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. One might argue that the eastern puma is extinct, but that does not mean that there are not pumas (mountain lions, cougars) in the east. And book one of these Poconos cabins rentals for the best outdoor access to these activities. And yes, there are people in Pennsylvania who say they exist here. Let's see a clear photo, or a carcass or something. A dark brown puma, backlighted by a strong sun, could appear all black, or very dark, and he accepted that. Arkansas isnt somewhere that we would generally think of when looking for mountain lions, but they are on the rebound! Reports generally go uninvestigated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which discounts them as mistaken identities, illegal pets escaped or released and outright fabrications. (National Park Service). 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 that cat killed on a highway in Milford, Connecticut, in June 2011. No An official form of the United States government. Is there a Mountain Lion Conspiracy? 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. There's a saying that "things aren't always what they appear to be." So it happens, and who knows if it is existing in wild pumas in the East. Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? Pocono Mountains - Travel guide at Wikivoyage 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. Are There Mountain Lions In Pa? - CLJ When I first discovered this fresh carcass I examined it for throat punctures, thinking that it may have been killed by a puma. a high priority. The states beautiful wilderness and mountainous terrain are prime mountain lion habitats. Wyoming has a historically stable population of mountain lions, but recent drops in numbers have caused some to worry. The agency has declared extinct the eastern cougar, one of 11 subspecies ofmountain lions native to North America. Like Arizona, New Mexico is the perfect home for mountain lions. Bo Ottman is a landscaper in Connecticut who founded an . Michelle LaRue, executive director of the Cougar Network and a research ecologist at the University of Minnesota, will discuss the eastern expansion of cougars from their core range in the western U.S. at 7 p.m. in Moravian College's Haupert Union Building, Bethlehem. I have three observations here: 1. 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. Hoax photo doesn't help believability of mountain lions in Poconos This, after they were told that there were no pumas in Pa. Eastern mountain lion officially declared extinct - pennlive.com Where reports dating that far back from escapees? Transient males have been sighted as far east as New York! Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. Some have even reported seeing a "black panther," a near-impossibility because of the rarity of that recessive gene. They have almost been killed off a few times, but conservation efforts have helped to keep their numbers stable. Activities Milford Things To Do Hotels Map Of Activities Delaware Water Gap Hotels Bushkill Lake Harmony Hawley Skytop Tannersville Pocono Mountains Counties About the Poconos Pocono Mountains History Weather Area Services . The next day, the photo disappeared from the site. Mountain lions typically eat about one deer per week, along with other smaller prey as the opportunity arises. I love the big cats and devote a huge amount of my field time photographing African lions, leopards, cheetahs, and in 2011, tigers. Although size can be difficult to determine in the field, a puma will be three or four times larger than a bobcat. "If my son would have been on a pedal bike, without a helmet on, that thing would have nailed him," said Walters, 44. Unfortunately, their web site no longer seems active, and has been taken over by some wacky drug product. These creatures lurking in Pa.'s woods can hurt or kill you The skeleton was reassembled at the State Museum, where it has been on display ever since. I want to believe they're here, but I'm having some trouble. Does the mountain lion roam Pa? - Pocono Record And yet today the debate continues: Are there mountain lions in Pennsylvania? Some may be animals that dispersed into the region from western populations. There isnt an official estimate on mountain lions in the state. I had three cameras positioned, so had a cat visited, I'd have had it. All rights reserved (About Us). Mary saw the photo, too, and she immediately agreed, it was a puma. A typical home range is around 150 square miles for adult males and 50 square miles for adult females in our region. You be the judge. Recently, on a back road in Pennsylvania, a friend and I had our first sighting of a coyote in Pennsylvania. You know, the Penn State Nittany Lions.". Mountain Lion Reports What does a Puma (Mountain Lion) look like on a Game Camera? The last documented sighting of an eastern cougar was one killed in Maine in 1938. Woolly mammoth bones were discovered in Bradford County in 1983. I'll offer my own little anecdote. I am hoping that more and more people will learn of my own interest in this, and will pass on this information and that I'll receive more reports and, hopefully, sometime, a game camera photo that is definitive. What do I think of the Canon 1D Mark IV? ? 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. At one time this fact almost resulted in this cat not being protected, since it wasn't a pure strain. He's sitting in a plastic doghouse, paws crossed, amber eyes locked on the two men ticking him off by their mere presence out beyond the fence. There is also a small population of cougars in Florida. Let me explain this. The bounty for adult wolves and cougars was raised on March 16, 1819 to $12. 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. All rights reserved (About Us). 