What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? The Asa Packer Mansion, built in the year 1861, is a historic house museum. Are there Mountain Lions (Pumas, Cougars) in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic States? Check out our online field guide to read more in this series. The record size for this species is 8 feet, and it probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds, which shows how exaggerated this claim is. Check out the tails of the two! They once inhabited the entire United States, but were killed off and pushed west. But Dave "Gadget" Jones, a retired wildlife conservation officer from Lackawanna County, claims he's seen a white bigfoot and a UFO in Pennsylvania, so who knows? "We've been here 45 years and I've probably been told by people at least 100 times that they've seen a cougar or mountain lion," said owner Vince Hall. A brief look, yes, but no question we saw a coyote. It will happen eventually. Let me explain this. There is also a small population of cougars in Florida. How do I deal with shaving weight for carrying my gear? It seems unlikely, considering captives have never shown this trait, but people are reporting big black cats. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Big cats in Pennsylvania: mountain lions or bobcats? - Pocono Record While the chances that I'll ever see a puma in Pennsylvania myself are virtually zero, I'm always on the alert -- for the bobcat I've never seen in Pa., for a fisher, bear, deer, red salamander, toad, or snake, and yes, I'm always hoping that I too will become one of those who saw something that officially cannot exist within the state, a puma I know I saw but, of course, could not have! According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the last Pennsylvania mountain lion was killed in the late 1800s. I've done this myself once, in Tanzania, when I saw a black house cat that I thought was a black leopard! The State cites that there are no road-kills, and in a heavily trafficed state like Pennsylvania there should be kills. The mountain lion is a large, slender cat, with a long rope-like tail. On that, I've had emails sent with game trail photo attachments, or killed pumas, supposedly shot in Pennsylvania, but these were hoaxes. 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. 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 Yellowstone, definite puma country (perhaps not ideal habitat, but pumas are found in every section of Yellowstone), I've spoken to guys on road crews and with rangers, each with 20 years of field or road experience in Yellowstone, and the ranger had only seen 2 (both road kills and together) and the road crew guys two or three in all their years. Is there a Puma conspiracy? The bones were found perfectly preserved. Wyoming has a historically stable population of mountain lions, but recent drops in numbers have caused some to worry. Over time, cats that had been released in Florida, probably pets that outlived their welcome, bred with the native puma, and their genes mingled. The mountain lion population in Nevada is essential to the control of deer and rodent populations in the mountainous regions of the state. I have three observations here: 1. After a small population was reintroduced into their historic land, their population has grown to a stable and breeding group of between 200-300 individuals. Caribou meat apparently was part of their diet. Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? Several populations of Gray Squirrels scattered around the country are black, and recently I heard of a neighborhood of black Eastern Chipmunks. Would a puma then qualify as a native species? The rounded ears, So how or why could there be a conspiracy? At one time this fact almost resulted in this cat not being protected, since it wasn't a pure strain. Colorado has a large number of mountain lions within its borders, mostly due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. He also published a follow-up on Oct. 15 with the same mountain lion-deer hoax photo, as well as personal stories from several local residents who claim they've seen mountain lions in the Poconos. Bushkill Falls Trail. 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. Let me know if you have seen one! This one streaked across the road in the early evening, and fortunately, it stopped when it climbed a hill on the other side where I had another view from my side of the truck. The last documented sighting of an eastern cougar was one killed in Maine in 1938. The bounty for adult wolves and cougars was raised on March 16, 1819 to $12. 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. But an image captured by one family's. I believe Kross fully, but I wanted to hear more. An escapee is also possible. The other site, The Cougar Network, is still active, and is reporting the cats expanding range from the West, but offers little about the phenomenon of Pennsylvania cats. 