the more visible white on the chest, the lack of spots, the huge hind quarters. With the Great Lakes in its way, the cat moved either north or south of the water, and the latter route would have seen it pass through at least some of Pennsylvania. 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. 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. Although a large proportion of the Lenape Nation was dispersed far from their ancestral homelands in the 18th century, colonial settlers and their descendants struggled to live in this region with wolves and cougars inhabiting the forests. Like Arizona, New Mexico is the perfect home for mountain lions. More conclusive evidence is needed: Keep your cameras handy. Where they always here as a relic population? "They're getting a lot of that out west. There are deserts, mountains, and swamps in the state of Utah, all of which are suitable for mountain lions. For our list, we only included US states with a stable breeding population. I want to believe they're here, but I'm having some trouble. Cougar vs Mountain Lion What Are the Differences? I've spoken to PGC personnel, two being friends, and neither believe there are pumas in Pa. One cited how a bobcat's tail can be much longer than you expect, although I've never seen a bobcat tail longer than, at most, twice the size of the tails illustrated above of the bobcat. 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. redo these pages to match the new web site But that's not Bigfoot, mountain lions and other cryptids in PA The coat can be spotted or solid. 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. Joseph Pugliese 2.2K views 7 years ago Beautiful Bobcat in our yard as our. Currently, mountain lions seem to be making a comeback in regard to their historic range. Where can I find Depth of Field reference charts? If we don't see it, it doesn't exist. Travis Lau, a spokesperson for the Game Commission, said the state has a "never say never" approach when it comes to mountain lions and acknowledges that Western cats could be moving east. 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. This is actually a good thing, as genetic isolation generally weakens a species. My friend was a former hunter and fisherman, and spent a lot of time in the woods, as did I, but neither of us had ever seen a coyote. Features Writer Micaela Hood is signing off with the Pocono Record after five years of covering arts, culture, entertainment and sports in northeastern . Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania - Hoot Hollow Things to Do in the Poconos | Attractions & Outdoors - Pocono Mountains As they get older, the cubs begin to leave the den and explore. A bobcat gives you a warm, that-kind-of-looks-like-my-cat-but-slightly-bigger feeling. The large tracts of untouched rocky land and bighorn sheep populations make for pristine mountain lion habitat. And this genetic mix has been recognized, and the Florida puma is still protected. 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. "There hasn't been one solid piece of proof to believe they are here. 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. No evidence has ever been produced to support those charges. I hope no one ever shoots a puma to prove their existence here, but I hope someone gets a great photo, of the cat, of a road-kill, of tracks, and that I see it. But this one was black, and he knows mountain lions are some variant of brown. I'm a photographer, yet I've never had a chance to snap a photograph of one of these bears. The 6 best hikes in the Poconos Mountains - Lonely Planet 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. What would account for the long tails? . It is an Italianate Villa home that features authentic Victorian furniture and finishing. I don't want to seem like a nut case here, but I must ask this question and you'll soon understand why? Mountain lions thrive there due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. If you're interested in this, please pass on this link, and if you see a cat, please let me know! with a fluted projectile point were found near Middletown, Orange County, New York. 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. 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. Foster said mountain lions and bobcats could not breed. The state of Arizona is home to a large, stable population of mountain lions. 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. Mountain lions can live in almost any habitat including forests, prairies, deserts, and swamps. The mountains and isolated forests of the state allow these large cats to live their lives without encountering humans very often. 2023 www.poconorecord.com. 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. ? The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. In many regions, the population within the state is actually increasing! Most, quite honestly, don't know or can't believe or accept what they saw, they really can't believe their eyes. Well, right behind our property lies a mountain ridge, one of several that makes a continuous forest that extends, with little interruption, for scores of miles in three directions. All rights reserved (About Us). Lions in the Santa Monica Mountains - National Park Service The Pennsylvania Game Commission is always open to review evidence, but to date only hoaxes have crossed the PGC. Most nature magazines state whether the photos were taken "under controlled conditions" rather than in the wild.). He saw a big cat. The large, undeveloped interior filled with rocky habitats perfect for mountain lions allows them to safely live and breed. 