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. DCNR gave the following as examples: the saber-tooth cat; a small, three-toed horse; the Pleistocene beaver, and the mastodon. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, there are no wild, breeding cougar populations in this state anymore. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. The life cycle then repeats itself. Mountain lions thrive there due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. In Michigan, there has been multiple sightings of 'black panthers,' animals that were thought to be mountain lions, or pumas, except that they were black. Confirmed cougar sightings have increased in the Midwest and Great Lakes states in recent years.". An assessment list for Lower Smithfield Township in 1761 when it was part of Northampton County (Monroe having not yet been created) taxed "three pence per pound and shillings per head" laid on the land and inhabitants. Phineas Teeple of Manchester Township is thought to have killed the last wolf in Wayne County. with a fluted projectile point were found near Middletown, Orange County, New York. RelatedBigfoot, mountain lions, and other mythical creatures: PA officials discuss what they know. Leslie estimated that the first humans making up the Paleo-Indians lived in the upper Delaware valley as early as 11,000 B.C. 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? That's true. That summer, a team from the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg excavated the nearly complete skeleton of the ancient elephant, the first of its kind found in the Commonwealth. These powerful, majestic creatures once lived across much of the country but have since been killed or pushed out of most of it. They ponder rare fossil evidence unearthed and seek to make sense of stratified geology, both fleeting in the face of what we call progress. I think it is possible that recognizing the existence of pumas in the East could jeopardize this industry and an entire economy. 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 owners. 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. 1.8 miles, 2 hours, moderate. Interestingly, almost all of the people I've spoken to who claim to have seen a puma have not seen a bobcat, an animal that is common enough in Pennsylvania to support a legal trapping season! There are also big swaths of thick of forests in parts of the state. I've seen hoaxes, of pumas carrying deer shot with game cameras, but these were of western cats. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the last Pennsylvania mountain lion was killed in the late 1800s. Additionally, California banned the hunting of cougars back in 1972, encouraging population growth. If there were wild cougars in our midst, the Game Commission also pointed out, eventually there would be solid evidence such as a carcass, scat and paw prints that could be verified. The record size for this species is 8 feet, and it probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds, which shows how exaggerated this claim is. That's significant because, in states where mountain lions live, they're often struck by vehicles or otherwise found dead. In this at this distant epoch, archaeologists attempt to clear some of the mists and mysteries of prehistoric times. Although size can be difficult to determine in the field, a puma will be three or four times larger than a bobcat. Had this been faked, I'd suspect the hoaxter would try for a more authentic background. The head of the puma is small in comparision to a house cat when compared to the entire body. 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. But no one that I've communicated with had these preconceptions, and seeing what they saw was a complete surprise. I've seen so many examples of these distortions, exaggerations and lies over the last couple of years that I've grown very dubious about anything I see on a computer. 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. 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. Recent post: Why Is It Called Beaver Stadium? "The day will come," he said, "when someone will pull the trigger on a mountain lion.". Encouraged by the bounties, settlers waged war on these perceived beasts. Caribou meat apparently was part of their diet. For example, one man I interviewed said he saw a 'black' puma, and this should disqualify his sighting as a black puma has never been recorded. Who knows? Never has this been more accurate than in today's digital, computerized world. Geologist Dr. John Yolton made the identification. The cat is known to live in the western U.S. and Florida, South America and Canada. "I kind of doubt they saw a cougar, but I'm not God.". I believe them. Check out the tails of the two! Many of the reports I receive are extremely credible. But many others believe wild mountain lions are traveling from Western states, where as many as 30,000 could exist, and across the Midwest to Pennsylvania seeking new territory. 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. Yet, except for Florida, which has about 100 of them "Florida panthers"), no eastern state has a verifiable population of these large 100- to 200-pound cats that were extirpated 100 years ago. There also were camels, sloth and hyena, which migrated elsewhere. To learn more about "lion country" in Colorado check here. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. As you can see from the above images it is very difficult to confuse the two if you have a good view. Mt Lions in WV, NY, and PA - Hoot Hollow It had been captured in Florida, and was to be released. I believe Kross fully, but I wanted to hear more. 