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. In Pennsylvania, I receive a few reports of black, big cats, which makes one wonder -- are there melanistic (black) pumas out there, or are those sightings always wrong. Mountain lions that are looking for new breeding areas are known as transient and are almost always males. Are there pumas, or mountain lions, in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic States? Most of my original Questions of the Month for the last several Two different people told me that they, or a close relative, had seen pumas on more than one occasion. Why do I advocate manual exposure so avidly? But even without that second look there was no question that we'd seen a coyote. I am bothered by the constricted neck of the cat on the game camera; 2. the tail is curved down, rather than up, but it may have been in mid-swing; 3. the goldenrod-appearing flower, and the background of cars, gives a sense of scale and location. Officially extinct, mountain lions still haunt the Adirondacks 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. 2023 www.poconorecord.com. with a fluted projectile point were found near Middletown, Orange County, New York. 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. It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? - pennlive.com Do Mountain Lions Attack Humans? In July and August I received seven different reports, and everyone involved had done a search of some type to compare images of bobcats and pumas. Depends on who you talk to, I guess. The 2,400-square-mile area has long been a popular outdoor recreation area boasting hunting, fishing, skiing, and more. Continuing with that thought, if that were so, then it'd be possible, if not very likely, that the Eastern puma would be an Endangered Species. He knows and was familiar with bobcats, and it was not a weird house cat that he and his friends misjudged in size. However, if it doesn't exist, and if someone saw one, wouldn't there be a worry that it was a dangerous escapee? They're seeing an animal they don't know or recognize, and while some may be watching a smaller bobcat about 35 pounds), some believe they've actually spotted a cougar. What the Lenape Indians never did, the European colonists and their descendants did swiftly eradicate the wolf and cougars viewed as a menace to their families and livestock. With healthy populations and strong conservation programs, however, they seem to be pushing back east. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one game camera image that still looks very credible to me. These creatures lurking in Pa.'s woods can hurt or kill you That may be true, or was once true, but even a declawed puma, if it can survive off rabbits and squirrels, and breeds, its offspring would be fully equipted to survive. I think it is possible that recognizing the existence of pumas in the East could jeopardize this industry and an entire economy. In captivity mountain, lions can live to be about 20 years old. So it happens, and who knows if it is existing in wild pumas in the East. Now consider: If it was confirmed that there was a breeding population of endangered pumas on the mountain ridge behind my house, if the USFWS recognized the existence of this endangered species, what might happen? None of these sightings has been authenticated, and many of them, including a recent, alleged mountain lion picked up on a surveillance camera in Lackawanna County, turned out to be bobcats. 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. Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. "We should be getting more pictures. You be the judge. Recently, on our Arizona Hummingbird and Bat Photo Shoot, I found a deer that had been hit by a car and had moved off to die beside a stream just 200 yards upstream from our lodge. Remember, this one was photographed in Arizona in good puma country, although this was the first one I've recorded there. "From three really reliable sources who are always around the woods from Monroe County to Bradford, there is no doubt that there are mountain lions in Pennsylvania," East Stroudsburg University football team offensive coordinator and avid hunter Mike Terwilliger said. ARE THERE MOUNTAIN LIONS IN PA? - Page 8 - Pennsylvania Firearm Owners In August, Amy Walters said her 12-year-old son was spooked by a mountain lion in Forest County in northwest Pennsylvania while riding his dirt bike. In 2011, a confirmed mountain lion was killed by a vehicle in Connecticut and which had been determined that it had wandered east from the Mid-West. Did they migrate south from Canada? Here's an example: A man is holding a dead eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which was found in North Carolina and measured more than 9 feet long and weighed 95 pounds. 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. An animal's coat can stray far from the norm. 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. 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.". Those cats for which DNA evidence was recovered had come east from South Dakota, part of the known, modern-day, U.S. mountain lion range. If you see a puma (mountain lion-cougar), contact me. Mountain lions can live in almost any habitat including forests, prairies, deserts, and swamps. "Hunters are always saying they see mountain lions, and the Game Commission always says there aren't any," said Robert Hale, owner of Buffalo Gap Outfitters in Dillsburg. They've been extinct in the eastern part of North America for more than a century. Leap transferred ownership rights to the state. There are at least 20,000 black bears in Pa., and a small percentage are killed each year, but we're probably not talking about 20,000 pumas in the state. A mastodon's skull was first located in Marshalls Creek, Monroe County, on July 5, 1968. See also: Still, people say they know what they saw out there. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. Adults are a uniform tan or tawny in color, with a white or cream-colored chin, undersides and inner legs. 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. 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. A tiny population of Florida cougars persists in the southeastern corner of the United States. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one. I was heading up the road and I saw an animal with a long tail.". After all, skeptics often suggest that puma sightings are just deer sightings, so it would be logical to worry that a hunter might shoot an endangered puma, mistaking it for a brown deer. I'm thinking of the solution often suggested for pesky endangered species out west, namely wolves and grizzly bears. It was decided that this shouldn't influence the decision and, in fact, an infusion of new genes produces a hybrid vigor, lessening the chance of in-breeding. Geologist Dr. John Yolton made the identification. Known as the Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania, there are four trails that lead to the cascades from the Bushkill Falls trailhead, each ranging in . However, recently I saw a photo of a melanistic bobcat, as black as could be, with bright yellow eyes. 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? The reintroduction of mountain lions into South Dakota is one of the great wins of modern conservation. 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. Transient males have been sighted as far east as New York! Just take your pick of all these incredible Pocono lake house rentals or just a Pocono cabin for rent, in luxury of course! 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. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. The last known mountain lion in Pennsylvania was killed in Berks County in 1874. (What is meant by "heads" is not clear.). I don't believe someone's imagination could stretch a six inch long tail to three feet! While there have been no confirmed occurrences of mountain lions in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, dozens . Cougar Network tracks mountain lion expansion from the western U.S. to the east. 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. The woman, a 66-year-old grandmother, asked not to be identified because she's a senior and didn't want people "bothering" her about it. Instead, the person usually pauses, sometimes with a sheepish or embarrassed expression on his face, and seems reluctant to continue. I have not spoken with a Game Commission officer personally, so I don't know whether anyone killing a puma in Pennsylvania could do so without legal repercussions. DNR: Fish & Wildlife: Mountain Lion I want to believe they're here, but I'm having some trouble. Below is a list of physical characteristics that distinguish mountain lions from more . 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. He also noted that if the cat was here, wouldn't they be reproducing and increasing in population by now? 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. This ideal habitat allows for a large population of 2,000 mountain lions to thrive. Some experts predict that this wide-ranging predator, which can travel 600 miles in search of a territory, will surely reach our eastern states sometime in the next few decades. 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. 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. Here in central Pennsylvania we live on the outskirts of what one puma-tracking website has as almost the high point of sightings, extending from north-central Pennsylvania in a southwestern diagonal that extends into the mountains of West Virginia. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. Over the last few months several people have responded to this question with reports of their own. At the end of the last Ice Age, many animals in Pennsylvania died out. The next day, the photo disappeared from the site. When I first discovered this fresh carcass I examined it for throat punctures, thinking that it may have been killed by a puma. Pocono Mountains - Wikipedia Imagine my surprise. . I can't dismiss the eye-witnesses I've interviewed. Bobcats, feral cats and domestic dogs may be misidentified as mountain lion. 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. Controlled hunting of mountain lions is allowed within the state. The cat was far enough away that I couldn't get a size reference, and I believed the cat was further away than it actually was. 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. On some investigations, Foster has teamed up with Stacey Griffiths, who started the Central PA Mountain Lion Sightings page earlier this year. On a recent stifling morning in Adams County, the 290-pound mountain lion with perfect bone structure is ignoring the raw chicken breast and pork chops a handler tossed into his pen. By the mid-1900s pumas were eliminated from almost all of the eastern states, and by mid-century were officially extinct east of the Mississippi, except for a remnant population in southern Florida. A recent alleged sighting in South Abington Township, Lackawanna County, had Facebook groups abuzz. Today, we are going to explore the 15 US states that have mountain lions, plus a few others that may have some.