I live in New Jersey and the other night my step-mother noticed some noise in the backyard which backs onto the Watchung Reservation. She looked out a window at around 3 am and saw a mountain lion the size of a large dog, ex: Great Dane but a little shorter and longer. It's a terrifying reality.

My aunt saw the same one. She and my uncle also live on the watchung Reservation in NJ. She told me saw some kinda of huge cat, when I described a mountain lion it fit her decription.

I live in Franklin New Jersey wich is in norther NJ , about 30 miles south of High Point State Park. Franklin has some large wooded areas and a few small wooded ares, last week a police officer spotted a mountain lion in his back yard in a marsh area not far from the wooded area near my house. Pleanty of deer and rabbits for it to feed on. I hope i never catch a glimps of it.

Well i live in a residential sreet, but behind my house there is 86 acres of woods. When i go in there i allways see deer. Last year i even saw a bear, but now one of my neighbors said they saw a Mountain Lion on there drive way i dont know if to bulieve him or not. could it be true, a mountain lion in NJ.

I thought I saw a bear track on the Wallkill Wildlife trail this morning. I came home a googled it and found that it wasn't a bear at all but a cougar. No mistaking what I saw. I specifically remember the 4 "toes". I was so exicited about having those walking trails available but now, I'm not so sure I want to head out there again!

I also saw a mountain lion, Marlton NJ. It was at night and I was walking across the back of my townhouse with my dog. We were in the dark coming across the grass through a patch of trees. Across the street I saw a mountain lion walking and going into the woods. His back was to me. I felt like I was watching something in a movie. I stopped in my tracks and watched it go into the woods. I immediately went to my left to go behind the townhouses for fear it might turn around and see me. I went back to my home coming around the other direction and cautiously went to my door. I was trying to be very quiet for fear it might come back out and see me. I told my husband what I saw and a few minutes later we saw my neighbor who had walked his 2 dogs about 30 minutes earlier. When we told him what I saw he said that something came through there cause his dogs were sniffing like crazy. I did not report it and when my husband told a police officer that he ran into a few weeks later, he laughed and said "dont tell that to anyone". This is exactly why I did not report it when it happened. Obviously it would not be believed. All I can say is I know what I saw. It was not a big dog. It walked like a huge cat, was light brown, was long.

This past week my neigbors have seen a mountain lion lingering around in colts neck New Jersey, it seems to be coming around alot

I am so glad I found this site! We live in Jackson. In the am, 2002 after feeding my horses I walked to my car and saw a large cat-like animal jump off a diagnal, fallen tree into the woods. I told my husband, he laughed.

In 2004, dusk, I pulled into our driveway and saw a hugh mountain lion sniffing the ground. It looked up- with just one leap bounced into the woods. I called the police-the dispatcher laughed at me. I was insistant- I knew what I saw. An officer came out, looked for prints. We only found where it had pushed off the ground. He told me it was probably a bob cat; no way. This thing was sandy in color, long body, big head and long tail. My husband and neighbor joked that it was a large squirrel. I wont let 4yr old play outside without my watching her. I am printing this page and showing it to my husband and neighbor!

I too have seen this infamous mountain lion. I am a realtor/appraiser in Ocean and Monmouth Counties, NJ. I was driving home down by Double Trouble State park in Bayville (Ocean County) when I saw him. The rain had just stopped and he was on the parkway side of the road. I pulled off to the right and he stopped and looked at me. Then he took off across the street and back into the woods when he again stopped and turned towards me. I had my camera but was charging the batteries. By the time I put everything back together I went to take the picture and the batteries fell back out. I ended up with pictures of the woods. I had called the Department of Wildlife and they too had told me it was probably a bobcat. It has ever since been a big joke and everyday when we drive down the road, someone always yells, "look out for the mountain lion" Now I have more proof

I know what I saw! I saw a very large cat on monday morning at 8:25am in my yard in colts neck. I was on the phone and described it in detail to my husband. When the police arrived he was hesitant and didn't go to the back. The DEP came and interviewed me. After inspecting the area they found paw prints 5-6" large, feces hair and a tree where the animal sharpened its claws. They told me "there was definitely a cat back there we believe you". The problem is they do not do anything about it. The DEP and POLICE are willling to take the chance of someone getting severly injured instead of setting a trap to catch it. This is a terrible way to protect your community. I am sorely disappointed. I've done extensive research and it was definitely a mountain lion. I pray noone gets hurt.

Three weeks ago I heard a mountain lion howling/growling in the woods behind my house in Flemington, New Jersey, but the night before last, it came into my back yard and went down to the brook to get a drink!

hi janice:

i live in colts neck too and i was concerned about the lion you saw. i have a 19 month old son who loves to play outside and im constantly looking over my shoulder and at the woods behind my house. i called the dep about a week after the incident and they said they were still investigating. i was wondering if you heard anything yet. anyway im still waiting to hear helicopters flying over to look for this thing but i havent heard one yet.

The lions are here to stay and it's there god given right to be here. Hering people talk about removing them makes me sick. It's the natural progression of nature taking it's course. Too many deer equals not enough predators and now it's time for them to move in. Some of you are understandbly nervous. However, do your homework and figure out a way to live in harmony with these beautiful, dangerous, mystifying creatures!

There was another sighting of the moutain lion in colts neck last week. A block near the high school that starts with an M. Ask the police they drove around that day and asked everyone to remain in their houses.

posted by de'shon

I am so sick of people saying their going to take these cougars out of NJ! live them alone.their is plenty of deer,rabbits and other small animals for them to eat.Cougars are my favorite animal so you know I'm not going to be happy if they take them out of NJ!

Its taken me a few hours of searching to finally find some of this information. I live in Woodbine,NJ right next to the Belleplain Sate Forest. I literally live on the edge of the woods and one evening last fall my then 16 year old daughter and I arrived home fairly late in the evening. Having lived here for over thirty years I am more comfortable in the woods than I am in any town or city.Forest noises are comforting to me not frightening.We got out of the car and took a few steps and heard the most frightening and eery scream I have ever heard in my life. It sounded like, for lack of a better description, a demonic baby crying or an insane woman screaming. It continued to repeat itself and we were frozen in our tracks. It sounded as if it was perhaps 200 yards into our woods.I had never heard a noise even similar to it by any animal and I've lived on small annimal farms, been here at the jersey shore forest area since I was 12 etc. I have literally NEVER heard a noise like this before. I hurried Samantha into the house after we tried to figure the noise and and could only come up with the possibility that some animal was caught in an illegal trap or was ill. We spoke about it a few times but wrote it off as an oddity.

Growing up here in Dennis Township area I remember being told of panthers living here and mauling animals etc but heard the cats had been killed. Until the other night. My future sister in law, her husband, my finace and myself were sitting outside discussing animals native to our areas. She discussed cougars and panthers being in NJ and stated that it had a scream like "I screaming baby or woman" My arm shot out and I pointed to my finace unable to speak as I had just told him of the incident from last fall three days prior to it.Evidentally there are maulings going on at farms in the area, though that is only word of mouth stories recently. It is the second time this week a local of long standing has discussed this issue. I have yet to run across any new stories or the like, so any one knowing of one is welcome to email me as Im quite interested.

I also live in Dennis twp. nj. This past week my sister n law saw it with her own two eyes her children also. The next morning her neigbor saw it when she was getting into her car with her baby. Scary It was staring right at her. So she called my brother n law down who is a hunter and grabbed his gun to come down and try to get it. It was gone. They described it to be as big as a medium dog with a long tail ang full body tan in color. This scares me I live on 5 acres of woods near dennis twp school. We used to live in woodbine last year near bellplain state forest we had multipal cats and ducks disappear over night my neighbor also. feel free to e mail me heather

Christal,

Not sure but I know a friend of mine who has heard these same noises. She came to find that it was an owl, screatching and screaming coming for its prey. She has gotten up several times in the night, seeing the owl, making these ungodly screaming sounds. Sounds like what your describing. This owl comes after her chickens all the time.

at 5:45 this am my mother spotted a mountain lion 20 feet from her new house in whiting nj. It was walking along a right of way foot path that is for telephone poles. it was out of an african safari movie. It just strolled along. She is nervous as she just moved here. she wants people to be aware..

Jean,
I also live in whiting and am very interested in mountain lion sightings. Could you please give detailed directions on where exactly your mother spotted this cat, as I'd like to investigate this.

I agree it is possible it could be an owl, though to be honest, Ive NEVER heard this sound before and have lived here a long time and heard owls etc.

Has anyone had any possible mountain lion sightings in Whiting NJ? I live there and do some amatuer wildlife photography and am very interested in investigating sightings! I had tried to inquire about the specifics of a supposed sighting near a womens home in Whiting on August 16th, but heard nothing back, so I suppose this was made up. Anyone with more info, please post it.

Hi Al. Which Wallkill Wildlife path did you see the print on back in May? Was it within the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge? If so, did you report it to them?

I live in Netcong Nj, and I have also seen a mountain lion. It jumped out in front of my car and hopped across the road. I called the cops and they laughed at me. About 2 nights later I bumped into the cop that came to the scene and he said, "I saw it last night. I took out my gun and tried to get a good shot at it, but I was too far away." I don't want the mountain lions to be killed, but it was heading into a very populated area where a lot of children play and people let their dogs run around the yard only fearing squirrels and maybe even small birds. As long as the mountain lions stay out of populated areas they shouldn't be killed.

Jean,
I also llive in whiting nj, and this concerns me also. If she wants people to be aware, we need to know what area of whiting.

James, Arthur, Jean, et al. Regardless of the cop's response, it is important to report sightings immediately to both the municipal animal control officer and state fish & wildlife officials (so they can search for physical evidence: tracks, scat, hair, prey kills). The NJDEP Trenton office is well aware of cluster sightings from at least four different locations in New Jersey this spring and summer (Vernon, Colt's Neck, Montgomery Twsp, Wildwood, and possibly in Cape May county). But it is far more important to obtain physical evidence or pictures. Check out the Eastern Cougar Foundation's website(easterncougar.org) on how to distinguish tracks, scat, and prey kills from other animals, as well as lots of data, links, and research on the eastern cougar.

There have been multiple sightings this summer in Vernon of a mother with a juvenile cub, two by cops. Email me the location of the sightings, ctspatz@earthlink.net; I'm beginning to track these throughout the state. Though they may appear to be random events, cougars maintain very specific territories when there is enough cover and prey; both are in ample abundance here. Don't believe for a minute that they can't live and breed in New Jersey - they are doing so in suburban environments throughout the west. Cougars are as adaptive as black bears and coyotes, and far more elusive.

And while the the risk of attack may appear obvious, they are exceptionally rare. About 60 in the last century, resulting in 19 deaths - though most have been in the last 20 years. Domestic dogs kill that many people a year.

I believe I saw a lion on rt72 near the 539 intersection this morning 5am. He was just standing in the middle of the road. I thought it was a deer at first until I got closer.

Steve,
Can you give anymore specifics about the animal you saw, ie., color size etc? I live close to the area and would appreciate any other info.

Steve, that intersection abuts the Greenwood Wildlife Management Area. If it was indeed a cougar, you could report it to them.

Well it was as large or slightly larger than a sheppard. As I mentioned it look like a deer size wise. And it did have that cat like look to it.
But more than that I can not say as it was 5 am and drizzling so I didn't get a good look.
I wish now that had stopped for a moment to observe.

Steve,
I was also wondering which side of the intersection you saw the cat? Was it on the East or West side of the Rt 72 intersetion, also was it on the north side of the road (going toward Whiting) or the south side going (toward Tuckerton)? I plan on doing some tracking there in the next couple of days and would like to get a good idea for a starting point. Thanks!

Greg, word is they tend to travel the path of least resistance: obvious game-trails, stream corridors, the edges of wetlands and marshes, ATV trails, dirt roads, power and gas lines, abandoned railroad beds, ridgelines (not that there's many of those in the Pines). Look especially where paths intersect, like where a game-trail crosses a paved road.

Steve,
Thanks for the info, I'll put it to good use. I've read about you on another web site, and understand your investigating sightings state wide. I have a second generation video that you might like to see. It was taken in Tabernacle NJ and shows what appears to be a puma walking in the backyard of a resident there. If your interested, e-mail me directly and we can discuss this further.

I saw a cub yesterday off Route 23 just south of High Point in Wantage NJ. Inspecting a farm I saw this large (what I thought) cat. The color was a grey and white tabby look, but the size and length of tail made me question what it was. It was much bigger than a typical house cat. When I got to the bottom of the property to speak with the owner to see what kind of cat he has, he informed me none, and that there have been numerous sightings in the area of mountain lions. Going to the Humane Society Page on Cougars, one of the cub photos was an exact match to what I saw.

Based on the postings here I am more confident that I did see a mountain lion yesterday morning in Robbinsville. My eyesight is not that great, and the glimpse that I had was from about 200 yards, but all indications suggest that it was. At first I thought, deer, then collie, but too small for a deer, a little lighter in color than a deer; not furry, and too long for a collie. It remained briefly in a field near a wooded patch, and dissappeared.

On 10-09-2006 at around N.J. Parkway milepost 133 north my daughter is very sure she saw a dead mountain lion on the fast lane shoulder. She described it as tan with very big paws not hooves and a very long tail. At 6:00 pm with fast traffic could not get picture. Could not verify this anywhere and gone the next day when I passed. If anyone can confirm or knows where to check please post.

Carl, which town is mile 133 located in?

Chris, mile post 133 is around Cranford /Westfield area. It a well populated area.

Just thought I'd let you guys know. There was an article in the Star-Ledger (morris county nj) edition today, stating that a woman at a bus stop with her son in Roxbury spotted a mountain lion in a neighbor's yard yesterday. The article says that she called police. When the patrolman arrived, he too saw what appeared to be a mountain lion retreating into the woods. The article is in the newspaper, but isn't one of the articles featured in the online edition of the paper.

On Nov 29, 2006 at 4am I was woken up by the strangest sound I have ever heard. At first I thought it was a woman screaming but that didn't seem right. I woke my husband and he heard it too. He said it was an animal. Probably a Bob Cat. I just read all of the posts here with interest and Cristal describes it best as "a demonic baby crying or an insane woman screaming." That's what we heard! We listened for about five minutes and then my husband yelled out the window to move on. It went down the mountain behind our house, screaming the entire time. We live in Port Murray, NJ.

We live in Vernon NJ along the mountain ridge. We have seen a mountain lion at least 2 times in the past 3 years. No doubt about it.

My husband and I live on a very wooded lot that has about a 30 ft. drop to a creek 10-12 ft. out from our house. This is in Westmont, NJ, between Collingswood and Haddonfield. We are no strangers to all manner of wildlife, the largest we've seen being a couple of foxes. Every night I sit outside and have consistently heard heavy and loud rustling in the deep brush next to our driveway. Behind the house sits a forested area which follows the creek. I've never been nervous until recently just because this rustling sound is so much louder than anything I've heard before. There used to be lots of feral cats roaming as well as many rabbits. This year we've seen none, which seems a little odd to us, as in the past they have always been numerous and quite the pests. Has anyone in this area seen anything unusual? It seems that it would be easy for large cats to follow the creek and hang out in the brush, even though it's a residential area.

I live in Ledgewood, NJ near the place where the mountain lion was spotted recently. Two times in the past 2-3 years I have heard screaming/growling sounds at night. I did a google search and listened to mountain lion sounds. That is definitely what I heard. My family thought I was nuts until the article appeared in the paper recently.

