. Spent most of my life outside. I grew up in Woodbury, and before Woodlake was built my brother and I used to camp up there, in the hills up high in the craggy rocks. Heard the lions, heard the purring and other gutteral sounds, saw the destruction of our cheap foam cooler that held our hot dogs. Saw the big footprints too.

Fast forward to 1998. While at my husbands office Christmas party at the Marriott in Shelton (which is close to the reservoir) many of us viewed a female (with full, dropped teets if you will) dumpster diving. No doubt about it, long, flowing conical tail, big round eyes…and what was so striking is the way she moved. Muscular, with this shoulder roll.

I live in Watertown, and about 3 years ago my neighbor had to replace his septic system. For 3 days in a row, a female mountain lion was rooting around in the stinky muck before the leeching fields were installed. I watched her from my porch…and my neighbor took some good digital pictures.

He forwarded them to Paul Rego…who NEVER ACKNOWLEDGED receiving them.

I don’t have a ton of cred, like a degree in forest management, I’m not even a hunter. Just a gal who has spent her life OUTSIDE. I am an avid Snowmobiler, I have seen UP CLOSE bobcats, coyote (geez…the coyotes have eaten most of the cats in our neighborhood, I see them weekly.) I even had a fisher cat cross in front of my truck on Alain White rd. (Unmistakeable too, that fisher cat…all snarly looking, very dark sienna color). Had a bear pass in front of my truck on 63 near Arethusa farm.

I had asked one of the local farmers to come and till a garden for me. He told me that a personal friend of his released 6 breeding pairs (this man was HIRED BY THE DEP) of mountain lions, and said this was done to try to knock down the deer population. He named the towns, Roxbury, Kent,…I forget them all but I was surprised to learn 3 pairs were let loose down state, in Fairfield CTY.

I will keep my camera ready.

By: nck

nck — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:14:24 +0000

Sorry, thats BIGFOOT, NOT BIGFOOD….idiot.

By: nck

nck — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:13:31 +0000

Oh…and doesn’t it stike anyone as weird that in states where the ML is AN FACT….MOST sightings are from hunters, bikers,campers,…..in otherwords, people who actually spend TIME in the woods, but in CT, it almost, if EVER, an outdoorsman, but people driveing, or walking or looking out the window??

I may be mistaken, but how many sightings are from every day hunters, trappers or fisherman? It just makes sense that the more time you spend in the woods, the greater the chance you come across SOMETHING (scat, print, sighting, kill, etc)

Now, I may be wrong, and there HAS been these type of sightings, I just haven’t read them.

By: nck

nck — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:06:59 +0000

Im gonna respond before I read the past half dozen posts…..to Allie who copied and pasted my post of several months ago.

I, for one, BELIEVE there are cougars who live in connecticut. MY ISSUE is that people are coming up with these conspiracy theories when they bring NOT ONE SHRED OF EVIDENCE, besides that THEY KNOW WHAT THEY SAW. Thats fine…..but there have been SEVERAL HUNDRED if not THOUSANDS of big food sightings….sightings are just that, SIGHTINGS.
The DEP wants EVIDENCE. The dead cat was a railroader, a hobo. I think many if not most state biologists believe that a few cats have come through CT…..theres HARD EVIDENCE that one was in Quabbin Res in Massachusetts..but for them to believe there is a breeding population, its gonna take evidence, not sightings, no matter how much the reporter has at a gut full of honesty. Again, look at the Utube video where the guy thinks that bobcat is a ML…., I KNOW that state biologists have been given photos that were supposedly of ML that turned out to be DOGS!, or tracks that were not even feline…….

Im not calling ANYONE a liar….but is it so hard to think that the majority of sightings were mistaken?? Now, when I read a sighting that states that a large cat with a long thick tail was spotted…well,…..UNLESS they are lying, a large cat with a long thick tail sounds reasonable…to me, the TAIL is just about everything, becasue people are WOEFULLY bad at guessing size and weight. Again, released pets doesn’t mean that they are here. Cervals, as similar as they are to ML, are not legitimate sightings.

