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. So how or why could there be a conspiracy? I'll be anxious to learn of your report. There are controlled hunting laws in the state of Oregon. 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. The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. Recently, a man I spoke with told me that he was reminded of a sighting he and two friends had 20 years earlier, and after recalling the incident he was motivated to call his college buddies and reflect on their observation. 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. During this time, male mountain lions will travel in search of females. They are generally believed to be young cats roaming in search of new breeding territories to claim as their own. 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. There is a small breeding population in the state, despite being killed off in the 1920s. More Questions about Pumas in Pennsylvania. Sadly, the hunting guidelines for cougars in Idaho are lax, with 400-600 cats being killed each year. 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. More conclusive evidence is needed: Keep your cameras handy. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? WATCH: Sharks biting alligators, the most epic lion battles, and MUCH more. But the point of this article isn't whether or not mountain lions exist in Pennsylvania or the Poconos. "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. Florida is the only state on the east coast with a breeding population of mountain lions. He said he'd never forget the sighting, but it was only when he saw another, a few months ago, in daylight, from his cabin, that he decided it was time to tell someone. The 2,400-square-mile area has long been a popular outdoor recreation area boasting hunting, fishing, skiing, and more. The large tracts of untouched rocky land and bighorn sheep populations make for pristine mountain lion habitat. Are the various States guilty of essentially the same thing? 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. Where they always here as a relic population? 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? Over the last two years I have occasionally posted a Question of the Month soliciting sightings from people who believed that they have seen a mountain lion in Pennsylvania or in other areas in the mid-Atlantic states. 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. 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. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? It's 90-something degrees, but Rocky's stare feels like ice down your pants. Mountain lion killed in Connecticut was on the opposite side of Pennsylvania a year ago, Is it real? One man sent me a game camera photo that was blurry but looked like a mountain lion, or puma, as I like to call them. 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. Martinelli said that if there were mountain lions in Pennsylvania, there would be more sightings of them. There are an estimated 3,000 - 7,000 Mountain lions in Colorado. Furthermore, a different set of photos showed a "mountain lion" dragging a deer into the woods in Bradford County. Hunters I've spoken with said they've been told you can't kill a puma, which they felt was ironic since the same official told them pumas don't exist in Pa. Biologists traced it. Is there a Mountain Lion Conspiracy? Mountain lions (cougars, pumas, and more) are among the top predators that live in the United States. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. "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. Two weeks ago, a friend of mine who teaches in one of the Monroe County school districts called to tell me he was sending me a photo of a mountain lion taken by one of his students in the Poconos. So, couldn't that same argument apply to pumas in the Northeast? On that, I've had emails sent with game trail photo attachments, or killed pumas, supposedly shot in Pennsylvania, but these were hoaxes. It has the color of a mountain lion, but the long tail appears to be missing. This animal was undoubtedly a bobcat. The Mountain Lion is a large, slender cat with a smallish head and noticeably long tail. When I first discovered this fresh carcass I examined it for throat punctures, thinking that it may have been killed by a puma. Features Writer Micaela Hood is signing off with the Pocono Record after five years of covering arts, culture, entertainment and sports in northeastern . "If my son would have been on a pedal bike, without a helmet on, that thing would have nailed him," said Walters, 44. 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. More common critters co-existed with early Native Americans in the Poconos, including two species long since removed: the wolf and mountain lion (also known colloquially as panthers and cougars). One came to her as the result of an owner's divorce. The Pocono Mountains are . 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. Possibly, but it seems unlikely that enough would have been released or had escaped to make for a viable population. So what? Bo Ottman is a landscaper in Connecticut who founded an . 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. But no one that I've communicated with had these preconceptions, and seeing what they saw was a complete surprise. 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. Contrary to popular belief, there are no black panthers in North America; no one has ever captured or killed a black Mountain Lion. In Tennessee, the most likely places you would find them would be in the forest. 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. In only one report had an official from the Pennsylvania Game Commision, a local warden, actually agree with the person reporting the sighting. That's true. Oregon has a large, stable breeding population of mountain lions. Check out the tails of the two! 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. "We should be getting more pictures. And this genetic mix has been recognized, and the Florida puma is still protected. (National Park Service). 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. Note the long, usually thick tail. It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. So many of these sightings have been proven wrong misidentified bobcats, coyotes or even house cats) that it would be irresponsible for a biologist to accept any of them as fact without absolute physical evidence hair, droppings, tracks or a road-killed animal. Reports generally go uninvestigated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which discounts them as mistaken identities, illegal pets escaped or released and outright fabrications. Here are the 15 US States That Have Mountain Lions. The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. The photographer had no reason to stage the shot -- indeed, the composition and background was terrible, and not what you'd expect for something staged, but the shot wasn't perfectly clear. I believe them. 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. Hunting is legal, but the use of dogs was banned in 1996. For our list, we only included US states with a stable breeding population. An escapee is also possible. 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). Learn more about us & read our affiliate disclosure. Cougar Network tracks mountain lion expansion from the western U.S. to the east. 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. Who knows? Granted, the image is not great, and I used some Photoshop adjustment layers to enhance the image, making it a bit easier to see. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. "From people that I trust have had visual sightings, they've seen mountain lions.". Everyone else, when reporting, were frustrated as they were told they had seen a bobcat. Newspapers carried stories in 1956 about hunters supposedly seeing and killing wolves in Pike and Monroe Counties. There's a whole world to learn about and Colby is content to spend his life learning as much as he can about it! The rocky habitat that covers much of the state is perfect for these ambush predators, especially since humans dont inhabit much of the land. I believe Kross fully, but I wanted to hear more. They have almost been killed off a few times, but conservation efforts have helped to keep their numbers stable. Can so many people be wrong? Heres What the Data Says. The next day, another friend, who works for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, called me to ask if I had seen the photo of a Pocono mountain lion with a deer in its jaws. Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? He knows and was familiar with bobcats, and it was not a weird house cat that he and his friends misjudged in size. The state of Arizona is home to a large, stable population of mountain lions. I asked our Game officials about evidence, and they cite no road kills. Geologist Dr. John Yolton made the identification. "People think they can get them declawed and that they're safe, but they still have teeth.". Joseph Pugliese 2.2K views 7 years ago Beautiful Bobcat in our yard as our. There are also big swaths of thick of forests in parts of the state. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? 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.