It was around 8:00 and I had just gotten home from work. My older dog was sprawled out on the grass near my driveway while I was getting the mail out of my mailbox. While I was thumbing through my mail, I heard what sounded like a scraping noise and then a large cat bounded out of a tree in my neighbor's yard and bolted around toward the back of his hous and into the wooded area. The animal was definitely a cat and it appeared to be a brownish/tan color in the limited light coming from my driveway. It was at least 50-60 pounds, moved very fast and long and sleek looking.

Joe... Could you give us some idea of where in N.J. you live? I like to track the sightings and this helps.

Joe,
Did you happen to notice what the tail looked like? Also did you look for any tracks?
Greg

I apologize for not including the siting location in my initial post. I live in Andover Township in Sussex County.

It was dark and I didn't get a very good look at the cat's tail, but it was long and a brownish tint like the rest of the body and the tail was also quite thick.

I would not have had any idea that the cat was there if I hadn't heard that scraping/scratching noise. I keep wondering if the cat was coming toward me and/or my dog and veered off when I turned around to face it.

As for the tracks, I went back to look two days after I had seen the cat and I didn't see anything. But since it had rained, I didn't expect to see anything.

It was certainly too large to be a domesticated cat, and it was quite large for even a bobcat. Also, it was long and slender and had a substantial tail.

Since there are children in our neighborhood, I reported it to the local police department and I asked the person if anyone else had reported a similar experience and she said "Not Today".

Dear Chris, Greg and Carl et al.,

The rumors of a remnant population of eastern mountain lions in West Virginia and the Southern Appalachians has always excited my imagination as I believe the mountain lion is a symbol of the wilderness itself. The thought of an animal as majestic as the mountain lion, once extirpated from this region now returning, fired my imagination. And when I read Dr. Hornocker’s prediction that the mountain lion’s inexorable expansion eastward, even to the boundaries of New Jersey, it sent my head reeling.

Then the sightings started. For me that was in Mahwah, New Jersey on Federal Express corporate grounds where a mountain lion was observed by employees hunting geese at a pond. The Star Ledger reported that Mahwah police confirmed that indeed a large, tawny cat seemed to be stalking the geese at the pond and when observed by the police ran into the nearby woods. And then the sightings in Vernon, Colts Neck, Montgomery, Mount Olive, Gibbstown and most recently Rocksbury, which seems to suggest that mountain lions, whether wild mountain lions from the west, or formerly escaped or released pets, are inhabiting New Jersey.

And now for my story. I frequently walk in the Watchung reservation in Mountainside and Scotch Plains, New Jersey, and earlier this summer I observed a deer carcass beneath a tree; and, although not too far from the road, its position, its twisted and contorted neck, and its partially opened rib-cage had me wondering whether or not it was the victim of a mountain lion attack. And as you know the first two entries on the Cronaca Mountain website are of two sightings of alleged mountain lions on property abutting the Watchung Reservation.

Now today, December 30, again on my walk not more than 70 yards from where I had observed the deer carcass beneath the tree, I now observed a fresh-killed deer, surrounded by loose fur, its right thigh and part of the loin completely eaten to the bone, its lower belly opened, intestines exposed and partially eaten I know this had to have happened over night, since I had walked there the previous day. However, I do know and understand that coyotes do exist in the Watchung Reservation. I neither have the knowledge or expertise to determine whether or not this was the work of coyotes or some other large carnivore. As for packs of dogs, I walk there frequently and since it abuts many responsible communities I doubt that this could be the case. I feel that this is the work of coyotes or … you know what!

for everyone that thinks our government should step in and remove the cats so we're all safe and sound, you need to wake up. It's embarrassing that in general as a society we're so terrified about anything that presents even the slightest threat to our safety. It's life - take responsibility for your own.

In my text posted on the 28th, the date of December 30th was incorrect - it was actually December 28th.

And today (December 29th) the body was turned 180 degrees, the entire left leg shorn of its flesh, and more of the body's interior cavity was devoured.

Pete,

If you can, get pictures ASAP, as detailed as possible, close-ups and full body-shots. Check the neck area for puncture wounds and measure the width between punctures. Check the ground for tracks and scat, and get close-ups next to a ruler.

If you get this early, give me a ring, 845.658.9889 ASAP.

A cougar was spotted in Matawan Nj just this past week. Anyone hear this?

According to a story which ran in the Asbury Park Press on January 6, 2007, "a mountain lion was spotted by police in Gravely Brook Park in Matawan, N.J."

I saw several articles online that reported the mountain lion in Matawan. It was spotted by a policeman.

It is a surprising in such a populated area. It makes me wonder if it is an escapee from someone who was keeping it illegally and doesn't want to report the missing animal for criminal/liability reasons.

Let the animal roam the wilderness. There are not many scenic parts of new jersey left where wildlife is untouched. Let's try to preserve it's environment.

I was bow fishing mulhokaway reek which leads in to spruce run resovoir in June 2000. I found fresh cougar tracks there next to where at that time was dry land .,This portion is sometimes underwater. I am sure they were cougar and not dog tracks and even checked a reference book to make sure . I went back and photographed them the next day . No one from fish and game was interested

Bob,
Could you please tell us where in nj this is?

Bob, is there any way you could post the photo of the tracks for the rest of us to see? I'd love to see it.

Mimsey.

Has anyone heard about a possible cougar sighting(s) in Beachwood/Bayville recently? My friend told me about a news paper article about a sighting.

Today, my son saw a mountain lion in Lebanon Twsp, near the border of Tewksbury. He was waiting for the school bus this morning, and saw a large cat with a long tail across the street, about the size of a large labrador retriever. He described the color as like an orange tabby cat, but without spots or stripes - a solid color. It was walking a path under high tension power lines. Nearby women who regularly walk through the neighborhood said that they had heard a "roar", like the sound a large cat makes when yawning. We're not calling the State - something needs to take care of the deer and geese overpopulation!

To all concerned:
I am a Barber in Oxford and in the past 2 -3 yrs., Approx 20-30 different sightings in and around my area of Warren County. (Oxford, Knowlton,Asbury,White Twsp.,Liberty Township Washington Twsp., Harmony,Mansfield,Belvidere outskirts,Mt. Bethel Pa.-just across the river from Belvidere) More than 1 sightings have been reported in the above areas. I myself am an outdoorsman and have seen tracks in the snow in Mansfield. I've heard the cries as well, which I believe are Bobcats severaltimes including on two consecutive nights around June of 05. These people who claim to have seen acougar are not crazy. Some are very experienced outdoorsmen including avery good trapper. I am trying to aquire apicture of one that was taken 2yrs.ago in Mansfield drinking from a backyard pond. If and when I do, I will share it.

Please keep me posted
Thanks- Keep your eyes and ears open!!
Joe Klimko

i believe the is a small mountain lion in farmingdale nj. after a friends son told me hed sean a large cat in the woods. i saw some large feline tracks near my deer stand. the track was about 2 1/4 " in diameter with a compression of under 100 pounds. and as far as children are concerned. YOU are responsible for you children not law enforcement of fish and game or anyone else. stop calling them to insure you kids not going to be cat food.walk you kid to the bus stoop and pick them up. learn something about wildlife with your son or daughter. my girlfriends 8 and 6 year old daughters hunt with me and we were very excited about a lion being in our deer woods. and for all the parents that dont know that there are lions in nj let this be your notice.LIONS IN NEIGHBORHOODS NOWHERE ELSE TO GO!

Supposedly in northwestern new jersey, high point state park rangers are setting up cameras to hopefully catch a glimpse of a mountain lion on the prowl. I myself, hike the woods behind my house regularly. On three seperate occasions i have come a across a badly mutalated canadian goose and a deer with its insides eaten out and legs twisted about in different directions, i have also come across many tracks to old to identify whether they are cougar or dog. On one other occasion my friend and I listened as terrifying screams simaltaniously answering each other as if whatever they were were fighting,this went on for a good 30 minutes. my neighbor's husband is also an avid hunter and she knows what a mountain lion looks like and says she has seen one probably half a mile from my house. if I get anymore news of the cameras in high point and of any of my own clues to a possible cougar lurking in my area I will post it.

Hi d,

I initiated the camera project at High Point. They've been up since the beginning of December: no pictures of cats (plenty of deer, turkey, and one golden retriever), and no tracks, scat, or deer kills that appear to be cougar.

I'm wondering where you heard these screams, and where your neighbor saw a mountain lion.

Chris

Hi Chris, these screams and the sighting were heard in Sussex county, to the north in the Sussex/wantage area. Very close to woodbourne park and the wantage municipal building. Of course i am anly going on the screams i heard and a few people who say they have seen one, of course my neighbor and a relative of mine who swears she saw something cross in front her car while driving in Wantage. She described it as slender with a long tail and a face with no muzzle like a dog and the color tan. i am very interested in the possiblity of their being cougars here in new jersey, would you please post any imformation about unknown pics that were caught on camera or possible mountain lion pictures. I am also searching for another species of animal that still is in this area, but their aren't as many, the bobcat. please post information aabout sighhtings of these cats in the park, if you could. thank you

Thanks d,

There have been reports of cougars in Vernon, Wantage, Sussex, Montague, and at High Point. The problem is that none of them have yet to produce evidence. The one incident last year in Vernon where there was good evidence, unfortunately, was never followed up. The state shutdown in June may have played a part in that not being investigated.

Bobcats do make similar screams as cougars, and we know for sure that bobcats are here.

It is very important to learn to distinguish the signs and collect evidence beyond sightings: tracks, scat, and prey kills. The Eastern Cougar Foundation's website (easterncougar.net)is a great resource. If anyone hears of any recent sightings where evidence may be present, you're welcome to contact me, but please, contact NJ Fish & Wildlife as well. Sometimes communication gets mishandled, but they will investigate if evidence is present.

Chris

Hey Chris, if you could post the results from the cameras maybe every few weeks or so and I too will post anything thing that I find or see. this will be greatly appreciated

Hello,

Just wanted to post that there was a bobcat sighting in Marlton, NJ on 11/1/06 by a police officer. If you go to the evesham township police department, NJ website you can look under the November posting. I live in the same area of this sighting. I wanted to mention that I did post earlier on this loop about a sighting of a cougar that I personally saw in October or November of 2005 in this same area of the sighting of the bobcat. I did not call the police at the time because I thought they would not believe me. My husband did tell them about 1 month later and they laughed and said "dont tell that to anyone". Let me just say that I know what I saw. I have watched the wilderness family movie at least 1,000 times :) through the years with my children and I knew immediately that I was seeing a cougar. I thought I was watching something right out of a movie when I saw it. It was not a dog, not a deer. It had a slender body, sandy in color, walked like a cat and a long tail. It was going into the woods across from where I was. I was only about 100-200 feet away or so when I saw it. It did not see me nor did I want it too. I stopped dead in my tracks, looking at it. I was in a field behind my house walking my dog and was in the dark. It was across the street, with its back to me, walking into the woods. The area was lit by a lampost as it was 9 at night. I was dazed and felt like I was watching something out of a movie. After it went into the woods, I went behind the townhouses to get to my front door as I was concerned it would turn around and see me and come back out of the woods and I wanted to be out of its view. I came up to my front door very slowly and cautiously. I saw my husband, immediately told him and he wanted to go to the wooded area where I saw it. I said, no way, are you crazy?? We then saw my neighbor walking his 2 dogs and told him. He said, I thought something came through here, my dogs were sniffing like crazy. I know what I saw and no one can tell me otherwise. This bobcat was seen in this same area 1 year later. I did not see a bobcat, I saw a cougar and Im 100% sure. I should have reported but did not because I thought I would not be believed.

when is the best time to look for an animal like a cougar or a bobcat, like which season would they be most active and what time of day, early in the moring or late at night

They're active in every season (they don't hibernate), and dawn and dusk are typically active times, because that's when their prey are most active. Bobcat can take down deer. A game-cam in Wisconsin caught a three-minute sequence of a bobcat latched to the neck of a doe.

Kathie's post reiterates the need to report sightings. The USFWS is currently conducting a review of the status of the eastern cougar. I've spoken with enough folks at the NJDEP and NJ Fish & Wildlife to know that they are interested in finding the cats. Call your local animal control officer and call NJ F&W ASAP if you've made a sighting. If there's a good chance that evidence is present, they will send out someone to look. Sometimes, you'll get someone on the phone who doesn't care or who'll dismiss your report, but keep trying.

One of the likely results of the USFWS review will be the delisting of the eastern cougar as an endangered species (recent DNA research has determined that all the previously identified North American subspecies are the same genetically; the USFWS has yet to incorporate this research, but they will for this review). If that happens, it will be up to the states to determine how they'll manage any cougars that turn up (if they're here, they're likely released pets). Ironically, NJ could become one of the more progressive eastern states on this issue. Perhaps because of the state's reputation, the NJDEP likes to emphasize the state's biodiversity, like its black bear density. If NJ can support an alpha predator like the cougar, it means its ecosystems are doing well. Whether folks want them in the suburbs remains an important management decision. But the state can't do studies or produce a management plan until concrete evidence appears.

As yet, no evidence of cougars exists in NJ beyond sightings, and it shouldn't be this difficult to find evidence. In states where they're just beginning to disperse into the Midwest, evidence like tracks, scat, and prey kills appear all the time. Road-kill is one of the highest mortality figures for cougars everywhere. I've found several road-killed coyotes. Why no cougars with NJ's extremely high road-density? They've turned up on remote game-cameras in Missouri and Arkansas. There are now thousands of these cameras in use. Why has not one cougar picture north of Florida and east of the Mississippi appeared on one of these cameras?

I'd love to find evidence of cougars, but the longer I keep looking, the more skeptical I'm becoming.

We need evidence folks!

Hey Chris, if so many people have said they have seen a mountain lion here, how could they all be pets, is ther really that many pet cougars here, i just don't understand how all of them could be pets, there has to be some that have come down from canada or swam across the mississippi, what about a population that could have been in michigan by the lakes all this time that is thriving and migrating to new territory. Their is a desperate need for a large predator here in new jersey, the deer population is out of control and the coyotes, bobcats and bears don't eat them as a main source of food, so they regrow a population quiker then they decrease a population, and i would much rather like to know that more deer are being killed by a predator than are being hunted by people or hit by cars. is it illegal to import cougars, like could high point import a couple of cougars and set them free in high point state park or other less populated areas.

d,

The great conundrum is that the evidence doesn't support the sheer number of sightings. As I said, even where cougars are dispersing into the Midwest in low densities, evidence is easy to find; so why not here?

Though I wish it were so, there's little chance that a remnant population has survived in the east. There are likely a few in the northern peninsula of Michigan, but there's a huge debate about whether they're in the lower peninsula. They're not thriving anywhere east of the Mississippi (there's about 100 in Florida; 11 were killed last year by cars, and 3 so far this year. They're under severe habitat pressure.). The DNA evidence we have of kittens killed in New York and Kentucky show partial South American ancestry, which means they and/or their parents have been through the pet trade. The 2 or 3 cougars living in Delaware we know are releases. Cougar evidence in New Brunswick, Canada is showing South American ancestry. Yes, the pet trade is that extensive. Check out the Cougar Network's Big Picture map of confirmations (easterncougarnet.org).

Despite the overabundance of deer, eastern states will not willingly reintroduce cougars. It's too expensive, and it opens them up to lawsuits if introduced cougars tangle with livestock, pets, and the exceptionally rare instance of people.