There are hundreds of thousands of mysterious animal sightings in the usa…..the DEP cannot take the time to check all sightings out..you gotta give them some MEAT….something they CANNOT deny……

Can a coverup be a possiblity? Yeah, it can….theres a story about a coverup in a southern state where a mentally challenged woman was killed….the DEP said it was a dog attack..the owner shot almost all his dogs….but all the evidence pointed to cat attack, NOT a dog attack (ei: no ripping out of the throat). Now, that story sounded fishy….so I admit that there MAY be a reluctance on the part of DEP to admit the presence of ML…..BUT…..LETS GET SOME REAL EVIDENCE….Its gonna snow (hopefully) soon, how bout a track or two? Scat? Or, how bout all those posts about having pictures ACTUALLY post some of them??

That it. I hope I clearly stated my stance.

Thanks.

By: doc

doc — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:16:04 +0000

You will have to elaborate on the shrimp cocktail question. I pointed out in earlier posts that CT was mostly clearcut in colonial time with an estimated remaining population of deer at 20 animals. Yeah I know impossible to imagine so go back and look at the reference I cited. So where is it that these cougars were hiding to make the appearances being reported today. The mountain lion that occupied the east coast was hunted to extinction as formally declared by the USF&W based an their extensive studies. The only documented remaining population ( a single animal does not make a population) on the east coast is in Florida. Currently not all Mountain Lions are the same ( I say currently because there is an effort put forth by a group of scientist to group all the animals as one based on their genetic studies). The florida panther is considered its own subspecies as well as those found in the western states, south america, etc. The isolated florida subspecies was in real dire straits due to inbreeding until the introduced some new specimens from Texas. Being isolated without new dna will cause the group to suffer heath issues over long periods of time resulting in eventual collapse of the population. You can google their work. Regarding the coyote’s yeah they were hear even in the early 70′s and now occupy every part of the state. John Way of Massachusets has done studies on coyote and classifies what we have as a cross between a wolf and coyote.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:37:11 +0000

Why couldn’t the animal be native? The Florida Panther is the same as the mountain lion, which is the sam as the Puma, which is the same as the Cougar. These animals throughout time have been all over this continant not just the U.S.A.. The Mpuntain lion exists to our northern borders and to our southern. Why is it so hard to believe that it exists in our state. In 1979 when I was a little kid living in Simsbury CT I used to hear howling at night. At this time Simsbury was mostly woods, and my mother who is from western PA swore that the howling was coyotes but the DEP and the state of CT swore we did not have coyotes in the state of CT and here we are now where you can’t have your dog or cat outside in certain areas because a coyote will kill it. At the age of 30 I moved back to simsbury deep in the woods. i was bartending at the time so I was out pretty late. I was driving down the road in the summer at about 2 in the morning when i saw what i thought was a large golden lab but as I got closer I noticed it was a cat. When I got home I said something to my roomate and he laughed and told me to talk to all of our neighbors because everyone has seen this thing. these cats are here and they always have been. i have seen pumas in the wild in South America where I came dangerously close to being mauled by one in Patagonia Chile. oh and by the way to the previous author; excape, really? do you eat skrimp cocktail?

By: doc

doc — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:26:25 +0000

The DEC several years ago did have one of their own write a letter report describing his confirmation of a cached kill which he described as being that of a mountain lion. There has also been a DEC wildlife official who would monitor sighting reports on a defunct site that used to log them. They understand there are some animals out there its just their origin they question and being that they are declared officially extinct the source is considered a released or excaped pet. I suspect when someone calls in a report they are more inclined to reassure the individual its something else so as to not create alarm, possible, which typically results in insulting the caller who knows what they say. Fleeting sightings are impossible to followup on and usually tracks and sign are gone. In the case of a dead animal such as what you saw that was pure physical evidance and in all reported cases of animal kills only the Milford one was publicized. Someone knows who picked it up but noone ever comes forward. Do these animals really exist out there – sure they do. Are they native- my belief is no they are not based on what the professionals have stated and some of my earlier comments. This animal is so readily available in the pet trade. All you need is some cash, a suitable crate and a trip to Ohio where they have several exotic pet sales each year. The thing is if someone has one as a pet and it gets away it does not come back like a dog and they are not likely to notify the authorities because it was most likely illegal to keep anyhow. In short don’t take offense to what the DEC officials tell you. you know what you saw and keep looking maybe another sighting comes up. This time if its dead on the shoulder of the road try to get a picture!