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. Granted, the image is not great, and I used some Photoshop adjustment layers to enhance the image, making it a bit easier to see. Other states have had sightings, especially as mountain lion populations begin to explore and look to expand. Woolly mammoth bones were discovered in Bradford County in 1983. 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. 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? Many have a desire to see some clear-cut evidence. 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. 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). 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. But even without that second look there was no question that we'd seen a coyote. Biologists traced it. Good luck, and let me know! (570) 325-3229. Officially extinct, mountain lions still haunt the Adirondacks DCNR gave the following as examples: the saber-tooth cat; a small, three-toed horse; the Pleistocene beaver, and the mastodon. 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? I can't dismiss the eye-witnesses I've interviewed. Pocono Mountains: Best Things To See And Do - TravelAwaits If so, what would happen to the hunting industry in all of these states? Mountain Lion in Pocono's Pennsylvania Kacie PA 7.9K views 2 years ago Mountain lion in bucks county pa or not? 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. They are generally believed to be young cats roaming in search of new breeding territories to claim as their own. No An official form of the United States government. 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. (National Park Service). Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. Once a mountain lion matures, it will leave its mother and find its own territory. Cougar Network tracks mountain lion expansion from the western U.S. to the east. 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. Just take your pick of all these incredible Pocono lake house rentals or just a Pocono cabin for rent, in luxury of course! 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. A tiny population of Florida cougars persists in the southeastern corner of the United States. Although in captivity, they can live much longer. Caribou remains, dated by radiocarbon in excess of 10,000 B.C. Although size can be difficult to determine in the field, a puma will be three or four times larger than a bobcat. 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. I'll be anxious to learn of your report. The life cycle then repeats itself. "It's one of those things where I'll believe it when I see it," said Jason Farmer of Pocono Summit, my hunting partner for the last eight years. 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. Compare any game camera image with the shots above, or this game camera image, to confirm your identification. Here are the 15 US States That Have Mountain Lions. "Given the period of time that has passed without verification of even a single eastern puma, the service concludes that the last remaining members of this subspecies perished decades ago," the Fish and Wildlife Service said in a Federal Register notice. 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. Sadly, the hunting guidelines for cougars in Idaho are lax, with 400-600 cats being killed each year. "If my son would have been on a pedal bike, without a helmet on, that thing would have nailed him," said Walters, 44. 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. I'll offer my own little anecdote. There are also big swaths of thick of forests in parts of the state. Some have even reported seeing a "black panther," a near-impossibility because of the rarity of that recessive gene. On some investigations, Foster has teamed up with Stacey Griffiths, who started the Central PA Mountain Lion Sightings page earlier this year. Now, forty years ago coyotes were rare or almost nonexistent in Pennsylvania, and had had that same sighting back then, when coyotes were thought not to exist within the state we would have had the 'facts' to doubt what we saw. A few could, perhaps, be mistaken idenity. She also houses a bobcat named Nia she took in from a couple who couldn't handle her. One of the three branches or clans of the Lenape Tribe at the end of the 17th century was known as the Wolf (Minsi). A second image of the same cat, in a different light, reveals the trademark spots of a bobcat. 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. Currently, there are only 15 states that meet that qualification. All of the above are Mountain Lions, or Pumas, or Cougars. If you can figure out how to travel far back in time for even a day, get lots of wildlife photos, as the rest of us might never believe your story. "It was in Worthington State Forest just across the Delaware River from Smithfield Beach). Images from a homeowner's surveillance camera show a tan cat with a long body, beyond a chain-link fence. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one game camera image that still looks very credible to me. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. It has the color of a mountain lion, but the long tail appears to be missing. Among other uses, the tax was levied "for destroying wolves, foxes, heads and crows." Reports of a mountain lion have come from several residents of Hemlock Farms who were hiking on. These creatures lurking in Pa.'s woods can hurt or kill you It wasn't, and I assumed it was a road-kill. Unfortunately, their web site no longer seems active, and has been taken over by some wacky drug product. The earliest wave arrived at the end of the last Ice Age; the last wave is the Lenape or Delaware Tribe, which made contact with colonial settlers in the 1600s. Mt Lions in WV, NY, and PA - Hoot Hollow Phineas Teeple of Manchester Township is thought to have killed the last wolf in Wayne County. You would think someone would have a picture on a trail camera or whatever. "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. 