I want to believe these sightings, but my roughly 500 hours in the field since last June, investigating reports sometimes within a day or two - including thousands of camera hours - have turned up nothing concrete. Neither have any of NJ Fish & Wildlife's investigations where they've looked for evidence and set up traps and cameras.

Granted, I'm an amateur, but I've learned how to look for sign and collect evidence using some of the best methods we have with a lot of support and guidance from the experts at the Eastern Cougar Foundation. If I knew in June what I know now, we might have had evidence from Vernon. But we don't, so, I keep on looking, hoping one of these sightings will finally produce evidence.

Chris,

Even though you have spent 500 hours and turned up nothing, how can that convince you that there are no cougars in NJ. 500 hours equals how many hours if you break it down into days then months, June through April?? Even if there was a reported sighting (remember, how many are unreported) a cat will not stay in that one area will it?? I thought they continually traveled within a certain radious? Say that radious is 50 Miles. Do you have camera's set up every mile or so??

Chris,
Do some homework in and around Shades of Death Rd., and Bear Creek Rd. in Liberty Twsp.Still trying to get pictures. More voices heard from in my area of Warren County.
Joe Klimko
Oxford, N.J.

Kathiea,

I'm not convinced they're not here. What I'm suggesting is that if they are here, evidence shouldn't be this difficult to find. Tracks, scat, and deer kills (they kill one deer a week, and hunker down near the carcass for a few days while they feed) ought to be within range of these sightings. Much more experienced trackers (Tom Brown, Jr. was invited into the south Jersey search by the Philly Inquirer), hunters, and biologists have found nothing. Two experienced trackers/hunters are helping me at High Point.

And imagine what's it's like for an animal to run the gauntlet of Jersey's roads and highways. Is a Jersey cougar better adapted to roads than Midwestern cousins, or those in Florida so readily get killed by cars?

A mother with a large cub - which were reported last year in Vernon - won't travel outside her territory (on average, the 60 sq. miles of Vernon Twsp.) where there's plenty of game and cover; both in abundance in Vernon. Still no sign beyond the one incident that didn't get investigated.

The harsh reality is that sightings are not enough, and until evidence is confirmed, nothing can be done to launch studies or develop a management plan.

Joe,

Thanks for the Liberty tip. I tried emailing you earlier after your first post. Drop me a note. I grew up in Washington.

Chris

hey guys, the cougar is considered extirpated from this are correct, well so was the fisher and now look, one has been caught on camera in i believe stokes state forest, couldn't this mean that cougars could also be making a come back.

my dad, has seen a weasel aniaml that fits the exact descriptino of a fisher, he said he has seen it every year, come to our pond and only stay for a day and leave. i have personally seen it and beleive it may be a fisher.

d,

Yep, you and your dad probably saw a fisher. Fishers were released up in here in the Gunks thirty years ago to control the porcupines and are now quite common in New York. The fisher Charlie Kontos caught on camera at Stokes is likely from stock that migrated down the ridge into the Kittatinny from here. I contacted Charlie when I read about his study. We're exchanging any cross-evidence we gather.

Do a little research, d. Look at the Cougar Network's Big Picture map of confirmations, and see where the closest confirmation is to New Jersey. There's one from 14 years ago in the Adirondacks. There's a set of tracks Todd Lester located - who founded the Eastern Cougar Foundation - in West Virginia in '97. There's one from Massachusetts. There are confirmations in Ontario and New Brunwswick, Canada. There are the cats in Delaware we know are released pets.

Two cats were road/train-killed in Illinois this century, and one kitten was killed in Kentucky in '97.

There are now thousands of remote cameras out there in the field, and not one has turned up a picture of a cougar east of the Mississippi north of Florida, as they have in Missouri and Arkansas. The ECF has conducted three years of camera studies in West Virginia without getting a picture of a cougar.

If they're dispersing from the closest region where we know they are breeding, which is eastern Canada, there would be a lot more evidence of them in New York or New England before they get to New Jersey.

But released pets, of course, could be anywhere.

do u guys know when the last known wild cougar was killed in new jersey and where.

Chris,
What's You're last name again, I went to Warren Hills (83')?
Joe

d,

I haven't been able to track that down, but if it's comparable to adjacent states, it's likely mid/late 19th century. The Easton Express ran a story in the mid-'70s about a cat that was spotted for a month in the '50s along the ridge from Allamuchy to Phillipsburg. I think the gated community Panther Valley took it's name from the first sighting. Some say they survived in the Pine Barrens into the 20th, though there's no supporting evidence.

Joe,

Spatz ('80). My father taught at Warren Hills. My bro is Pete ('82).

Chris,
You graduated w my brother Randy. Checked the yearbook, I remember Pete., small world.
Ya still in the area? What's your deal w the cats? My family has cabin and property, top of mountain in Mansfield central to 3 local sightings, possible camera locations?
Joe

Chris what is the news with photos, what animals have you caught on camera, any mysterious photos, bobcats or bigfoots, Haha

d,

I've got a lot of deer so far, a few turkey, and a reddish Lab. I imagine bear should start showing up soon.

Joe,

I'm up in Ulster County, NY, about an hour north of High Point. I vaguely remember your bro. I sent you an email initially about Bob Mayberry looking into some reports around Mansfield/Port Murry; see if you've got that. Or if you click my name under the post, my email address should come up.

Chris

About couple of years ago I was going West on Rt 22 in Greenbrook, NJ. It was around 9PM. As I was not familiar with the area I drove into a Parking area of a strip mall to look at a map. I saw a mountain lion sprint behind a large garbage bin and it was out of sight in less than a second.

have pictures of lion on my cell phone taken by a friend of a friend, on a game camera. Picture was taken off of shades of death rd and bear swamp area looks legit to me. pictures were taken sometime during deer season, and to back up this picture about 4 weeks ago a friend was at the Allimuchey gas station where 3 kids from the city hit a large cat wreked the car/ I will have to ask my daughter how and where to post the pictures Im not very computer savy

possible panther spotted in vineland, saw it on news 12 new jersey

Is that 1 picture or several? Would like to see them? You should post them on NJHunter.com. No believers on there!

Here is a link to the story about the Panther in Vineland:

http://www.wral.com/news/strange/story/1373607/

While mowing his lawn in Washington Twsp., just north of Bowerstown Rd., a Watchung Police officer saw a small mountain lion run through his yard .Described as about 40-50 lbs., tan with long tail.He said," I know what I saw! Took place May 2nd, around 12:30 in the afternoon. Joe

Thank you, Joe. Evidence, we need evidence.

If I had a nickel for every day I ran down Bowerstown Rd. in high school...

11:50 PM Rain came in around 7pm wiped out most of the fires in the Pine Barrens. I live about 1/4 mile from the fire line saw a very long cat run around to the neighbors back yard it had been hunting a rabbit. Took off when it saw me. Long thick tail as long as a large dog but shorter than a large dog. Would it be a bobcat or mountain lion? Near the Pine Barrens, Manahawkin, NJ

may 18 a little after 4 o clock pm i was going down libertyville road and saw 2 blackbears about 95 to 100 pounds, they crossed the road together maybe an 8th of a mile up the road from the bella vita.

hello has their been anything new up at high point besides deer and turkey. like cougar, bobcat, bear, unusual out of place creatures or bigfoot, how about fishers. just wondering since nothing been posted here in a while.

Hi d,

Nothing new, unless you wish to include a pic of those omnipresent bear.

Chris

i forget who told me, but a while back some one was talking to a farmer from sussex county and he told them he had been farming atleast 50 years in the same place and had millions of deer, bear and even a half a dozen different times he says he saw a cougar prowling through his fields and he told them their is no doubt in his mind that their out there

hey just wanted to tell u today my friend told me that some scat turned up recently here in northern sussex county, the dna test i was told costs to much for anyone to pay so it was never sent to a lab for testing

Depending on the lab, DNA tests can be as inexpensive as $40.

anyone hear of anything new, i haven't read of any new sightings recently, just wondering if they aren't being posted here or are just not occuring. i'm still hopeing to sight my first cougar here in new jersey and just even, something besides, deer, squirrel, groundhog and rabbit when i go into the woods, like a fisher, porcupine, bobcat, cuydog, coyote, bear, fox, otter. anything, im tired of seeing deer everywhere, especially when they are dead on the side of the road, we really need a staple amount of cougars here to control the deer. what about the vineland blac panther anything of come of that. how about the results up at high point, any mystery photos what about a picture of bobcat, since they say they are still here in new jersey.

chris have you heard of this scat that someone found, were you ever involved in trying to get it tested

anything new chris up at the park what about news from surrounding areas, pennsylvania, new york. how can i find out when the last known cougar was killed here in new jersey. http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6980.html check out this link, it shows how lynx were caught in canada, and released in new york, they radio collared them, and one showed up on the radar in new jersey, pretty cool i thought

d,

I don't whether the scat you're talking about is the one collected at High Point, but I've sent it to NJ Fish & Wildlife with a sample comparison from the Space Farm Zoo. No results, yet, and frankly, folks who've tracked wild cougars point out that scat is often accompanied by lots of other sign. So far, we having nothing else.

I have not been able to find the last cougar killed in NJ, but as I've said, it's probably well back in the 19th century.

The Adirondack lynx reintroduction reinforced what many eastern cougar skeptics like to point out. Big cats can travel far, and at least half of those lynx ended up as road-kill. Not one road-killed cougar has turned up north of Florida in any state bordering the Atlantic coast. 11 died on Florida roads last year; 9 so far in '07.

I just returned from the Midwestern-Eastern Puma Conference in Ontario. The latest confirmations of any cougars in the east are from '04 along the Niagara Peninsula (Ontario side), '01 in Cornwall, Ontario across from New York's Thousand Islands, and from '02 in Quebec just north of the New Hampshire border (none in the eastern US). If they are breeding in eastern Canada, we'll likely be getting confirmations along the New York/New England border long before we get them in New Jersey.

Unless, of course, we've got released or escaped pets. Most of the DNA evidence in Canada is confirming some Latin American origin, evidence that eastern cats are coming from the exotic pet-trade. It makes sense that releases are as likely to be here as they are in Canada, so why can't we find any recent evidence? Look at the Cougar Network's Big Picture map of confirmations, cougar.net, which has not been updated since the conference, and does not include known releases (evidence with Latin American DNA).

Chris

I live in Warren County and this picture was emailed to me. It was taken by a motion detected camera in Liberty Township. Copy and paste the link below. I've tried to inbed the pic but I'm sure I did it wrong. Enjoy!
Link: http://i81.photobucket.com/albums/j239/carrieshamilton/Lion-1.jpg

http://trailcam.arkansasusa.com/Coug1.jpg this is the same photo from an arkansas hunting website, weird, was this photo taken in new jersey or arkansas

trail cams should be set up any where there has been a sighting and anywhere their will be a sighting in the future. also, their should be posts for people to report all sightings, some people may see them regualrly and think they really are just another animal living in sussex county, when the aren't they are actually a species trying to make a comeback. frequently flyers nad e mails should be sent out, so the word gets around that if you have a sighing tell someone who will invesigate, and not someone who will tell u "o well it was probably a dog, or a bobcat."

Two new ones in my book! Tewksbury Farm where Jazz Festival is held, and 1 by Flexco Microwave in Port Murray!

Here's the other pic linked with Carrie's shot posted on the Eastern Cougar Foundation's hoaxes page.

http://ph.groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/photos/view/83f5?b=8

Someone set out two cougar mounts, I think it was in California, and posted them as trail-cam shots. Deliberate hoaxes make the rounds, sometimes cropping up in far-flung locations for years. The deck photos from Lander, WY are maybe the most famous, and have made it into several newspapers and hunting/wildlife columns before being outed.

Welcome to the world of cougar hoaxes.

Bummer! I was kind of hoping it was true! I'll keep looking for one out here anyway!

anything new up at high point, what about those scat results, when will they be in if they arent already.

hey chris anything new updates with the high point cougar project, just hoping something turns up soon, what about the scat, i guess your pretty busy with research and stuff, so you dont check the sight often, how about anyone else, have you guys seen anything out there. Okay well i'll be keep my eyes peeled for anything around my area.

anyone ever hear of or have a personal experience with big red eye in sussex county, i heard he was seen by a farmer in the 1970's, he said he shot it in the face with a shotgun 5 times or something, because it had killed his rabbits. i also heard it has had run ins with him at high point state park.

http://www.cryptomundo.com/cryptozoo-news/sidney-cat-2/
link to maine mystery cat

http://www.democratherald.com/articles/2007/05/31/news/local/5loc02_cougar.txt
If there aren't any cougars why would they give these survival tips!!??

My father saw one by one of their ponds in Knowlton, NJ last year. It was estimated to be 6 feet long and about 150 pounds, all ripped muscle. Is it really so hard to believe? There are so many deer in this area, an entire population of cougars could easily subsist with plenty of deer to spare.

My friend's mother also saw one earlier this week in Knowlton. There are more reported sightings in Blairstown. I think there's a lot of circumstantial evidence here and it's almost to the point where you can't ignore it anymore.

Adam--Did anyone investigate the sighting last week? Was the DF&G notified?I live in Oxford,and am the local barber , stop by would love to chat and exchange some info.
http://www.trackincats.com/phpBB2/index.php
Joe aka GhillieScout

Hi Joe,

No we didn't contact anyone. People don't really take the sightings too seriously, and frankly, I don't think they realize that the state gov't is denying that we have them.

Adam,

The state gov't isn't denying the possibility of cougars. Their response is that they haven't found any evidence from the dozens of sightings they've investigated. They will send out biologists where evidence may be present, as will your local police and animal control officer.

I don't think the Divisions of Fish & Wildlife and Parks would have approved my camera study at High Point if they were interested in issuing denials.

I wish I had better news, but after more than a year of looking, following up reports, and maintaining the remote cameras, I still haven't found any conclusive cougar evidence in Sussex County.

Chris

hey chris any pictures of fishers or bobcats, or mystery creatures, do u have a website for your finds i would like to see all your pictures.

d,

I don't have a website. No mystery pictures or fishers or bobcats or coyotes. I've got deer, turkey, bear, and a couple of dogs.

c

Chris,
If you haven't gotten any pictures of bobcats and coyotes that are known to exist in the state, with the coyote population roughly at 3,000, what are the odds of getting a picture of a cougar
whose numbers would reflect a sparse transient
population? For argument's sake, if 100 coyotes are killed by cars during the year and if we assume a transient population of 25 cougars at any time in the state, and all things being equal, then .8 cougars would be found killed by cars. So in my mind, the lack of a picture and the lack of a cougar killed by a car does not prove that a transient population of cougars does not exist in the state.

Moreover, in West Virginia, where skeptics state that there has been no road-killed cougars, there is at least one documented story of a doctor coming upon an accident scene where he saw a dead cougar in the road. He was told by the police that a bear had been hit by a car and that he should go on his way.

Also, there is from a reliable source a story of a road-killed cougar killed in Virginia. According to the game warden that collected the body, he believed that cougars regularly "commute" from the Smokies using the wilderness tracts through North Carolina, Virginia and then to West Virginia. Now in West Virginia, whose economy relies heavily on tourism, one could readily understand that Fish and Wildlife would deny their existence, even though John Lutz (Director of the Eastern Puma Network) recently said on his website that a farmer in Pendleton County (WV) has confirmed evidence of a black mountain lion captured on film. Furthermore, Mr. Lutz continues that tracks of an adult and a cub were confirmed in the Smoke Hole Wilderness area in Grant County, WV.

