Connecticut Mountain Lion

[uniface]

CNN) -- A mountain lion was killed in a car accident in Milford, Connecticut, on Saturday and authorities say the cat may have been the same one spotted this week in nearby Greenwich.

Mountain lion killed by car on Connecticut highway - CNN.com

[cgode]

Yup, not far from my house....20 minutes or so. I heard about this yesterday morning when it happened. DEP ( Department of Environmental Protection) officials say this cat was probably someones illegal "pet" and were very quick to point that out.
There has been a controversy here for years regarding the possibility of cougars here in the North East.....frequent claims of sightings but never any positive evidence. There have been pictures taken by witnesses but they always seem to be from such a large distance or very blurry that the officials have been able to explain them away as mistaken identity for a bobcat which are native....however, bobcats and mountain lions look NOTHING alike!!!...even from a distance it's easy to see if the animal has a short tail(bobcat) or long tail (mountain lion) not to mention the size difference.
Without a lengthy explanation, I happen to know most of the DEP officers personally. Two years ago now, one of the officers told me a story of a reported horse that had been injured by some kind of wild animal, again.....about 30 minutes from my house. I saw him on an unrelated matter the same day he investigated the attack. The pictures of the injuries were impressive, appeared to be large lacerations on the hind quarters of a large horse....he gave me a look and stated..."officially this is an attack by either bobcat or coyote"....and that was what he was told to say by high up officials. The pictures disappeared as far as I know....they were never seen in the media. He stated "off the record"....this sure looked to me like a big cat but I didn't say that!

[joyce]

Thanks for sharing that about the Lion, never knew they were in that state! I am starting to wonder why we are hearing so many stories of Mountain Lions being seen and killed in places that are not where we think of them to be???? Joyce

[cgode]

Yea, I'm not sure if I buy into the whole thing that they are here or not, the state is pretty densely populated but I guess there could be a small cougar population....this cat on the road sure makes you wonder though especially when you couple it with the horse incident.
The State officially adamantly denies it though, which also sends up a red flag.

[mbrown1833]

i heard the state of new jersey was thinking of releasing the mountain lion to tame the coyote numbers. didnt they release the coyote for the turkey deer and rabbit? man this is getting out of hand! humans playing god? this is getting heated.

[ghost recon]

I've personally seen two big cats in Va., and heard what had to be one this year. I almost hit one on the Blue Ridge Parkway one night. Came to a screeching halt to miss what I thought was a large dog, opened the door and looked back to see a dark colored cat with a huge tail run across the road. About the size of an adult Lab I'd guess. I was catfishing earlier this spring and was about half asleep and was woken up to a loud scream from a ridge behind me, my buddy and I think it was a wild cat.

There have been many sightings in the alleghany mts of va. You won't get any official confirmation on them though, they stay tight lipped on the subject. Many people think they have been reintroduced to curb the deer population, others think they migrated from Florida where they thrive in the wild.

With sightings in Va., Wv., Pa., Ky., and elsewhere I think it's safe to say there are large wild cats in the east now.

[mbrown1833]

haven't people learned about what releasing them has done? vancouver is a prime example.

[paleoman]

Originally Posted by ghost recon

I've personally seen two big cats in Va., and heard what had to be one this year. I almost hit one on the Blue Ridge Parkway one night. Came to a screeching halt to miss what I thought was a large dog, opened the door and looked back to see a dark colored cat with a huge tail run across the road. About the size of an adult Lab I'd guess. I was catfishing earlier this spring and was about half asleep and was woken up to a loud scream from a ridge behind me, my buddy and I think it was a wild cat.

There have been many sightings in the alleghany mts of va. You won't get any official confirmation on them though, they stay tight lipped on the subject. Many people think they have been reintroduced to curb the deer population, others think they migrated from Florida where they thrive in the wild.

With sightings in Va., Wv., Pa., Ky., and elsewhere I think it's safe to say there are large wild cats in the east now.

Hey Ghost I saw one here in NC back in the early 80's near the small "town" Healing Springs in Davidson Co. Naturally NO one believed the sighting because "they aren't in NC"... This one ran crossed the road in front of us middle of the day like a streak of lightning. Like you said super long thick tail, it hit the middle of the road and shot up the ditch bank in like 2 bounds. Amazing thing to witness. One of the guys that was in the car was a botany student at NC State, a real nature freak if there ever was one, his jaw dropped and said "was that what I think it was"?!?!

[ghost recon]

Originally Posted by paleoman

Hey Ghost I saw one here in NC back in the early 80's near the small "town" Healing Springs in Davidson Co. Naturally NO one believed the sighting because "they aren't in NC"... This one ran crossed the road in front of us middle of the day like a streak of lightning. Like you said super long thick tail, it hit the middle of the road and shot up the ditch bank in like 2 bounds. Amazing thing to witness. One of the guys that was in the car was a botany student at NC State, a real nature freak if there ever was one, his jaw dropped and said "was that what I think it was"?!?!

That's interesting, they're are alot of remote wilderness areas all along the Appalachian mts where they could stay hidden. Seeing a bobcat in the wild is a pretty cool site but a big cat that's two or three times bigger is a jaw dropper for sure. My neighbor has seen one too, and I know about four other people who have had sightings all in the same general area.

[joshuaream]

Originally Posted by ghost recon

others think they migrated from Florida where they thrive in the wild.

It would be great if the Florida ones were healthy enough to breed and spread, but they aren't.

There are both original and reintroduced populations in Ontario and Quebec to our north, as well as a surprisingly high number of cats kept as pets (who get released when they get too big, too expensive to feed, or when people move.) We saw one in Kentucky a couple of years back and was told that it was an escaped pet that they had seen before.

Think about the increase in the population of deer in many states, with that much food it would be easy for a large predator to survive.