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 size of the tail, the pointed ears, the speckled coat, the basic lack of white underneath. Can so many people be wrong? Mountain Lion (Puma concolor) - Texas And again, while they may have been mistaken, they certainly were completely convinced that they had seen a puma. 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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. A Mountain Lion Cover Up Murray has cared for four mountain lions since she took over the rescue in 1998. (What is meant by "heads" is not clear.). 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. Adults are a uniform tan or tawny in color, with a white or cream-colored chin, undersides and inner legs. Do elk live in Pennsylvania? I haven't seen any reports like that.". I believe Kross fully, but I wanted to hear more. Like Rocky, Nia is declawed. 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. Illinois can also now be added to this list a mountain lion was found on the outskirts of Chicago. 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. Let me explain this. Erosion from glacial melt and violence glaciers did to the land left a great litter of boulders, rocks, clay and lakes covering today's landscape. 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. State Game Officials do concede that some people may indeed have seen a puma, but it was undoubtedly a released captive. During this time, male mountain lions will travel in search of females. An article in last year's New York State Conservationist magazine about mountain lions concluded that none exists in that state, even in the 6-million-acre Adirondack Mountain wilderness. 25 Best Things to Do in The Pocono Mountains Area (for 2023) The first settlers kept sheep to supply their household with wool. 10 Stunning Mountains In Pennsylvania - AZ Animals These color morphs are most common in rain forests and jungles. 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? More Questions about Pumas in Pennsylvania. Everyone else, when reporting, were frustrated as they were told they had seen a bobcat. There isnt an official estimate on mountain lions in the state. 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. I've know of reports since 1973, in Cooke Forest, the heart of a lot of Pa. wilderness. Over time, cats that had been released in Florida, probably pets that outlived their welcome, bred with the native puma, and their genes mingled, Over the last few years I've done several Questions of the Month regarding Mountain Lions, or Pumas as they should properly be called, in the Mid-Atlantic States and in Pennsylvania. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the last Pennsylvania mountain lion was killed in the late 1800s. Obviously, other pumas must be about, and the series of ridges extending north and east and west from my location could all be included as critical habitat as well. Below is a list of physical characteristics that distinguish mountain lions from more . Others would like to see some scientific proof. Are there Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic States? I had three cameras positioned, so had a cat visited, I'd have had it. The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. 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? 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. Still, people say they know what they saw out there. A Game Commission vehicle was there, and the Fed Ex driver, after reaching the bottom of a long hill, turned back to check on what he saw. 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). Colby is a freelance writer from Charlotte, North Carolina. 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. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. 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). To be fair, I've also spoken with people who, at first, thought they'd seen a puma only to find, to their embarassment, that they were looking at a house cat! The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. The State cites that there are no road-kills, and in a heavily trafficed state like Pennsylvania there should be kills. Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. While there have been no confirmed occurrences of mountain lions in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, dozens of sincere reports of sightings and tracks and even more hoaxed reports emerge across the state each year. 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. Are there Mountain Lions (Pumas, Cougars) in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic States? In 2015, a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker was placed near the site where the mastodon was found. These experiences are still available, but the reality is there is so much more for the mature traveler to enjoy in the Pocono Mountains. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. So, couldn't that same argument apply to pumas in the Northeast? YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. do I get an immediate, 'Oh yeah!' DNA collected from the mountain lion killed on a roadway in Connecticut in 2011 showed the animal to have originated in South Dakota. 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. Here, they've not been," Lau said in an e-mail. People can manipulate, enhance or combine photos and then create their own stories about the subject's origin, location and even identification.
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