In New Jersey, even though the Division of Fish & Wildlife biologists would love to manage a population of cougars, I do not think the government of New Jersey, given our dense population, would appreciate the fear instilled in that population. Therefore a denial of the existence of cougars in the state of New Jersey is not hard to understand. It's true the evidence in New Jersey is circumstancial, but sightings by reliable witnesses, for instance the police in Matawan, the police in Roxbury, and the police in Gibbstown, would indicate that whether they are previously released or escaped captives, wild transients or a viable breeding population, at least some cougars exist in New Jersey.

Thank you, Pete, for your thoughtful reply.

The chances, of course, are slim. One hopes using species specific lures and placing the cameras in areas where repeated sightings have occurred, like High Point, might draw them in.

Fisher, bobcat, and coyote have all been recorded on remote cameras at Stokes. I don't know why I haven't had similar success getting pics of these animals at High Point immediately to the north.

I'm repeating earlier posts, but here goes. There are now thousands of remote wildlife cameras in private hands. None have recorded a cougar east of the Mississippi north of Florida, as random cameras have in Nebraska, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Sanctioned, comprehensive camera studies in West Virginia, Pennsy, Kentucky, and the Adirondacks have also come up empty. A 50 camera project in Virginia is looking for cougars along the AT. We'll see.

Florida loses about 10% of their 100 panthers to roadkill a year. 11 last year, 14 so far this year, in an area smaller than all of NJ.

East of the Mississippi, we have one roadkill north of Florida recorded in the last ten years, a kitten killed in Kentucky in '97. Why hasn't a similar percentage emerged north of Florida? Are eastern states covering up 10, 20, 50 roadkills a year, every year?

One cougar, another kitten mistaken for a bobcat, was shot and traced to a local owner in '94 in Saratoga County, NY. This is the only recorded hunting or trapping incident involving a cougar in the east in 40 years.

Sightings by credible witnesses, alas, have produced no physical evidence in NJ. Where cougars live, they appear on cameras, they get killed by cars (and trains!), they get run up trees by houndsmen, they get caught in coyote and bobcat snares, they get mistaken for other animals and are shot by hunters or wonder into suburban areas, create a ruckus, and are quickly dispatched by local law/game enforcement officials. Where cougars live, folks find tracks (one cougar makes 10,000 footfalls a day), scat, and their deerkills (one cougar kills a deer a week) with little difficulty. If cougars are in NJ, why is evidence so hard to find? Given NJ's road density, why no roadkills?

Again, the NJDEP is not issuing denials. They're official response is that they have not found any evidence.

For all its criticism, NJ has one of the most progressive, pro-active bear management programs in the east. Personally, I think they like the irony that for all its lousy publicity, NJ has extraordinary biodiversity, and one of the densest black bear populations in North America. Should cougar evidence appear, I think they would resist the sensationalism (cougar attacks are extraordinarily rare), study cougar management practices in suburban areas of Colorado and California, do the research, and make every effort to ensure that NJ protects both its cougars and the public.

Indeed, it was because I found NJDEP, Fish & Wildlife, and Forests & Parks administrators so responsive to my inquiries, that I proposed the camera project in the first place.

I'm glad to find this site. Several months ago, a large cat, about 1.5 feet tall, weighting possibly 35 - 60lbs (guessing), sprinted across our car on Canistear Rd just right off Route 23. The cat was heading from a water reservoir into Wawayanda Park.

We dismissed the cat as merely a bobcat but the large muscular structure and uniform tan color of the cat leads me to think it may have been a cougar. If anyone else happens to see a similar cat in the Highland Lakes, Sussex County area - please post

Hi Jesse,

I spent a lot of time traipsing Vernon between Highland Lakes and the Wallkill Wildlife Refuge following up reports last summer. Had a camera out for a few months before setting up at High Point.

I understand some of the workers at Wawayanda have made sightings, though none had when I inquired last summer. Keep an eye on the gas pipeline corridor that bisects Vernon. Bear and coyote use it (many tracks and scat), and several reports came from there, from Highland Lakes down to the golf course right into the Wallkill Refuge.

That corridor runs all the way from the Bearfort Plateau west through Sussex up and into High Point.

Chris

hey chris, my neighbor lives very close to the pipeline in wantage, he has a remote camera in his patch of the woods, so far he has gotten a coyote, bear, and a bunch of deer. i will keep u updated if he gets something thing unusually.

http://www.newjerseyhunter.com/article31572.htm

Chris,
Know anything about this one?
GhillieScout

I've read about the reports, but hadn't heard any evidence had been collected. If they found any sign, it'll turn up. This ain't the X Files; no one can keep a secret. Thanks for the tip on that website, Joe.

And thanks for keeping an eye out in Wantage, d.

Chris , feel free to post some knowledge on the NJ site , Ive been trying to persued these guys to open their eyes when in the field, many non believers of the possabilities
GhillieScout
PS- Thats alot more eyes in the woods(Thumbs up)

hey, the other night i looked out my back door, with a 1 million candle light flash light, n i saw two glowing green eyes about inches apart, that were staring back at me, what could that be, cougar, housecat , bobcat, fisher, racoon, just wondering, i went back to investigate, but it hurried into the woods, before i could get a good look at it. it was not big, so im doubting cougar, unless it was a cub. k i'll be searching, keep u guys updated with anything new.

hey guys, one quick question, i saw a hunting show today about feral hogs, and have read articles about them, would they ever survive in new jersey, they are invading pennsylvania, and i was just wondering if they could ever come into new jersey, with the way they multiply would they implement a hunting season and also would coyotes and bears prey on them enough to keep the population down. what about the hogs, are there any here in new jersey. would a cougar fiest on them if they did come here, would that attract a cougar more towards NJ. also feral hogs, are invasion and would hurt the deer population. also what about wolf dogs, feral dogs or cats does new jersey have them too. k just a thought, i will keep searching for the ever elusive cougar.

I've been reading this site for about a year,I live in Matawan,NJ where they spotted a cougar a few months back on a bike trail(an old Railroad Line).Driving to work this morning to East Windsor down Route 527 right past Boxwood Farm in Monroe Township I believe,spotted a cougar and 2 cubs around 6:45 a.m.in the woods about 50 yards from the road.I slowed down a bit thinking they were dogs,coyotes or deer but I seen the long tails and face,all tan,had to be cougars.There also is an old railroad nearby that they could have came down from north jersey.A lot of woods and farms around this area so they could go un-noticeable.Wanted to stop and turn around but nowhere to pull over on this road,no camera with me,for now on leaving a camera in my car.Anyone with other sightings from this area please post.
td

td -- Did you report it??....Wanted to stop and turn around ? So possibly others could have seen this?....No camera phone?... (frown) Chris , we need emoticons on this site(thumbs up)

td,

Were the cubs spotted?

d,

I haven't heard of feral hogs making it yet to NJ, but they're certainly part of the prey base cougars and coyotes could subsist on.

When the deer population crashed in southern Florida, the remaining panthers survived on feral hogs.

I don't know about wolfdogs, but the coyotes that are here are a coyote/red wolf hybrid. There used to be coydogs in New England, but it appears that they've been absorbed into the coyote population.

This is a link to the latest cougar trailcam confirmation; from Minnesota. It's also the first trailcam confirmation in the US east of the Mississippi River north of Florida.

http://www.cougarnet.org/Minn9-07.htm

Had Camera Phone but 50yds away would not be able to see pic,plus if anyone is familar with this road (By Boxwood Farm)nowhere to pull over,winding road,lots of cars in morning,that's why hoping others seen them as well.Just realized that the cougar spotted by Matawan Police in Matawan a few months back and the ones I spotted in Monroe are only 8 miles apart,both were by old railroad line that connect,could be same one
td

.....thumbs up...do your homework and get us some pictures(smiley).....and did you report it??..(confused)......

td,

Were the cubs spotted?

Chris

Didnot Report it,although cubs appeared to have black spots or stripes,I beleive baby deer have white spots.Again this sighting happened quickly,I slowed down,nowhere to pull over,around 50 yards away,still kinda dark before sunrise,however I know it wasnot deer,fox,coyote.Near these abandoned railroad lines are ideal places for them to live,think about it.
td

Chris what is the word up at high point, anything, anything at all, photos, scat, tracks, hair, dna. something?????? post most recent results on here, whether there was a cougar or not, what have u seen??? foxes, coyotes, dogs, bears, deer, turkey, racoons, fishers, porcupines, bobcats, feral cats, unknown creatures??? just post anything u have or develope a website to put photos on it. that would be greatly appreciated, i would like to view the pictures and i am going to be buying a trail camera, or at least getting one by christmas, so that will be set up, in a few months i am hoping, i will try and post all my finds.

Sorry, d, I don't have anything beyond sightings (and none since last winter), and the scat analysis is still pending.

I don't feel the quality of the pics I have of deer, turkey, and bear warrant the development of a website. I'm using low-end cameras which are fine for capturing boilerplate images, but are not particularly interesting as photographs. Pics like mine are a dime-a-dozen on the web.

I'm certain you'll get similar pics (and maybe better ones, if you acquire a higher end camera) as soon as you get yours.

Should any evidence turn up, I'd be remiss if I didn't submit it for extensive peer-review before publishing/announcing anything. Evidence collected in the fall of '04 along the Niagara Peninsula in Port Colburne, Ontario wasn't made public until last spring at the Eastern Puma Conference. I don't think it would necessarily take this long, but this is one example of how long it can take. The recent trailcam pic from Minnesota took a month of analysis pending verification of the location before it was announced.

Because evidence in the East is so small and so sporadic; because researchers in states like Michigan have repeatedly botched their findings/conclusions and lost credibility; because deliberate hoaxes continue to be perpetuated, one can't be too careful about announcing evidence.

If you've followed what's happened this year down in Vineland with the black cat, or up in Camden, NY recently with misidentified tracks and trailcam images that appeared on TV, the cougar alarm goes up, before the evidence gets analyzed. That doesn't serve the public, nor the cougars that may be out there.

hey guys, i have seen more bears in the past couple of weeks then i have seen in the last 5 years combined. i saw two 100 pound cubs a few weeks back, then i saw one, about 200 pounds meander through my yard, like two weeks back, then i saw one by libertville road, about 200 pounds, crossing the street, and just today one, about 300 pounds came through my yard and wondered into the woods, behind my house. if bears can make a comeback like this i certainly don't see y a cougar can't make such a comeback, high point, stokes and areas like wallkill wildlife refuge, and allamuchy and places in and around sussex county should be able to easily, harbor some cougars, plenty of cover, more deer, than i think a cougar knows what to do with and minimal human contact in some stretches of the woods. would new jersey ever allow for a cougar reintroduction, it would probably work, i mean, just like 2 males and 4 females.

hey chris, do u go on hikes through high point, because, many more people accidently see them, then are caught on camera. i was jw and too, does high point have anything to say about them, have the rangers seen them, maybe u guys should set up, a park wide tropp, anyone who wants to come to walk through the woods, and ur bound to see something if you have like 100 people, who split in 4 and hike towards a mid point from the four corners, id say, youre bound to see something!!!!

http://www1.freewebs.com/johnlutz/proof.htm
what about this, according to the map, we have had proof, that they are in sussex county.

http://www1.easternpumaresearch.com/tristatemap.htm
this map too says we have had casts of prints and a body in sussex county.

is this true or what? have u seen these sites yet chris.

d,

These are confirmations that have been verified and peer reviewed: http://www.cougarnet.org/bigpicture.html

Because the Cougar Network doesn't recognize known releases or cats of Latin American origin (half of the most recent ones from eastern Canada), the reality of what's out there is somewhere between the two maps, but I'd say a lot closer to the Cougar Network's Big picture.

I'm not aware of any verified, peer reviewed evidence from Sussex County.

Part of why I proposed the camera project at High Point was because the staff had reported sightings, and the administration was wonderfully open to the proposal.

Your sweep is a good idea, but I'm not in a position to organize anything at this time.

hi guys, just wondering is the woods of new jersey even enough to support cougars, is it ideal conditions, i mean theres plenty of deer, realistically, think how much square miles are in sussex county and divide that by the cougars minimal range. well, sussex county is 536 square miles, about 50 square miles is needed per cougar. thats what, about 53 cougars, that our county could support. thats pretty cool

Chris,
Whats up with the USF&G survey results. Shouldn't they be out soon...?
GhillieScout

today hiking through the woods, i found a thicket with a small clump of fur in it, it was all grey, fine and soft, with tan tips and black on the very tip. what is this, fox, coyote, racoon, bobcat, cougar???? just wondering, i took it and have it in a plastic bag, now at home.

hi guys, i have a paw print that i took a pick of in the snow while hiking on the appalachian trail in high point last winter, i have it on my phone and sent it to my email, now it is on my email, how do i copy it to show u guys? i believe it to be possible cougar, i have compared it to some other picks on the web and they are similar

Joe,

The USFWS collected reports and comments until June. They were supposed to begin writing their status review in July and have it done sometime this fall. I haven't heard any updates since the summer.

d,

I've never used it, but people use this to post their pics on the internet: http://photobucket.com/

http://www.trackincats.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1023

NY Horse Attacks? Anything on this?
Saw This Show Listed:
History Channel - Dec. 12 / Lions in the Suburbs

Chris,
Say a sighting of a cougar was phoned in to NJ Authorities( F&G GhillieScout

...(OOPPS)...Chris,
Say a sighting of a cougar was phoned in to NJ Authorities( F&G

GhillieScout

the otherday hiking through the woods, i found a thicket with a small clump of fur in it, it was all grey, fine and soft, with tan tips and black on the very tip. what kind of animal did it come from, im just wondering. Chris do u know. and also, i dont wanna put it on photobucket, i wanna show u guys on here, or give it to high point to analyze and maybe they will give it to you.

....??...Moderators?....are records compiled?
GS

Joe,

I can't make heads or tails of your question.

Tried to post the other day,and it seemed like a mod deleted half my post, twice? Try again---When a cat sighting is reported to F&G or NJSP are they usually investigated?...and is this info available under the freedom of informations act? Customer yesterday, has a friend who recently saw a cougar around Hardwick. He did not report it!
GhillieScout

I think deciding whether to investigate depends on the sighting, the witness, where it occurred (is there a public safety risk), and whether evidence might be present. I'm not sure what this has to do with the FOIA. Except for one incident I'm aware of, NJ F & W routinely follows these up more frequently than any other state game agency I've seen.

A dossier of sightings proves nothing without corroborating evidence. And I have no reason to think NJ F & W is sitting on a file of hard evidence.

SNOW, time to go tracking, looking for paw prints

just got back from a hike up in high point, searched for the cougar, which was a real downer, saw nothing. did track atleast 5 different bears, and followed there tracks, did not see anythough. the one kool thing i saw was some bobcat scat, but otherwise, saw no animals what so ever.

Release of the USFWS' status review of the Florida panther and the eastern cougar has been delayed until the Spring of '08.

USFWS Delay,Could be a good thing!