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. Ramapough Lenape chief: National park in PA and NJ would be among 'most destructive things' since colonization, Bigfoot, mountain lions, and other mythical creatures: PA officials discuss what they know, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. These experiences are still available, but the reality is there is so much more for the mature traveler to enjoy in the Pocono Mountains. Currently, mountain lions seem to be making a comeback in regard to their historic range. And this genetic mix has been recognized, and the Florida puma is still protected. Is there a correct position for the upright on a Wimberley actionhead? I usually follow-up on these reports and, via email or phone conversations, I receive more details. 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. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. I believe that the folks that are reporting, in detail, their sightings are faced with a similar situation. At one time this fact almost resulted in this cat not being protected, since it wasn't a pure strain. Here it is: I still couldn't get the big head/little neck, and the body is a bit stouter/shorter, but a striding cat might be stretched out a bit. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. So, couldn't that same argument apply to pumas in the Northeast? . Mountain lions were once widespread across North America, but their range shrunk dramatically as they were pursued through unregulated hunting and by farmers aiming to protect their livestock, and moved off the landscape by habitat fragmentation. In Michigan, there has been multiple sightings of 'black panthers,' animals that were thought to be mountain lions, or pumas, except that they were black. 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. "While it seems unlikely, it's not impossible that these animals are showing up in PA," said David Foster, a biology professor at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg. One man, in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania, had seen one, at night, about 25 years ago. Mountain lions can live in almost any habitat including forests, prairies, deserts, and swamps. That solution: Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up. 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. 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! There had been 17 other mastodon finds in Pennsylvania up to 1968, but all were fragmentary. Are there Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic States? State Game Officials do concede that some people may indeed have seen a puma, but it was undoubtedly a released captive. Mountain lions live almost everywhere in the state of Washington. The Pocono Mountains are located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). Do Mountain Lions Attack Humans? Are there Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania? Among other uses, the tax was levied "for destroying wolves, foxes, heads and crows." Have some feedback for us? Colorado is the perfect habitat for mountain lions. I Googled "Pocono mountain lion" and there it was the same photo, except the caption claimed that it was taken in Oklahoma, not Pennsylvania, and various posted comments asserted that the photo was manipulated. The state of Idaho is large, expansive, and full of rocky wilderness. 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. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? 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. Jones has never seen a mountain lion, but he thinks they're prowling around. They are generally believed to be young cats roaming in search of new breeding territories to claim as their own. Pocono Mountains - Wikipedia Mountain lions (cougars, pumas, and more) are among the top predators that live in the United States. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Where they always here as a relic population? Mountain lions' canines are 3 to 4 inches long. Mountain lions, which continue to be reported across Pennsylvania throughout the year, are officially extinct east of the Mississippi River and north of Florida, according to the U.S. For our list, we only included US states with a stable breeding population. The Pocono Mountains are . Did they migrate south from Canada? Many have a desire to see some clear-cut evidence. A second image of the same cat, in a different light, reveals the trademark spots of a bobcat. Erosion from glacial melt and violence glaciers did to the land left a. If youve done any research on your own, you may have noticed that we didnt include a lot of states that have had cougar sightings, especially in the last few years. Ashley Catherine Fontones, Pocono Record. Features Writer Micaela Hood is signing off with the Pocono Record after five years of covering arts, culture, entertainment and sports in northeastern . The large, undeveloped interior filled with rocky habitats perfect for mountain lions allows them to safely live and breed. Let me explain this. Mountain lion populations struggle to outpace the high hunting limits. If it were, it would be listed. 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. As the latest hoaxed photo of a mountain lion supposedly killed in Pennsylvania died a slow death on Facebook yesterday, the head of an organization tracking the eastern movements of the big cats was preparing a presentation for a Pennsylvania audience tonight. 10 Stunning Mountains In Pennsylvania - AZ Animals 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. 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. "It's fall bow-hunting season soon," he said. In the forests of Kenya, however, they do occur. Let's say the facts indicate that there have been a lot of 'pet' pumas, and many of these escaped. 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. Many people have claimed to see them, and this writer chronicled numerous such reports in the local press from the mid-1990s to the 2010s. 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.
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