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Recently, on a back road in Pennsylvania, a friend and I had our first sighting of a coyote in Pennsylvania. The mountain lion population in Nevada is essential to the control of deer and rodent populations in the mountainous regions of the state. If so, what would happen to the hunting industry in all of these states? It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. If you see a puma (mountain lion-cougar), contact me. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one game camera image that still looks very credible to me. Editor's note: The Pocono Record and Tri-County Independent have collaborated for a series of stories called Mountain Beasts: Pocono cryptids, legends and lore. If pumas do exist in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, could they all be released cats or escapees? More Questions about Pumas in Pennsylvania Mountain lions can live in almost any habitat including forests, prairies, deserts, and swamps. Mountain lions have a lifespan of about 8 to 13 years old in the wild. Penn State's Nittany Lion hide sampled for DNA sequencing, Mountain lion reports in Pennsylvania popular, but often a hoax, More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23. John Leap of East Stroudsburg's Lakeside Peat Humus Co. and an employee, Paul Strauser, found the bones in a peat bog off Route 209. In the map above, I collected data from the state and on the federal level to find state parks . One sighting I give complete belief in was from a friend who told me a puma crossed right in front of their vehicle, and paused on the berm for a few seconds, at a distant of ten yards or less. All of the above images are of bobcats. Let me know if you have seen one! That's true. At one point, there was debate whether that cat should be protected, since its genes were diluted from escapees or released pumas that originated in South America or our West. On the other hand, there are probably thousands of game cameras covering water holes and game trails throughout Pennsylvania, and to my knowledge no one has yet recorded a puma. Most nature magazines state whether the photos were taken "under controlled conditions" rather than in the wild.). Murray also has a cross-eyed white tiger named Keisha, who crushed chicken bones with ease but delicately stepped into a metal pool to cool off. For our list, we only included US states with a stable breeding population. Discover the Little-Known U.S. River Gorge That's, The 9 Best Books About National Parks for Travelers, mountain lions seem to be making a comeback. I've seen scores of leopards in the grasslands and deserts of East Africa and I've never seen, nor spoke with anyone, who has seen a black leopard there. They have almost been killed off a few times, but conservation efforts have helped to keep their numbers stable. Let's say the facts indicate that there have been a lot of 'pet' pumas, and many of these escaped. If you're interested in this, please pass on this link, and if you see a cat, please let me know! For example, leopards and jaguars, normally spotted cats, have a melanistic color morph, the 'black panther,' the black leopard or black jaguar. This ideal habitat allows for a large population of 2,000 mountain lions to thrive. Noted Wayne County historian Phineas Goodrich recorded in his 1880 book on local history that the common gray wolf was much more common in this area than the cougar. The reintroduction of mountain lions into South Dakota is one of the great wins of modern conservation. The Florida panther is an endemic subspecies of cougar that has lived in the everglades region for a very long time. Very, very rarely, when I ask someone who would be a likely candidate (a hunter, someone who owns a camp in the deep woods, travels likely routes often, foresters), 'Have you ever seen a mountain lion?' There are deserts, mountains, and swamps in the state of Utah, all of which are suitable for mountain lions. Scientists debate whether the large prehistoric mammals became extinct at the end of the Ice Age due to over-hunting, or rapid climate warming. Phineas Teeple of Manchester Township is thought to have killed the last wolf in Wayne County. Just take your pick of all these incredible Pocono lake house rentals or just a Pocono cabin for rent, in luxury of course! Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Hunting is legal in the state, but it is heavily controlled and restricted. A typical home range is around 150 square miles for adult males and 50 square miles for adult females in our region. There isnt an official estimate on mountain lions in the state. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. I'm thinking of the solution often suggested for pesky endangered species out west, namely wolves and grizzly bears. How, Who, and Why? Local outlets carried reports of cougar encounters at least into the 1910s. Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the Eastern subspecies of the mountain lion extinct, which would seem to bolster the skeptics. However, recently I saw a photo of a melanistic bobcat, as black as could be, with bright yellow eyes. I'll offer my own little anecdote. More about mountain lions in Pennsylvania: If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. They are there to help us. Did they migrate south from Canada? Most of my original Questions of the Month for the last several Interesting, too, are the reports I've heard from people who were told that they would be in big trouble if they shot a puma. I want to believe they're here, but I'm having some trouble. These experiences are still available, but the reality is there is so much more for the mature traveler to enjoy in the Pocono Mountains. Colorado is the perfect habitat for mountain lions. Where they always here as a relic population? I've looked in the PGC game laws booklet and saw nothing on this, which I guess you could conclude means a puma would not be legal to shoot. You would think someone would have a picture on a trail camera or whatever. In the area around the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia there are mountains and deep caves that contain some of the coal mines that were a major part of the state's industry in the early part of the 19 th century. Do Mountain Lions Attack Humans? I receive about one email or phone call a month, on average, from people that I do not know who are contacting me because their sighting compelled them to do a Google search on puma sightings, and they found my site and previously posted questions. They mostly live in the far western Trans-Pecos region of the state, where they can freely roam 50,000 to 80,000 acres of land. Is it the New Best Pack? The large tracts of untouched rocky land and bighorn sheep populations make for pristine mountain lion habitat. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. When he isn't distracted by his backyard birdfeeder, you can find him camping, exploring, and telling everyone around him about what he's recently learned. There are approximately 4,000 of those 10- to 40-pound cats in the state. They once inhabited the entire United States, but were killed off and pushed west. Melanism is the reverse, where there is an abundance of dark or black pigmentation. Reports of a mountain lion have come from several residents of Hemlock Farms who were hiking on. Can so many people be so wrong? However, if you've seen a mountain lion, or other mystery creature, or evidence of either, in Pennsylvania, contact outdoor writer Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.). The Cascade Mountains are an important habitat for mountain lions in the region, and a stable population lives within the state. Cougar vs Mountain Lion What Are the Differences? Possibly, but it seems unlikely that enough would have been released or had escaped to make for a viable population. "From people that I trust have had visual sightings, they've seen mountain lions.". What would account for the long tails? The coat can be spotted or solid. At one time this fact almost resulted in this cat not being protected, since it wasn't a pure strain. So what? The large, undeveloped interior filled with rocky habitats perfect for mountain lions allows them to safely live and breed. Most, quite honestly, don't know or can't believe or accept what they saw, they really can't believe their eyes. One came to her as the result of an owner's divorce. Same story as 'black panthers' across the country, because of course there, scientifically, can be no such thing. Thank you for reading! Remember, this one was photographed in Arizona in good puma country, although this was the first one I've recorded there. Mountain lions have killed humans in the wild, though sightings and encounters are rare even in the American West and Canada. On the second night, a mountain lion passed by, apparently drawn by the smell but put off by the stench, as the cat did not visit the kill. And this genetic mix has been recognized, and the Florida puma is still protected. These powerful, majestic creatures once lived across much of the country but have since been killed or pushed out of most of it. I don't know if a Game Commission authority has actually said this or not, but people I've spoken to have reported this. "The day will come," he said, "when someone will pull the trigger on a mountain lion.". (570) 325-3229. In many regions, the population within the state is actually increasing! Two other reports went, in detail, on what they saw, the size, the length of tail, etc. (National Park Service). The last documented sighting of an eastern cougar was one killed in Maine in 1938. And yet today the debate continues: Are there mountain lions in Pennsylvania? I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. Reports generally go uninvestigated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which discounts them as mistaken identities, illegal pets escaped or released and outright fabrications. RelatedBigfoot, mountain lions, and other mythical creatures: PA officials discuss what they know. And, some may be escaped or illegally released pets. It also mentioned that someone raising a mountain lion without a license may either have let it go when it became too large to handle, or that the animal had escaped. The Golden State has one of the largest populations of mountain lions in the country. But the point of this article isn't whether or not mountain lions exist in Pennsylvania or the Poconos. Here, they've not been," Lau said in an e-mail. The mountain lion, which is also called a cougar, puma or panther, weighs on average between 75-120 pounds, has long whiskers and a distinctive swooping tail. The rounded ears, I believe Kross fully, but I wanted to hear more. Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania? He knows and was familiar with bobcats, and it was not a weird house cat that he and his friends misjudged in size. Like Rocky, Nia is declawed. There is a small breeding population in the state, despite being killed off in the 1920s. The question is just like in the story of the boy who cried wolf) if that day ever arrives, how will we believe those first, true sightings after so many hoaxes have been perpetrated on the public? The Pennsylvania Game Commission is always open to review evidence, but to date only hoaxes have crossed the PGC. Encouraged by the bounties, settlers waged war on these perceived beasts. They regularly join the camp of those angrily claiming the commission has introduced the big cats back into Pennsylvania as a control measure against the state's huge deer population. In the wild, adult mountain lions can weigh anywhere from 65 to 220 pounds. He wrote that not being a roving animal, the mountain lion was much sooner destroyed than the wolf, and he said that if there were any left, it would have to be in the most desolate places in the county. Mountain Lions - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) NPS.gov Park Home Learn About the Park Nature Animals Mammals Mountain Lion Mountain Lion Last updated: May 4, 2018 Was this page helpful? It was definitely a mountain lion, and it had a big buck, white-tailed deer in its jaws. Most of the people I've spoken with live in this belt, but biologists friends I've spoken with have told me of their own reports, first-hand, from hunters in the Poconos who saw pumas, too. A bobcat gives you a warm, that-kind-of-looks-like-my-cat-but-slightly-bigger feeling. the more visible white on the chest, the lack of spots, the huge hind quarters. I'd love to hear of any reports you have. For many who have believed to have seen a cougar in the wilds of the Poconos, these arguments might be less than convincing. If we continue to be bombarded with manipulated photos and untrue claims in most cases by people who just want to get attention then we may be very resistant to accepting the "real McCoy" if or when) one finally arrives. By the time he returned the vehicle was gone, and so was the cat, and no mention was ever made of this road kill in a radio or newspaper report. I don't want to seem like a nut case here, but I must ask this question and you'll soon understand why? Newspapers carried stories in 1956 about hunters supposedly seeing and killing wolves in Pike and Monroe Counties. Here's a glimpse at what long-gone Pocono beasts the region's very first wave of residents may have seen, and the wild things that followed up to as late as the early 20th century. The hunting policy of the state may be the cause of the dropping population, and pressure on the Fish and Game Commission has increased. The same goes for New York and several other eastern states. I regularly ask hunters and outdoors people if they've ever seen a mountain lion, or know of anyone that has. Colby is a freelance writer from Charlotte, North Carolina. Despite reported sightings throughout the East, including Pennsylvania, and a confirmed mountain lion killed in Connecticut in 2011, there has been no evidence that any of those cats were native . There is no known estimate of the number of mountain lions inhabiting Texas. What you wouldn't expect to find here anymore is a mountain lion. And yes, there are people in Pennsylvania who say they exist here. Below is a list of physical characteristics that distinguish mountain lions from more . The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Only when I reviewed the images on my laptop did I discover that I had a mountain lion! While it would seem impossible to confuse the two after seeing them in person, Foster said many of the sightings are in the dark, from roadways and trail cams, with bodies half-concealed. "They preyed upon the caribou, and probably the mastodon," Leslie wrote of these large animals flourishing on the grasses and cold-climate flora that sprouted following the glacier's retreat. do I get an immediate, 'Oh yeah!' No evidence has ever been produced to support those charges. Although there was no evidence that the 2011 mountain lion ever set foot in Pennsylvania, DNA evidence confirmed that it had been both west and east of the state. Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? Everyone is familiar with albinism, the absence of pigmentation that results in a white, essentially pigment free animal, defined by pink skin and pink eyes. The Pocono Mountains are located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. In the forests of Kenya, however, they do occur. Where can I find Depth of Field reference charts? Mountain lions are 7-9 feet, while bobcats are 3 feet long. Perhaps my Fed Ex driver was simply recalling a rural legend, but he said it was an employee that he knew, and it was a story he heard first-hand. I've done this myself once, in Tanzania, when I saw a black house cat that I thought was a black leopard! For information on predator tracks, check out this guide: https://www.wildliferemoval.com/animal-track-identification-guide/, Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Some may also be kept illicitly as pets, which would quickly become a problem as the cat matures. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and I've seen about 10 black bears in Pennsylvania, and all within ten miles of my home. The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. Some have even reported seeing a "black panther," a near-impossibility because of the rarity of that recessive gene. If you see or photograph a puma in the mid-Atlantic states, please email or call me. Geologist Dr. John Yolton made the identification. It is almost safe to say that the panther has in these parts become extinct, Goodrich wrote. Ironically, I almost deleted the image, as on the small camera LCD monitor the cat was small and I thought that it was just another deer that moved along the stream. All rights reserved (About Us). (What is meant by "heads" is not clear.). The mountain lion is a large, slender cat, with a long rope-like tail. The 'look' is from my In some areas, entire populations of a species exhibit this trait, for unlike albinism, which results in a conspicuous white color and light-sensitive pink eyes, there are no ill effects with melanism. About six months ago I posted the question, Are there Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania? One of the important things for any animal is a place to call home. A few could, perhaps, be mistaken idenity. with a fluted projectile point were found near Middletown, Orange County, New York. "When I started telling people, most of them didn't believe me, but I will never forget that huge face staring right at me," said a Montgomery County woman who says she saw a lion last summer in Limerick Township while walking her dog. Then there is Rocky. Known as the Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania, there are four trails that lead to the cascades from the Bushkill Falls trailhead, each ranging in . There had been 17 other mastodon finds in Pennsylvania up to 1968, but all were fragmentary. I've seen about 20 mountain lions, or pumas, in the field, but all but 2 were in Chile. Murray has cared for four mountain lions since she took over the rescue in 1998. Suppose, instead of declaring the puma, or Eastern mountain lion, extinct, the USFWS actually recognized the existence of the cat as a wild, breeding species. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. original web site, although if I ever have enough time I might I wanted to know if they're here, so I called some people I trust and asked them one simple question: Are there mountain lions in Pennsylvania? Cougar Network tracks mountain lion expansion from the western U.S. to the east. The Cougar Network, working with state agencies, have documented multiple mountain lions as far east as Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan in recent years, as well as one cat killed on a highway in Milford, Connecticut, in June 2011. "I thought I had a sighting in the late '90s," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation park ranger Chris Kross said. Mountain Lions do remain in the western states and there is evidence that in 2011, a mountain lion migrated about 1,500 miles from South Dakota to Connecticut where it was killed by a. The State Museum of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg, displays a taxidermy mount of a mountain lion in glass case, with the notation, "This lion, found near Hawk Mountain in Berks County around 1871, is the last native mountain lion known to have been shot in Pennsylvania.". Most of the native mountain lions live in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, but humans rarely ever see them due to their secretive nature. However, many of my reports were at distances that people knew, and as you look at the images of the puma there really is a big difference in color and shape between a puma and a house cat. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Erosion from glacial melt and violence glaciers did to the land left a. They're common in the rural areas of the Lehigh Valley but are moving into more populated areas as evidenced by a 600-pound specimen (pictured) that was tranquilized in March after neighbors in. They know what they saw, regardless of what the facts say, and they know they saw a puma. Bobcats tend to be darker brown, with lighter belly fur and spots while mountain lions tend to be more uniform brown, tawny color. Knowing that pumas range widely, would my ridge be the only one closed? The coat can be spotted or solid and varies in color from light browns, reddish and silvery grey. There are also big swaths of thick of forests in parts of the state. However, it is clearly a mountain lion, and I'm presenting this poor image as a baseline reference for anyone recording a mountain lion on a game camera, or seeing one. On that note, I was speaking with a Fed Ex driver recently who told me that one of his colleagues had seen what he swore was a dead mountain lion on the side of a road. Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. Many of those claiming to have encountered a cougar in Pennsylvania take that non-confirmation by the commission as an attack on their veracity and character. Jones has never seen a mountain lion, but he thinks they're prowling around. I've know of reports since 1973, in Cooke Forest, the heart of a lot of Pa. wilderness. Did they migrate south from Canada? There are an estimated 3,000 - 7,000 Mountain lions in Colorado. A dark brown puma, backlighted by a strong sun, could appear all black, or very dark, and he accepted that. But more and more people in Pennsylvania, from the Alleghenies to the Poconos to rolling farmlands in York County, claim they are seeing the big cats here, even though the state's "last" native lion, also known as a cougar or puma, was shot and killed in Berks County in 1871 and the feds have declared the Eastern subspecies extinct. He saw a big cat. The life cycle then repeats itself. With that hope in mind, I have, for years, asked outdoors people if they ever heard of a mountain lion, or puma, in their area -- with my questioning limited to people in my home state of Pennsylvania. Let me explain this. Arkansas isnt somewhere that we would generally think of when looking for mountain lions, but they are on the rebound! The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. With healthy populations and strong conservation programs, however, they seem to be pushing back east. This animal was undoubtedly a bobcat. What equipment do we take in the field? Armand Martinelli isn't only the mayor of East Stroudsburg, he's also a hunter who is connected with plenty of people in the area. Claws 'N' Paws Animal Park in Lake Ariel has two. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? Biologists who investigate these reports claim that several may, indeed, be mountain lions, but most likely they're animals that have escaped from captivity or have been released by their. Goodrich said he once saw a mountain lion spring from a thicket and kill a sheep on a public road. Among those who have investigated the primeval times of the Pocono Plateau and Delaware River valleys and tributaries was the late Vernon Leslie, Ph.D., a Wayne County historian and archaeologist. . ? An animal's coat can stray far from the norm. DNA collected from the mountain lion killed on a roadway in Connecticut in 2011 showed the animal to have originated in South Dakota. If we say it ain't so, it ain't so! They've been extinct in the eastern part of North America for more than a century. Among other uses, the tax was levied "for destroying wolves, foxes, heads and crows." He saw his cat at very close range -- 20 yards or less, and when I pointed out to him that pumas are never black he said that perhaps it was the light. The last known mountain lion in Pennsylvania was killed in Berks County in 1874. Those special two were across a river just outside Glacier National Park in Montana, and consisted of a mother and two cubs (Mary saw both cubs, I only saw one, and we did so separately, as we were driving two vehicles). All rights reserved. Some cats had a South American genetic profile. I'm wondering, then, if the complete dismissal of sightings of Eastern pumas (other than the acknowledgement of released or escaped pets) isn't motivated by economics. Periodically, via Google searches, I receive reports from people who believe they had seen a mountain lion in Pennsylvania, or in other mid-Atlantic states. "We should be getting more pictures. The state of Idaho is large, expansive, and full of rocky wilderness. Pocono Record sports writer Mike Kuhns wrote a great piece on Oct. 14, "Does the mountain lion roam PA?" Flying over the area, I've looked down and commented upon the amount of habitat that would be available for a puma, if only they existed. She also houses a bobcat named Nia she took in from a couple who couldn't handle her. I believe them. I think it is possible that recognizing the existence of pumas in the East could jeopardize this industry and an entire economy. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. Now, if there were any escapes, and if any of these bred with a possible minuscule number of eastern pumas, a relic native population, wouldn't the gene pool be corrupted? Their are two web sites I know of that dealt with eastern pumas, with the one, the Eastern Puma Research Network, concentrating on sightings in the east. However, my friend and I discussed this, and agreed, we saw what we saw, and had it been 40 years ago or four months ago, we knew we saw a coyote. A law was passed March 10, 1806, requiring the county to pay the person producing the scalp of a full-grown wolf or cougar, $8, and for the scalp of a young whelp or cub, $4. No projectile points or spearheads were found with the remains, indicating the animal may have died naturally rather than killed by native hunters. In this at this distant epoch, archaeologists attempt to clear some of the mists and mysteries of prehistoric times. Mountain Lion Reports In books I've read critical or skeptical or down-right dismissive of the idea of pumas in the East, the argument has been advanced that the hopefull puma-dreamer/spotters arguing that the State needs to prove pumas don't exist does not mean that in the State not proving this means that pumas indeed do exist in this state. I don't believe someone's imagination could stretch a six inch long tail to three feet! An escapee is also possible. Mountain lions that are looking for new breeding areas are known as transient and are almost always males. But this one was black, and he knows mountain lions are some variant of brown. Florida is the only state on the east coast with a breeding population of mountain lions. A second image of the same cat, in a different light, reveals the trademark spots of a bobcat.