Correction: the Florida panther review is pending, the eastern cougar review will appear in the spring.

hey chris, my uncle's friend, goes hunting everyday possible, and always carries a video camera, the other day he told my uncle that he videotaped a mountain lion in montague, he knows what the difference between a cougar and bobcat, my uncles friend, my uncle and he son, my cousin have all seen the footage, the all told me about it saying it was about 70 to 90 pounds with a long tail, as long as its body, it was no feral cat, or bobcat. they said it wasnt a fat one either, so it is probably wild.

d,

He's welcome to contact me at his earliest convenience.

that sounds good, i might be getting the footage, so maybe i could some how post it somewhere?? i asked them, again and again, does this cat have a long tail, they said yes, without a doubt, as long as it's body. i showed my cousin a whole bunch of pictures of cougars, and he said that it was definitly a mountain lion. this again, was filmed in montague, very close to high point, i beleive they said from a tree stand, for a good amount of time.

adirondack wolf reintroduction, will it happen?? and i read a study, supposedly, coyotes in massachusetts are 78 percent wolf, are our coyotes in NJ, part wolf.

why does everyone not believe, florida n texas black panther sightings??? duh, Jaguars can be melanistic, and they are found in texas and used to be in florida, maybe a isolated population still exists there.

d,

Eastern coyotes in NJ are coyote/red wolf hybrids.

Black jaguars in the wild are exceptionally rare, but, like white lions or tigers, breeders and zoos can increase the likelihood of black offspring through inbreeding. A couple jaguars have been recorded recently again in the southwest, but they're far from making a comeback.

thanks chris, so hows the project at high point going, any cougars or bobcats yet.

after doing some comparisons on cougar vs dog tracks, i believe i have a pic of a cougar track. when taken, it was approximetly 3 to 4 inches across, no sign of claws and looks just like the tracks of cougar i have seen on the internet. it was taken while hiking in high point state park last winter.

how come people haven't gone into the woods, sat in a tree stand and used cougar calls to attract a cougar, thats gotta work, or tree one with a pack of dogs??

d,

People have sat in tree strands hoping to see them. I've heard several reports of cats walking under hunters in stands, but again, no physical evidence.

The hound hunting question remains a big one. I check a hound hunting site in NY for reports, and there's discussion there from time-to-time on cougars. Why haven't hound hunters anywhere in the East treed one? Why haven't trappers accidently caught one? Again, where cougars live and breed, houndsmen tree them, and trappers going for coyote or bobcat catch them.

Yesterday, after a full year of having the cameras out at High Point, I concluded the project: no pics of cougars or bobcats, and only two coyote pics. Plenty of deer and bear, but no surprises there. I received approval to begin another project at a state park up here.

What's happened with that video, d? I'd be happy to take a look at your track pic if you'd like to send it along.

Chris

hi chris, i have the track on my phone, how do i show it to you?? and i am going to see the footage soon, possibly post it on the internet, im not sure yet.

Hi all. Spent most of my morning reading all of the posts regarding mountain lion sightings. I've had my suspicions for several years that there are breeding populations here in NJ, and I was both pleased and surprised to find so many people have had encounters throughout the state.

Not sure of the credibility of this account, but I figured I'd share the link to another recent mention of a sighting in northern NJ: http://www.njmyway.com/content/view/300/77

interesting story, has any been out tracking today????? i was, saw no cougars, the interesting thing i saw was a squirrel, gnawing on the vretebrate of a deer, long past been decayed. the remains have been spread about, it was from a deer, a hunter had killed, gutted and left in the woods, anyway, the squirrel was in a tree, gnawing away at the bone, why would he be doing this?

I got out today, but didn't see anything.

This is very common among rabbits, porcupines, mice, squirrels, etc. Gnawing on antlers and bones provides a good source of calcium and minerals.

just now i went on ride to look at christmas lights, as i pulled down a side road on my street, three, approximetly 50 pound coyotes run across the street and into the woods, absolutely awesome.

d,

Download the pic and email it to me: ctspatz@earthlink.net

Did you place anything next to the track for scale?

chris, i did not place anything next to it, but i did measure it, with a little ruler i have on my pocketknife, it was approximetly 4 inches, and again, no claw marks were evident. lets put it this way, my friend who doesn't no anything about tracks says "wow, thats huge, Its gotta be a bear" i was like "no way man, that looks like a cougar track." i measured it, then took a picture, it was big!!!, i went home that day and took my dog out in the snow, to look at the size of her tracks, they were about half the size, and she is a 75 pound golden retriever.

mountain lions, pipeline good place to look right, cameras should be set up there. A while back i was in the woods, not far from the municipal building, i saw some large coyote tracks, i'll be looking for him agian, soon

d,

The pipeline or any of the park's service roads that are closed to public traffic are good places to look. I spent a lot of time hiking the service roads and trails, especially around the lake on the east side of the park, looking for sign.

The problem with open areas like the pipeline for cameras is direct sunlight; you'll get a lot of pics triggered by shadows and vegetation swaying in the wind. Best to find a spot, like a hemlock stand, with lots of cover/canopy overhead and little understory below. If you want to set them up inside the park, you'll need a permit.

You'll also want to keep them away from trails that have a lot of foot traffic. I've been lucky so far, but cameras get stolen all the time (you can buy lock boxes or locking cables).

c

thanks for the information, so what is your upcoming plans for the cougar search? r u gonna make any new expeditions or projects?? jw and how about the show on the history channel, next week on wednesday at i believe 10 o clock, it is a show about mystery cougars and black panthers. i can't wait to watch it.

today i went tracking, for about an hour, i saw multiple deer trails, alot of rabbit tracks, some coyote, and muskrat.

has anyone else gone tracking recently?? JW, Chris, has there been a documented bobcat road kill in sussex county??

not to be spamming this forum, but a friend of mine lost his dog, on libertyville road, anyone hiking in this area, if you see a large whitish, tannish dog, this could be his dog, just post here if you have seen it, and where you saw it.

d,

Could you include the town where the dog was lost?

F

hey chris, i will be viewing the mountain lion footage, that i told u my friend had videotaped, on sunday, if it does turn out to be a mountain lion, how do i get it confirmed, as a confirmed sighting in new jersey???????

big fat no, the footage i saw that was taken in montague was a bobcat, a large bobcat, but definitly no cougar, sorry guys.

Thank you, d.

WHILE DEER HUNTING ON MY PROPERTY IN HOWELL NJ I CAME ACROSS A FRESHY KILLED MAULED DEER CARCASS.
i WONDERED WHAT TYPE OF ANIMAL IN S JERESY COULD DO THIS.
lATER IN THE DAY WHILE HUNTING IN A TREE STAND NEARBY (200) YRDS i SAW A COUGAR. I was in disbelief. I cant call DEC because it will be treated like a ufo citing.
The next moring I went back to where the deer carcass was and it was gone.....carried off.
Nobody else goes on my land. Coyotes eat their kill on the spot. cougars carry it off. I followed the blood and guts far enough and turned around because i didnt want to run into the Big Cat.Any sugestions.....I horseback ride, walk with the kids and dog 12/26/07

hey chris my camera trap is set in the woods, i'll keep you updated whenever i get interesting pics. also ANTHONY, did this supposed cougar have a tail as long as it's body???? did it have spots, and was it larger than say a german shepard. you probably saw a bobcat, they are greyish, tan, reddish, with spots and a stub of a tail, a mountain lion on the otherhand, is larger than a dog, long tail, as long as it's body, and is just tan, no spots. bobcats have been know to take odwn deer, and they can get as large as 40 pounds. bring a camera with you next time that you go hunting, takes pictures, gather evidence, look for scat, and hair. to have a cougar confirmed, you need physical evidence.

Anthony,

If there's evidence, NJ Fish & Wildlife will investigate.

chris earlier you mentioned that you were approved to start another project at a state park, what kind of project?? and which state park??

While riding my horse in Allamuchy Mt. Park, my horse stood at attention for a few minutes at a location where he routinely eats grass. He wouldn't move, head up, ears pricked. Across the grassy field where hay had been farmed and cut, I saw a cougar! He was in an area where I had just seen turkeys run. There was no question in my mind what it was. My horse & I high tailed it back to the barn! I called Hopatcong State Park office where the rangers come out of, and left a message (it was Xmas eve day). I spoke with Fish & Wildlife a few days after, and then later in the week to a ranger, and advised him where the sighting took place. No doubt about it, they are here in Warren County, no matter what the State says!

carol, did it have a long tail, if so it was a cougar, if not then, it was a bobcat. also did it have spots??? if so it was a bobcat. if it were cougar then the tail would be long, and it would have no spots, and be all tan. thanks for keeping watch down there. i have a trail camera out hoping to catch a glimpse of one.

I have long wondered about the legitimacy of these mountain lion claims, particularly in my home state, New Jersey. There are a suprising number of claims, with a number of them debunked and many more lacking conclusive evidence.

However, all of this amounts to something that may be more than a conglomeration of sheer enthralling tales constructed simply for enjoyment; with so many claims, it is difficult to simply turn a blind eye towards the possibility of mountain lions living in New Jersey. As it is, cougars are very adaptable animals and, according to the Defenders of Wildlife, are the most widespread mammals in North America with the exception of humans.

I am still highly skeptical to a majority of these claims. However, the subject is of keen interest to me, since I often times travel solo via my mountain bike far into northwest New Jersey, and my father and I are planning several hikes in the mountains of New Jersey in the spring.

What I would like to know is how I can report a sighting (via photograph or otherwise) expeditiously without it sounding as mundane as many other "ufo-type" claims. In addition, I would like some safety tips should I ever happen to encounter one of these big cats.

Lastly, I would like to state that this is no laughing matter, and if there are mountain lions in New Jersey, I would appreciate complete honesty (and preferably accuracy, i.e. mistaken identity confusion with bobcat, etc.) as to sightings. The safety and security of many New Jerseyans are at stake if any ONE of these sightings proves true; it's one thing to "cry wolf", it's another to cry "mountain lion".

~Mike

Hi Mike,

I've spent hundreds of hours looking for evidence, following up reports, over the past 18 months in Sussex County. I had remote cameras out in High Point State Park for a year. There's no evidence.

I went into this thinking that at least some of all these sightings had to be correct. I'm no longer so sure. Forgive me if folks have read this before, but I'll update what I've written here previously.

The closest recent cougar confirmations to NJ are from eastern Canada (evidence from Delaware is highly disputed). The last confirmation from the Northeast is from Maine in '00. Where cougars live and breed, evidence turns up all the time. Yes, they are elusive, but they leave sign: tracks, scat, deerkills. They get hit by vehicles with alarming frequency; 15 have been killed on the roads this year in Florida, 11 last year. They turn up on random remote cameras, but there's only one such pic east of the Mississippi River, this August from Minnesota. Sanctioned camera studies in the Adirondacks, NJ, MD, VA, WV, and KY have failed to produce cougar photographs. They get caught in traps meant for bobcats and coyotes; they get treed by houndsmen; they get shot by hunters and farmers, but a body hasn't been produced anywhere in the US along the Atlantic seaboard north of Florida.

We know that folks release cougar pets from time-to-time, and half the cougar DNA from eastern Canada is South American, where cats are bred for the exotic pet trade. Still, it's been a decade since a cougar with this mixed DNA turned up in the East, in KY.

Are there actually so many releases or escapees out there to support all these sightings? With NJ's road density, why hasn't a roadkill turned up, or a picture from some hunter or wildlife buff's remote camera? I volunteer for the Eastern Cougar Foundation, and the evidence we receive as pics or video always turns out to be housecats, bobcats, and canine or bear tracks; never cougar. Seems if some of the reports were accurate, we'd be getting evidence; but we haven't.

You can find websites that will tell you what to do should you encounter a cougar (stand your ground, wave your arms, and yell), but I honestly believe you have nothing to worry about. Cougar attacks on people, though highly sensationalized, are exceptionally rare (less than 100 in 100 years), and most have occurred in Colorado, California, and Vancouver Island.

No one would be happier to find evidence of cougars in NJ, but I now have my doubts that they are here.

Chris

supposedly more evidence of cougars in west virginia, just confirmed recently, visit http://www.easternpumaresearch.com/guestbook.htm

Excellent info. Thanks, Chris.

~Mike

are their many deer up at high point????? where there is deer, there would be cougar, deer occur in farm fields and no so dense forest, with acorns and ground forage. this is where trail camera's should be placed, high point, i believe doesnt have the most deer.

Chris,
Supposed picture of Mountain Lion recently standing in front yard on Karrville Rd, near the Hamlen residence(neighbor)across from Bundies, trying to verify
GhillieScout

Your welcome, Mike.

d,

I got a ton of deer pics at High Point, coming right in to sniff the cougar lure. But you're right about those mixed field/forest areas.

Thanks, G (where you been?), let me know what you find.

c

d,

If I recall correctly, there have been a number of sightings in Vernon, NJ and throughout the Sussex County region. Although your hypothesis about White-tailed deer behavior seems valid, High Point seems like a reasonably good place to be looking for mountain lions; it is both remote and rocky, which favors the behavior of the carnivores. In addition, High Point is also a very good boundary as to track possible mountain lion movement in and out of the state should they come from the north via New York state.

Again, I'm not a mountain lion expert, but it sounds like an intelligent place to start looking. Besides, I think it would be fair not to send poor Chris on a wild "mountain lion" chase.

~Mike

(where you been?), BUSY---tell Bob M to check out George (Hamlens Neighbor),....sounds pretty lagit!....a couple more, to go with this sighting also!!!!....I'm still here lurking in the shadows LOL
GhillieScout

The cat I saw was unquestionably a cougar. It was large, a single color like tan, crouched in a stalking position, with a long tail, and it was big! I am familiar with bobcats and they are much smaller, not to mention the pointy ears and "bob" tail. No way in hell was this a bobcat. Trust me, I didn't go out to ride to make up a tale! I generally ride and enjoy watching turkeys, hawks, songbirds, and a few deer show up on occasion. This thing was the furthest thing from my mind and was unmistakable! I understand there's a farmer who raises cows on the other side of Rt 80 from me, who says he's seen them frequently.

thats great news, carol thank you, up here in vernon, a farmer who has run an apple ochard, says he sees them stalking the deer in the field when he goes out to pick the apples, he says he has seen them atleast 15 times, in the last 40 years, to him, they are just another animal in the woods of vernon.

chris,

I will be putting cameras around my property.
I have no reason to come on this site, only to disprove myself...asking questions trying to figure out if what i saw was possible.
I know i saw a cougar. But I really don't expect
anyone to believe that there is a cougar on the loose in Howell NJ.
I have spent many years in the woods and have seen Bobcats, Coyotes and yes mountain lions (confirmed) out west.
I will be looking for prints
I have photos of the deer carcass
Anyway Happy new year to u non believers.

Listen guys, I never said I was a non-believer; I'm just trying to be realistic and reasonable in my beliefs regarding the situation.

One one hand, I think it would be fascinating to find that mountain lions do in fact live in New Jersey; long have those animals symbolized the wilds of America, and would possibly even help the ecosystem by becoming a keystone predator to help control deer and rodent populations.

However, with high land values and an overwhelming population density of humans, I do not doubt that mountain lions would pose a considerable threat to property, livestock, pets, and people alike. These animals are indeed beautiful, but incredibly dangerous, especially when compared to black bears, the largest known carnivores in the state. Knowing how to properly educate the public about peacefully coexisting alongside the big cats is paramount.

I do not doubt some of these claims DO sound legitimate, and may in fact prove the existence of cougars in New Jersey. However, on the whole, most of the claims have turned up completely empty, and even if such claims are proven true, it would be difficult to surmise an established population here in the state. There is little the state can do for the people without some kind of proof.

For the record however, I wholeheartedly support any efforts to finding, tracking, and better understanding these animals. I hope these efforts are not in vain for those who have dedicated much time and energy to studying the animals.

I wish you all a Happy New Year. For those still searching and studying, good luck with your findings!

~Mike

P.S. Sorry for being a bit long-winded.

Anthony,

Good luck with your cameras! There were a few reports last year south of Howell around Whiting, and reports keep coming in from Monmouth County: Matawan, Oceanport, Colt's Neck. You're welcome to send me pics of the deerkill, ctspatz@earthlink.net, as well as anything else you find.

Carol,

Did you know Panther Valley was named for the first of a series of month-long sightings in the '50s that occurred from Allamuchy down to Phillipsburg? I don't doubt your experience; getting evidence is the tricky part. Unfortunately for folks blessed by a sighting, evidence must be established before the state can make a confirmation. People get understandably incredulous when they learn that the day they were out minding their own business and a cougar walked into their life, everyone else immediately starts asking for proof. However, it's the only way to document the experience, and sadly, the years have shown that the evidence doesn't support sightings alone. I wish it were different. I wish I could show up on the heels of a report, just once, and find clear evidence. You did the right thing reporting it to the park and to Fish & Wildlife. I hope they find something.

I received another report yesterday from the Glenwood section of Vernon, where I spent a couple hundred hours last year unsuccessfully looking for sign around the Wallkill National Wildlife Refuge. So it goes...

hey chris, this report from glenwood, have you investigated??? was there tracks, or scat, was there any signs???

They didn't look for sign, and I wasn't able to get down there yesterday.

state should have a pack of blood hounds, who come sniff the area where one was seen, then track it.

i'm heading out for a hike at high point, i will have my tracking book, binoculars and camera, wish me luck!!!!!!!

http://pahuntfishshoot.com/?p=242
this is a very intereseting link, an amish farmer supposedly had a cougar killing his sheep in pennsylvania, the PGC, told him there were no cougars in PA, well, he shot it the next time it got one of his sheep, and it had a PGC, pennsylvania game commision ear tag in it's ear. SOUNDS FISHY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!! the PGC, seems like they are hiding something.

d,

That's a very interesting story, but if it's true, I don't really think it's a coverup. Perhaps the animals were being tracked as to monitor and study a possible existing population of mountain lions rather than an out-of-the-blue oddity. Pennsylvania officials perhaps kept it quiet to observe a rebound of the cougar species in the state without scaring PA citizens and at the same time, avoiding the ensuing inundation of sightings and claims.

Like you said, it IS a bit odd, but it's the best thing I can think of. Regardless, if the story is true, it does prove that mountain lions can and do exist in the state of Pennsylvania (albeit in small numbers perhaps), which supports the case that mountain lions may live in New Jersey as well.

Thanks for the link, d.

~Mike

As I said to d, clandestine state releases are a common theme up and down the east coast - cats shot or hit and found with tags or radio collars - but there is no evidence anywhere to support this. If such cats were here, there would be far more evidence, and no state would open themselves up to potential lawsuits should such a release attack someone or someone's livestock.

Why hasn't the first cougar body in PA in 40 years hit the news?

Good point, Chris.

~Mike

heard some guys talking of panthers, they saw hunting, they said that stokes released a few and some were released in vernon? prolly making it up, but who knows.

chris where have you been? check out the photos i sent to you!!!!!

d,

Are these photos cougar-related? If so, please provide a link to them. I'll be interested to see them!

Thanks,
~Mike

hey mike, i sent them to chris,, ask him for his email, and he could maybe send them to you. they are a few deer kills i found, up here in sussex,last winter. to be exact they are three kills found all within 200 or so yards away from eachother. its not looking promising, no teeth marks in the throat, but, broken ribs??? maybe cougar hit it so hard it crack its ribs???

d,

I'm a little at odds on giving anyone my e-mail address (for a number of obvious reasons).

That, and cougars almost always kill their prey with a nape bite to the back of the neck or lower back, severing the skull from the spinal chord (I'm pretty sure of this). Broken ribs don't seem too promising, and are more likely the manner in which bears kill their prey. Or perhaps the deer simply succumbed to death and the scavengers broke the bones.

Regardless, there's something in the woods to keep an eye on. Good luck in the future!

~Mike

yes, mike indeed, no throat wounds seems non cougar like, maybe a bear, or pack of coyotes, jsut saw three 50 plus yotes the otherday on my road, and i tracked one for atleast 200 yards then lost the prints, so probably coyote or bear, but three different kils, all freshly killed, would coyotes choose a deer for three consecutive kills and bears are lazy in winter, they probably cant get a deer in winter, these three deer, were full size does, not babies, same characteristics, belley eaten out, organs eaten out, fur spread out everywhere, mangled, but not really covered with debris, another point, that points away form being a cougar. on the other hand, the escaped pet theory, pet cougar could have taken down the deer by pouncing on it, but not biting the throat, because maybe it doesnt know how to kill that way, since it was once captive, and claws probably removed, thus the fact that there were no claw marks??? very unprobable theory on my part haha. those kills, a squirrel kill, goose kill and a buck killed by a hunter was eaten out, so alot of kills are in my neck of the woods. who knows, i'd like to see any sort of predator in my woods though, never seen one, just the herbivores, ahemmm too many darn deer, we need cougars!!!!!!!!!

I went for a hike in Batsto, Atlantic County yesterday January 8th, Walked the 1.5 mile lake trail (blue blaze). Just as the path curves back to the east there is an open sandy area. I noticed HUGE tracks in the sand and an area that I can only describe as a cat scratch area where something buried its excrement. The paw prints are 3/4 palm sized. My 75 pound lab was with me and her prints were dwarfed by these prints. I thought maybe it was a Bobcat, but the size of the prints were so large!! Coordinates for the prints are 39 39 13.42" N by 74 39 03.27 W
I have worked for USFS and now work for NJDEP. Wish I had my camera with me!! I bet the prints are still there if anyone wants to check them out
They are practically right on the trail
Good luck

David,

Have you notified local authorities to help examine the print? I must say that I'm impressed at the accuracy and exact location of the animal, whatever it is, along with very detailed description of the location. I only hope that the tracks are examined soon; it's supposed to rain with a precipitation chance of 90% on Friday, and I fear the water might damage them! :(

~Mike

Sorry for the typo. When I said "animal", I mean "animal track".

~Mike

Mike,
I let the folks at NJDEP(Fish and Wildlife)know via an email, hopefully they sent someone out quickly. I am guessing that they may already know about some type of large cat out there, the Wharton State Forest is big, but the Batsto area is used quite heavily by the public for hiking and biking. You can check out the area of the prints on Google Earth, the sandy area shows up very nicely on the most recent aerial photos
Regards,
Dave

Dave,

That's good news, and I strongly await to see the results of the investigation!

By the way, what kind of equipment did you have to pinpoint your exact location when you found the tracks?

~Mike

P.S. I hope it's not some prank pulled by one of the locals. :\

wantage section of pipeline, possible mountain lion tracks, no claw marks evident, i will have pictures soon. try and post them here!!!!!!!!!

hey guys anything new??? pictures??? something??? i am really hoping for some very good eastern cougar evidence soon.

d,

Actually, I think we were waiting on you to post something here regarding possible tracks from Wantage Township. :\

~Mike

sorry guys false alarm, those tracks were verified as canine!!!:\

d,

That's OK. Just keep in mind that cougar paws are exceptionally large, as those animals have some of the largest extremities of any feline proportionate to body size. For any paw to be a prime candidate for possible analyzation, we're looking for a pawprint about the size of a human hand, dwarfing any known living canine species (even the Gray Wolf).

Good luck, d.

~Mike

Mike,

This is something of a misnomer, and one of the reasons I suspect we receive so many pics of large canine tracks. An adult cougar print is rarely more than 3.5 x 3 inches; smaller than your average German Sheppard.

I have a cast of a gray wolf track, an early print from the first pack that returned to Montana in the 80s. Including the nail impressions, it measures 5.25 x 4.25.

My palm is 3.5 x 3.5. 6 x 3.5 with the fingers, sans thumb.

Chris

very good info guys, thanks, i really did not see any nail marks in my tracks i found, so i got really excited, but turned out to be canine, i guess coyote, even though the tracks were 3.5 by 4 inches, isn't that kind of big for a coyote???

Chris,

Interesting info. My apologies for being a bit misleading. I had no idea wolf paws were that big!

Then again, it all makes sense; they live in places where it snows often, and the larger feet may act like snowshoes.

~Mike

Chris,

Sorry about that. I meant to type the signature name "Mike". :p

~Mike

just got fred spaces book, he trapped 28 bobocats in new jersey in 1928, no tails of panthers in his book though.

Anyone,

On the subject of bobcats, approximately how many are in the state of NJ currently?

~Mike

Here's a couple of links(NPI). I don't know if NJ F & W ever completed or published the '05 census. There's a link about the census inside the NYNJTC link, but it doesn't provide a number.

http://sierraactivist.org/article.php?sid=24718

http://www.nynjtc.org/science/projects/2005/njbobcat.html

why would picatinny phil pick picatinny as a home, it's loud there, bomb tests and stuff, why are they living there????? how can i tell if i have a bobcat in my woods. i have not seen any tracks, or scats in a while, i realy want to know one is there, how else do i track one? would building dens out of falle trees an rocks, as shelter help attrat a bobcat to the area?

http://www.newjerseyhunter.com/article38342.htm

bobcat on trail camera freylinghusen township

Hello all.

I found something that might be of interest to all of you.

Upon browsing through some nature photos, I stumbled upon a photograph of what appears to be mountain lion tracks in Pennsylvania!

The link is here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mfetterolf/2207271520/in/set-72157603731908451/

The tracks are very easy to see, and what's more is the scale to the man's hand, very similar to Chris's description (see above posts). There is also a username "Mike Fetterolf" in the upper righthand corner in the event any one of you would like to create an account and contact him regarding this.

I think it's quite encouraging, but I only hope it's not bobcats!

~Mike

this track upon examination looks to be about half the size of the hand, if your guys' hand measures from an above post are correct,if this mans hand are the size of chris', than these tracks are about 3 inches. post young panther, or large bobcat.

Any word from Chris?

~Mike

yeah i dont know, i thought he might check this and respond???

After reading many of these quotes Im convinced I absolutely must get out of this state...first of all the EPA wont investigate these cougar sightings because a fair percentage of the public will demand they do something about it.Like shoot them. Normal Americans, in normal states simply shoot the animals that are potentially dangerous to us and the balance of nature when there are too many of them.This is a simple solution and our responsibility to our family,neighbors and all wildlife.The problem comes when our heavily democratic state and its politicians recieve 10s apon 10s of millions of dollars from radical anti hunting groups such as the humane society and the domestic terrorists PETA...Why do you think there are too many deer? All you people who say " I have 3 acres or 5 acres..or even 1 acre....do you let anyone hunt there, even with a bow in oerder to help do your part in managing our wildlife? Most of you dont.Everyone thinks its so great to have all the open space,green acres,county parks etc...problem is the Democrats running this state wont let anyone hunt on most of it and you soccer moms whine that somehow my arrow is going to travel 400 ft zig zagging through trees and come through your window, then turn down the stairs and hit your little Jimmy...The truth is there has been so few hunting accidents and injuries to innocent bystanders in this state that it is almost unmeasurable..To say that WE are infringing on THE COUGARS turf is so stupid I cant bearly breath!..These are animals that can leap 40ft in one bound,sneak up on you in dry leaves and pounce on you and snap your neck like a twig.If they develop no fear of humans they will absolutely ultimately attack someone. Do you want that to be your kid ?These animals arnt the bear. They attack by motion and movement and the sounds of shrieking kids sound just like injured prey to them.These animals MUST be hunted and controlled.Hunted with hound and treed. Period. I want cougars around but I dont want to start the same kitten hugging rediculousness that we have to deal with in regards to black bears..You kids are in far more danger with cougars. And they are in 25x more danger when they are driving in a car then if they were out ON a hunting trip. These are government safety statistics. Be logical and rational for once in your liberal lives..Tell the antis to shut up and let us hunters do our job.Open your land to hunting and force the state to open up all this sanctuary propert to hunting so these cougars dont feel like they are at a buffet table..if there not getting shot at or chased by dogs they will grow bold and attack...what are you going to do?? YES YOU..I will shoot any cougar I see without hesitation on the mear CHANCE he might harm a child....period

wow. whatever, high point opens up for deer hunting, and besides, if cougars are here there arent that many here. your chances of being attacked by one, are ridicuously small. you have a better chance at being killed by a domestic dog. people are encroaching on the wildlifes habitat. if we didnt have so many damn people in this state, you and your fellow hunters, could hunt wolves, cougars, elk, bison and deer right here in new jersey, all plentiful till the settlers arrived. we are on their turf, they arent encroaching on our turf. so many people hunt, that it isnt needed in the preserved lands. maybe if more deer were taken by hunters and we had a better predator base like a cougar, then deer would be seen less, with broken legs or dead from cars. then it wouldnt matter. any way what is up with hunters, wanting to shoot everything????????????? oh coyotes, i hate them lets shoot them, o cougars lets shoot them to, so they dont kill me first. thats idiotic. if it charges you shoot it, but if it is minding its own business, leave it alone. i can only underststand hunting like for deer, you eat it,which is very good. but predators, you dont eat them so why shoot them????

D your an idiot.Your logic is so screwed up it isnt worth talking about but I will because people need to understand that the mentality stating that we as people need to go find somewhere else to live so all the animals have all the room THEY need is ridiculous...If you read my statements you will see where I mention that I would like to have some cougars in NJ..but your mentality wants to have as many as as comes naturally. You want them left unchecked and un afraid of man. What is better for a big cat. To know man is not his friend or dinner or to have no fear of man...so when the cat screws up and comes into neighborhoods to get easy pickens on cats and dogs, we are forced to shoot the animal? Hunting controls the population to a reasonable level so we can CO-exist with these animals in this state and keeps them fearful and away from our children...The coyote attaks in Middletown last summer would have cost us 2 young children had they been cougars.. Cougar attacks in California have grown by hundreds of percent since the liberals there banned chasing them with dogs..I love the deer and bears and wildlife.I love the cougar. As a hunter I share the same ground with these magnificent animals and witness there will to survive and beaty first hand,up close. Not on TV like most of you libs.The relationship between predator and prey is as natural as the sun coming up every morning. As a man I am a natural predator and as a US citizen I should have the right to hunt if I so choose, provided I am keeping a balance with nature. New Jersey is NO place for too many cougars and certainly NO place for wolves.Only an idiot would say that the solution is for us to all move out or just accept that the cougar will occaisionally snatch one of our children. NOW there arnt many cougars...but with a state full of morons like you...son there will be too many and no doubt these perfect killing machines will get a child...of course to you PETA types there is no difference between a child a cougar and a cockroach RIGHT?...are there ANY normal, sane AMERICANS left in this state ??? PLease chime in if there are any of you left in this god forsaken state that I am forced to leave....

im not trying to be an idiot here and oppose all your views. NO i do not think that kids lives should be risked so a cougar can live here. if we get enough of them in the future, i am all for a hunting season, hounds and all. i am not at all the PETA type. i have hunted in the past. i have been deer, turkey and goose hunting. All of which are good eating. there are many hunters here, and enough land to hunt for deer, so that there arent to many deer in the protected areas. granted maybe every year or two, some permits should be allowed, to go into these protected areas. yes more people should probably allow for hunting, than already do, on there land. also to make the coyotes and other predators afraid of us, by hunting them i understand. but this entire world, is screwed up. everytime, a wolf kills a stupid sheep in montana or a pack of coyotes attack a horse, or cougar kills a cow in like arizona, people go on a "lets kill them all spree" its ridiculous. animals are animals, if a cougar thinks a calf is easy pickens, then it is, it is an animal, just because its surrounded by a fence doesnt mean it can be prey. the ranchers, should get some rubber buckshot, shoot the panther or bear everytime it comes by, and get it scared without killing it, it will go away, when it learns man is nothing to mess with. also i dont get why u think that this is mans land. we are encroaching the forests, and other environments of these creatures. they were all here first. we are limiting there range. if we continue what we are doing in new jersey, with developments popping up everywhere, then you and fellow hunters will have no where to hunt, and let alone see a bear, cougar or coyote. new jersey is screwing up by putting developments everywhere.

the only reason im on this website is to post anything that i find, and to look at what others have to say. i am not here to fight geez. i am very interested in new jersey and its wildlife. i go hiking all the time, i go hunting a few times a year. i want there to be cougars in new jersey, but i certainly do not want to see anyone hurt by one. if we do ever get a stable population, i hope new jersey does its best to manage them.

D...you make some valid points and I hope you accept my opology for getting " feisty " with you. Dont want to break of into a religious discussion about man, animals,stewardship etc,,so I wont go there but yes..balance is the key and we both agree on that...yes there is too many people here and we need to control that, I agree.I guess you are in N. Jersey where there is alot of room left. I worry that the rural suburbs, where so many people live and dont allow any hunting, will be havens for cougars as they are havens for too many deer.Somerset co. has thousands of acres closed to deer hunting and countless green acres across the state dont allow hunting. All these spots are infested with deer. You have entire townships like Marlboro,where there is plenty of room to shoot a shotgun, banning the use of shotgun hunting. Same in many semi rural Monmouth co. towns such as Colts Neck.....because the rich soccer moms are irrationaly afraid...cougars will end up in these places because there is no hunting pressure and too many deer...that would be disastrous. People have NO idea what an 80 pound cat would do to them if it chose.The cougars will ultimately learn that a little kid is easy pickens....especially a young cat that is hungry because he hasnt perfected his hunting skills yet...let alone a 150 pnd cat..you take care. I enjoyed this site and hope the state finally admits the truth.I wont be here to hunt these cats if needed because I already know that the people in this state wont do whats needed and the Dems surely wont...I dont even want to be here when the first person gets torn up or killed

D and the rest of you. I dont WANT to fight either. But I deliberately post with an attitude because i feel that SOMEONE has to present a different side to this issue..Having giant cats in the densest populated state in the country is not a game. This is not some disney movie we are talking about.The mountain lion is not endangered or even threatened.They inhabit half of the land mass of the USA and a good potion of Canada..there is zero threat to there population or existance...We arnt in Colorado here..this is New Jersey..dont plan on allowing these magnificent animals here without a SERIOUS, AFFECTIVE management plan...if we allow politics and emotions( like "feeling bad etc " ) to get in our way here..a child will absolutely die.No question about it.Not to mention that we will all now have to walk the woods in fear if there are too many cats..Kids dont get enough time in the woods and nature as it is..what soccer mom is going to let there kid go out to the woods if there are too mant cougars....Just do this thing right. I didnt see one post discussing what the hell to do once these cats are here in abundance...and they will be.Just all glee and happiness and no forthought to the effects and potential consequence...I just hear how we as humans need to act so the cougars feel comfortable...just stupid lib diatribe. Yes we need to adjust but tell that to a big cat that corners you in your driveway one night when you get home...these animals dont " shoo " away like most bears..are we ready for this with the right plan ?

Guys, let's keep this post free of ideological tussles and philosophical disputes. Please be scientific and civil.

I don't really think this dirt-flinging is getting us anywhere. Besides, we still have to find solid evidence that the cats actually exist in the state at all.

If I may ask, who is this "Chris d" fellow? He certainly isn't the other "Chris" I was referring to for his expertise on the footprints in the photograph.

Stay safe, guys.

~Mike

apology accepted. yes evidence must be found first. mike i have no idea of where chris, is to verify those tracks. hope he sees them soon. i went on a hike today, found a coyote den, deer bones, rabbit fur. it was in a mangled mess of a large oak that fell, surounded by thicket. i also saw 20 or so turkeys.

Here is a link to a discussion about mountain lions in PA by a distinguished natualist, Marcia Bonta.

http://marciabonta.wordpress.com/category/mammals/mountain-lion/

Mimsey,

Thank you very much for this link you provided. It's very informative.

Much welcome is extended to contributors like you. :)

~Mike

very informative link, thanks.

I FINALLY found the site I was looking for! I live in Wantage NJ, just a few miles from High Point. Woke up this morning to find the biggest cat prints I have ever seen all over my front and side yard. He was chasing what looks like a rabbit, zig zagging all over the front yard. The prints are bigger than my fist, so approx 6 inches across. WOW right in my front yard! I have 2 boxers and a JRT, I'm a little nervous about them being outside now, they aren't going out alone anymore!

t can you get photos? coin or ruler for size refrences??? please it'd be greatly appreciate, post them on here.

To Mike...I wish we all could simply discuss the cougar situatiuon with no thoughts of politics or anyones safety.The fact remains though, that it all is a package deal...you have countless sightings right here on this one sight including some from veteran police officers and people who were standing only feet away.Let alone you are talking right now about 6" cat tracks...what left those on the ground ? The stories continue all through Pennsylvania as well..A mountain lion is VERY rarely actually seen even in states with healthy populations.Most people in states such as Utah etc..go there whole lives and never actually see one.I am sorry if my bringing up issues no one else wants to discuss or think about causes problems but these things go hand in hand with the coming of the wild cougar...like it or not

The PA tracks are canine.

Like every other trailcam study launched in the East, the people who want to find cougar evidence, even the Smithsonian...can't.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/12141

Sanctioned camera studies; thousands of remote wildlife cameras out there in private hands, and we have, one, one lone photograph of a cougar east of the Mississippi River...twenty miles east, precisely where we'd expect to find a cat along the known edge of the cougar's eastern dispersal range.

That's a long way to Jersey.

Ok, so whatever it was that left those huge prints in my yard was back again the next night. (see posting from 1/30) my husband let the dogs out at midnight and said it was on the other side of the fence pacing back and forth along the fence line. He couldn't see it due to the size of our yard and the pitch black, but he could hear it moving quickly in the snowy/icy ground. In the morning, i got up and went out there and there were more fresh tracks, just like the others, overlapping like he was indeed pacing. Would a large cat do that? I sent the pictures to a biologist friend in NY for identification. Honestly,and no offence to anyone here, but I hope it was a dog.
Also- this might not be related at all, but Sunday night, we got home late, it was dark out and I started to unload the trunk while my husband went inside (there is chivalry for ya) I heard something large behind me in the field across the road. I turned and saw two glowing eyes, figured it was a deer and turned back to the car. I then heard it move closer, I turned back around and it had indeed moved about 10 feet closer to me. This happened one more time and the hair stood up on my neck and I quickly made my way back to the house. I told him something was out there and I was freaked out. Tuesday morning we found the tracks and the pacing thing happened Tues night. Last night, nothing.

T,

You're welcome to send me pics of the tracks: ctspatz@earthlink.net

T,
Send Chris the photos, do you know anyone with a trail camera,Get one out there!!...or go to

http://www.newjerseyhunter.com/forum.php

and post your story, asking for someones help from your area.

Chris ,
Is it to far for you to get a cam up to T's, or to go investigate the site??

Ghillie

If it is a big cat, I believe it will only hang around for a few days???

The local animal control officer, game warden, High Point SP, or NJ Fish & Wildlife are the folks to contact!

anything come of the tracks? i couldnt go up there, even though im up here near high point. weather probably ruined any sign of it by now.

as soon as pics come in!!!!!!!!!! someone post them somewhere!!!!!

I also share d’s excitement and enthusiasm for the possible return of the mountain lion to its historical range here in New Jersey. However, I also understand the unique challenges and problems of managing any population of lions that may arise. I also agree with Chris d’s assessment that the habituation of the mountain lion to people can lead to tragic consequences. To this end I highly recommend as required reading the book entitled “The Beast in the Garden,” by David Baron. It is a must read for all those who are enthusiastic about the mountain lion’s repopulation of its historical range throughout the country.

In particular, it tells a story of a burgeoning deer population on the outskirts of Boulder, Colorado that eventually spilled into the city as a result of a ban on hunting. The mountain lion soon followed suit and proceeded to do what it was evolved to do: kill and eat deer. Many residents were excited about the prospects of nature being played out in their parks and backyards. But, by the same token, many had reservations, as their pet dogs and cats began to disappear. Two maverick biologists warned the residents that the habituation of the mountain lions to people can, and almost certainly will, result in tragic consequences. However, these concerns and warnings largely fell on the deaf ears of the wildlife management agency, and the tragedy that was predicted unfortunately happened.

Therefore I believe that any population of mountain lions that may be established here in New Jersey must be managed in such a way that would discourage the lions’ habituation to people. But I know I am getting ahead of myself, for the “hard” evidence of cougars in New Jersey has yet to be found. However, that said, the eye witness accounts of credible witnesses, such as the Mahwah, Matawan, Roxbury and Gibbstown police, among others, suggests that at any given time there is a transient population of mountain lions here in the State, however small that might be. Whether they are western migrants, escaped or released pets, or a remnant population of Eastern cougars, it matters little. For, as the apex predator of North America, they are supremely endowed both instinctually and physically to revert to the wild at a moment’s notice.

I'm sorry guys, I have been putting in some long work hours lately and haven't been on here since my last post. After that awful ice storm, all the prints are long gone, BUT if it comes back I will certainly know. I am still waiting to hear what the prints are. Ghillie, I hope you are right! He was here Monday night (or early Tues morning) and again Tuesday night, pacing the fence line. I don't know what was out there Sunday night, creeping up behind me, but there has been nothing since, so hopefully he is gone.
My husband is stationed in the Army here, we will be relocating to Boulder, Co. later this year, so this has been a good experience in being a bit more aware of what is around me. Maybe someday I can actually see one of these beautiful beasts in person, but hopefully it will be from the safety of the inside of my house, looking out.

Pete,

Beast in the Garden is a great, well-researched read, but it has its problems. The premise that Boulder's hippie-dippie, liberal attitude towards cougars killed a high school kid in a working class town 30 miles south of Boulder with the polar opposite in social demographics is just plain wrong. Cougars were expanding their range within the entire state, subsequently following the deer into many suburban neighborhoods. Colorado's state wildlife division, not Boulder's attitude, was slow to assess and address the potential conflicts, even as Paul Beier was already providing risk data and developing suburban cougar management recommendations in Southern California. Baron's slightly hysterical narrative makes for compelling reading, but like many journalistic accounts of cougar attacks, it sensationalizes the statistical risk.

Being attacked by a cougar has about as low a probability as any wildlife encounter anyone will ever face. Dogs, bees, spiders, black bears, even lightening strikes, will get you sooner than a cougar. There have been fewer than 100 attacks in 100 years, with 20 deaths (mostly in Colorado, California, and especially, Vancouver Island, British Columbia). Collisions with deer kill a hundred people a year, and seriously injure 20,000, to say nothing of the millions of dollars in property damage. Yet the cougar gets vilified, because as Bob Butz has written, "the real devil is in the potential for attack." Regardless of the infinitessimally low probability, we're horrified by the potential of an animal that can make a meal of us. We'll tolerate the real risk of just about everything else, especially deer, because of their familiarity, and because game animals are the bread & butter funding state wildlife agencies.

NJ F & W has established strict protocols for dealing with bear encounters, and have trained municipal police forces like Vernon's as well as state park rangers likely to be first responders, to handle such situations. Those protocols provide an umbrella, working guideline for any wildlife threat, including when to apply adverse conditioning, removal, or euthanization.

We're a long, long way from the kind of cougar carrying capacity dynamics facing towns like Boulder, but in the event that a released pet cougar were to pose a risk in New Jersey (a declawed, escaped captive conditioned to humans with no survival experience suddenly trying to fend for itself is certainly a potential risk), management protocols exist to deal with it. The larger issue of if or how to manage a recovering cougar population is decades away...if it ever happens.

We're a thousand miles east of the known, leading edge of the Western cougar's dispersal range, and more than three hundred miles and four years from the closest confirmation, likely a released cat, in southern Ontario. In the mean time, until evidence exists, sensationalizing the probability of a cougar attack serves no one...not the public, nor the cats.

There are far better books to recommend first for anyone interested in the subject. Though it just went out of print, Chris Bolgiano's Mountain Lion: An Unnatural History of Pumas and People or her Eastern Cougar, Harley Shaw's Soul Among Lions, and Bob Butz's Beast of Never, Cat of God are a few. There's a bibliography on the ECF's website, easterncougar.org., where there's also a review of Beast in the Garden.

Beast in the Garden chronicles Boulder's cougar conflicts that began in the late 1980s. Here's an update on how they're dealing with cougars:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/12167

http://www.beastinthegarden.com/Links.htm

hey chris and T, do either of you guys have those tracks to show????? i really wanna see them!!! T you mentioned sending those prints away to someone? do you have results? if i post a link of a cougar track can you compare it??? how many pictures did you take?

cougar track below
http://www.bear-tracker.com/cougar.html

coyote track
http://www.bear-tracker.com/coyote.html

dog track
http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/local-resources/graphics/lions/lion_vs_dog_tracks.gif

this last link, is a dog track compared to a cougar track.

hope these help. post your pictures soon or email them to chris.

http://bigcatslinks.ath.cx/index.php?json=y

any word T??? did the guy in new york verify it yet??

why do all these good leads always go stagnant, no reporting after good evidence is found, or possible evidence is found? like on mosterquest, all this stuff they find, like dna, why do we never here of it in cryptozoology, after the episode is over?? where is the evidence pictures of these tracks in wantage? why no reporting in 4 days about the results?????????? this happens frequently, like the old new jersey hunter forum post about the tracker, who track 3 cougars through pennsylvania, wtf ever happened to that?? why is there almost never a follow up?? also wanted to post a little story about a friend of mine who hikes all over the northeast, one of his friends is park ranger at one of the parks here in new jersey, anyway, this ranger told my frend that he swears he has seen a mountain lion in the state park!!!! how coulda state park ranger mistake it for another animal, very unlikely. another report out of allamuchy from a few months ago on this forum, mentioned three young people driving through allamuchy statepark, and hitting a large cat??? why no follow up? why no blood test done on the vehicle that hit it?? hello we are letting great evidence get away quite often. how about this old post.................. the one posted by Ro, up towards the top, the scat and tracks, analyzed by the DEP, they did nothing about it???? why??? i know why because they are afraid of the management and money needed to provide the cougar with a safe envirmonet, and to keep the cougar human conflicts down, thats why, they don't want to manage the most powerful predator in the US!!!!!! i guess its just fustrating reading all the reports and never getting the follow up posts about results.

I know what I saw! I saw a very large cat on monday morning at 8:25am in my yard in colts neck. I was on the phone and described it in detail to my husband. When the police arrived he was hesitant and didn't go to the back. The DEP came and interviewed me. After inspecting the area they found paw prints 5-6" large, feces hair and a tree where the animal sharpened its claws. They told me "there was definitely a cat back there we believe you". The problem is they do not do anything about it. The DEP and POLICE are willling to take the chance of someone getting severly injured instead of setting a trap to catch it. This is a terrible way to protect your community. I am sorely disappointed. I've done extensive research and it was definitely a mountain lion. I pray noone gets hurt........

Posted by: Ro on May 10, 2006 8:09 AM

some sources of stories, take a look, i haven't read them all yet. http://pahuntfishshoot.com/index.php?s=mountain+lion

what about those large tracks seen on a beach, that even had coordiantes posted on here??? no follow up there either. Why?? can anyone tell me??

The tracks were inconclusive as they were taken with my husbands cell phone camera and not close enough to distinguish the "M" design of the pad itself, which from what I understand is the defining marker of the cat.

The asymmetry of the toes, a lead toe like our middle finger longer than the others, and absence of nail imprints are also primary things to distinguish cat from canine.

....looks like another deadend....Keep your eyes and ears open in the community T!

http://www.huntingpa.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=524589&fpart=1 possible cougar on trail camera, northeastern pennsylvania!!!!! black tips on ears, looks cougar like!!!

d,

I...am in shock. I don't care how many of those guys yell "deer", that is undoubtedly a mountain lion. The ears, the neck, the shoulder hump...

I hope Chris sees THIS one. :o

The only problem is, there's no proof as to the exact location. Regardless, that is quite a find!

~Mike

http://travel.sundaygazettemail.com/?display=mc-bigcats

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y255/joemilitello/den/06940043.jpg

http://www.taiga.net/yourYukon/col389.jpg

here is some pictures for head, neck and ear refrences to the picture

i agree, looks to me like a mountain lion, the camera was 2 and a half feet off the ground, so unless its a midget deer then i'd say cougar. what ever it may be, it just adds to the ongoing sightings, which of course are always welcomed, haha. i beleive there will be many confirmations in the years to come, because of the growing population out west, and if the florida panthers ever fail, or have to much habitat encroachment, maybe they will take those panthers left, and release thme in the southeast appalachians. wouldnt that be the best.

....Deer....and it did leave footprints..LOL

d:
hey guys, my first post here, found some tracks up in new jersey today, hopefully get pictures of them soon, and possibly casts made too. 13-Jan-08
65.41.245.

http://www.easternpumaresearch.com/guestbook.htm

d-Holding Out?? LOL

nope Ghillie i posted it here to, but chris looked at them, and they were dog tracks sorry

wantage section of pipeline, possible mountain lion tracks, no claw marks evident, i will have pictures soon. try and post them here!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: d on January 13, 2008 4:19 PM

this is my post, after i got the pics of them, agian, they were canine, sorry!!!

http://www.art.com/asp/sp-asp/_/pd--10054490/Winking_Cougar.htm

http://muledeerfanatic.com/2007/08/02/california-mountain-lions-take-all/

http://travel.sundaygazettemail.com/?display=mc-bigcats

CHECK OUT THESE LINKS, LOOK AT THE WHITE PATCH UNDERNEATH THE CHIN AREA, ITS SHAGGY!!!!

LOOK AT THE MYSTERY PA COUGAR PICTURE, THE COLOR ONE, ON YAHOO EASTERN COUGARS GROUP PHOTOS PAGE!!!

THERE IS A WHITE FUR PATCH NEAR THE CHIN AREA.

WHAT DO YOU GUYS THINK?? COULD THIS BE IT? A GENUINE PA COUGAR??

WHAT ABOUT THIS? GO TO THE THE PAGE..... http://www.easternpumaresearch.com/pics.htm

A COUGAR PHOTOGRAPHED IN BELLEFONTE, PA IS IT REAL??

....USF&W are sure draggin their feet , ...I think they might be a little tounge-tied LOL

d - saw the post the second time I looked ...mybad

It took Matthew Schwartz only five hours to find a panther track in the Big Cypress Swamp.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/12258

With blood and tracks, Wisconsin just confirmed its first cougar in over 100 years.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/12182

When was the last cougar track before this confirmed east of the Mississippi River north of Florida?

http://www.cougarnet.org/Mainecougar.pdf

As the first article illustrates, anyone who wants to can find evidence in cougar or panther country in less than a day. Why does it take years for the rest of us?

http://www.newjerseyhunter.com/article40002.htm

....Ray Charles could see whats happening here..cats are moving east
http://www.savethecougar.org/

http://www.adkforum.com/showthread.php?t=1151

http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/showthread.php?t=282

http://www.pabucks.com/deer-hunting-forum/viewtopic.php?t=3880&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

http://www.easternpumaresearch.com/guestbook.htm

....bought my catnip seeds yesterday...???Most guys grow food plots for deer???...LOL

Bingo...look at the date, and distribution

http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/SpeciesReport.do

ghilie is this link you posted the one about the USF&W? is this a new updated page? Are they finally admitting the mountain lion could be here???

http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/SpeciesReport.do?dsciname=0&dcomname=1&dgroup=2&dstatus=3&dcurrdist=4&sgroup=0&ssciname=1&scomname=2&searchkey=comname&searchkey=sciname&header=TESS%20Search%20Results&searchstring=Cougar

are you sure this is new? why havent any eastern cougar sites posted recognition of it?? would it mean a study plan would now have to take place? would it mean fish and game can't tell you "o yeah you saw a dog"?????

This is the '73 listing currently under review. It hasn't been updated in years. Some of the physical descriptions are for the Florida panther (kinked tails and cowlicks). Those federal wildlife refuge listings are fiction.

This is some very old stuff.

Chris,
anything comments on this USF&W page,when I posted it this morning,the URL was changed and brought up an endangered species list....then it said the page I wanted was no longer available...took me a while to find it again......d....its date was this mornings, not sure if these are updated daily....but I do know what it implies..LOL

Posted: 2008-02-17 00:03:02 Post subject: Female big cats follow males out of Black Hills
Trend could portend widespread colonies

By Jeff Martin

Mostt reports of South Dakota mountain lions traveling hundreds of miles across the country have involved males.

Now, researchers are closely watching another phenomenon unfolding in the Black Hills.

Female lions are beginning to make their own long-distance treks, and the cats are looking to breed. That holds the potential for a far greater effect on the rest of South Dakota and states throughout the central U.S., experts say.
With males already on the move, traveling females raise the specter of lions reclaiming old habitats they haven't called home in more than a century.

Recent evidence of females "dispersing" long distances has scientists excited about the possibilities. In January, a female lion from South Dakota's Black Hills turned up in Montana's Custer National Forest, about 40 miles west of Broadus, Mont. That's about 130 miles from its home in the Black Hills. Earlier, on Dec. 3, a female lion was killed by a landowner near Howard, more than 300 miles east of the Black Hills. Tests are being done to learn more about that animal.

"Those states to the east of us and south of us need to start thinking, 'Do we want to have a population of mountain lions?' " said John Kanta, a regional wildlife manager with the South Dakota Department of Game, Fish and Parks. Kanta studies lions in the Black Hills, home to an estimated 200 to 215 big cats.

February already has been a wild month for the nation's lions, also known as cougars.

On Feb. 5, wildlife officials using DNA confirmed that a cat seen about 50 miles southwest of Milwaukee on Jan. 18 was a lion - Wisconsin's first such confirmation since 1905, when a lion was killed in the state.

Two days later, a 100-pound male lion was killed by a conservation officer in Scottsbluff, Neb., a state where there's strong evidence lions are not just wandering through - they're homesteading.

"We know these large predators can re-establish themselves in areas where they've been eliminated," said Adrian Wydeven, a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources ecologist.

Such a scenario could be set in motion if a wandering male lion finds a mate in suitable terrain, said Mark Dowling, a director of the Cougar Network, a nonprofit research organization. "In order to have recolonization, you need males and females," he said, "and that's what we're going to be watching in coming years is where the females show up."

Elsewhere:

In Wisconsin, now home to an estimated 500-600 wolves, Wydeven said: "If we can support a wolf population, I don't see any reason we couldn't support a cougar population."

In Nebraska, there are increasing signs that lions are reclaiming western parts of the state, including the body of a kitten found near Chadron one year ago. That probably represents the state's first evidence of cougar reproduction in modern times, said Sam Wilson of the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission.

In Missouri, the Department of Conservation's Mountain Lion Response Team confirmed 10 instances of mountain lions across the state since 1994, though origins of the animals are not known.

Next week, wildlife experts from across the country are meeting on Ted Turner's ranch in New Mexico, learning how to recognize signs of lions.

It's too early to know what female lions will do in coming years, said Jonathan Jenks, distinguished professor of wildlife and fisheries sciences at South Dakota State University. "We know that our animals can go 650-plus miles, because that's what they've gone to date," Jenks said of male lions in the region. "We don't have as much data on females on how far they can go."

What is becoming clear: Large parts of the Midwest and South might support lions.

Arkansas contained the highest percentage of potentially favorable habitat - 19 percent - among nine states studied by Southern Illinois University Carbondale wildlife ecologist Clay Nielsen and SIU graduate research assistant Michelle LaRue. Although much of the Plains is considered unsuitable for lions, the research by Nielsen and LaRue suggests that large parts of the central U.S. hold strong potential to support them, particularly the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas, as well as parts of Oklahoma and the Arrowhead region of northern Minnesota.
__________________
"Mountain lions are showing up in places they haven't been in more than 100 years."

G,

It probably recycles daily. It looks like the panther review hasn't been changed on the website, yet that was announced last fall. As d suggested, we'll sure know when the review is announced.

http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/SpeciesReport.do?dsciname=0&dcomname=1&dgroup=2&dstatus=3&dcurrdist=4&sgroup=0&ssciname=1&scomname=2&searchkey=comname&searchkey=sciname&header=TESS%20Search%20Results&searchstring=Cougar

Physical Descriptions,refuges????

Unless my eyes are playing tricks on me . this page says there are cougars on the east coast...including NJ

....this is not the florida panther,...notice no listing for Florida or Georgia???

From Puma concolor couguar, the eastern cougar: Many eastern pumas have an upward turn or kink at the end of the tail and a swirl or cow lick in the middle of the back.

Those are characteristics of the Florida panther, thought to be from inbreeding, before the introduction of Texas females that bolstered the gene pool.

I have no idea where they got the idea that eastern cougars exist in those federal wildlife refuges. The eastern cougar taxonomy was done in the 1940s from a handful of pelts. A couple of cats that turned up in the 60s, which were probably releases, were cited when they listed it as an endangered species. We now know that all of the previously identified 11 or 12 subspecies in North America are genetically all one subspecies (Culver 1999). The USFWS kept the Florida panther listed last fall because it remains a Distinct Population Segment.

That won't happen for the eastern cougar, because it genetically never existed. Unlike the Florida panther, there's no way to determine a distinct population segment from an existing population. It never should have been listed as an endangered subspecies.

The cats that are showing up in the east and eastern Canada have Latin American or a mix of Latin and North American genes. That's why the USFWS service won't protect them.

The ECF in 2000 petitioned the Dept. of the Interior to provide protection to any cat found in the east regardless of origin under the Similarity of Appearance clause, which now protects those Florida panthers with Texas stock. They declined until proof of a breeding population is established.

Genetic tests have shown that all mountain lions — from Florida to California — are the same species.
Jonathan Jenks, a University of South Dakota researcher who tracks the animals.

But pumas from the exotic pet trade are bred in Latin America.

The dozen recent confirmations in eastern Canada, with all that Latin DNA (like the KY kitten hit in '97), suggest former captives are surviving and appear to be breeding in the wild.

i recently read a book, about the appalchian trail, the author talks about cougars on the AT, in a part of one chapter, pretty cool. he mentioned, one seen in the berkshires, cubs seen on a logging road in vermont, and a man who was bringing bird seed to a feed, about 70 feet into the woods, who saw three, approximetly 80 pound cougars in the woods.

Yeh I know-NOT ANOTHER MOUNTAIN LION THREAD

A woman reported to fish and wildlife that she observed a "large cat" pounce upon and kill a deer in her back yard in the Cranberry lake section of Allamuchy mountain state park. The "large cat" then dragged the deer a short distance into the woods and fed upon it.

The State is currently examining the carcass of the deer, and searching the immediate area for signs of the "large cat"

Not sure how this one will turn out
__________________

http://www.newjerseyhunter.com/article40220.htm

Chris can you investigate this one??????

new jersey is full of areas named after the mountain lion. Sussex county schools have names like cougars and wildcats. there is wildcat ridge, panther valley, and many other areas too.

hopefully this doesnt run stagnant, its good evidence if the wildlife department ruins this one, they are idiots.

http://www.adirondackexplorer.org/scoop.cougars.htm

http://www.glenarborsun.com/archives/2001/12/are_big_cats_ba.html

also which part of new jersey is cranberry lakes?? its in sussex county isnt it?? maybe i can go look for evidence? idk i would need an adress. anyone no where this person lives?

.....it'll turn out to be a car-deer accident...LOL

here we go again. is this cranberry lakes area deer kill gonna be another stagnant report? geez why is there never a follow up. the wildlife dept is probably gonna tell the women she saw a blonde coyote or a fox, and then burn the dead deer. geez why no follow up??????? it really sux. the wildlife dept has to do something about it. this whole damn world is run on money, if it didnt cost so much for a cougar management plan, then they would probably take the sightings more serious, maybe even admit that a cougar or two, wild or released is here.

ghillie any word about the deer that was supposedly killed by a cougar in cranberry lakes? or about the cougar? or did fish and game just throw the deer in the incinerator??

d-I ain't heard anything on my end....anybody else??...with the delisting of the wolf...Is the eastern cougar report next???Anything Chris...date??

I was riding my horse in allamuchy state park about 2 weeks ago and I'm 80 percent sure I saw a cougar. I'm new to the area but if someone who is familiar wants to email me I can describe where I saw him. horsemaninnj@yahoo.com. I was riding down a trail along a lake when I saw this light tan animal flying through the woods. it happened so quick that I couldn't positively id it. It was much lighter in color than a deer and had a different way of running.Deer usually run in a hopping fashion. this thing was stretched out and pretty long. also I have been trail riding for a long time and have seen many deer in the woods. they usually dont run that fast in the woods since there usually isn't much to be afraid of. I tried to follow it but it disappeared and I couldnt find tracks since I couldn't tell the exact path that it took.

wow very cool, is this anywhere near cranberry lake were the supposed above attack on a deer took place?

Actually, I think it is Deer Park Lake.

[Quote]
While riding my horse in Allamuchy Mt. Park, my horse stood at attention for a few minutes at a location where he routinely eats grass. He wouldn't move, head up, ears pricked. Across the grassy field where hay had been farmed and cut, I saw a cougar! He was in an area where I had just seen turkeys run. There was no question in my mind what it was. My horse & I high tailed it back to the barn! I called Hopatcong State Park office where the rangers come out of, and left a message (it was Xmas eve day). I spoke with Fish & Wildlife a few days after, and then later in the week to a ranger, and advised him where the sighting took place. No doubt about it, they are here in Warren County, no matter what the State says!

Posted by: Carol on December 30, 2007 6:56 PM
[Quote]

.....This one is the same area I believe as above, Deer Park Lake( across from Panther Valley's Rt 517 entrance....Cranberry Lake is on the other side of Rt 80....although, a large tract of stateland on the Cranberry Lake side of 80 is adjacent to rt 517...behind...Pub 517 in Allamuchy

http://www.trackincats.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1116

amazing, found in new york, large scratch, looks to measure 3 to 4 inches. awesome looks like a cougar scratch to me!!!!!!!!!

thanks ghillie for posting on the new jersey hunter website about the appleton scratch. looks like some concrete evidence to me!!!!! thanks for getting the word around.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/tassie-tiger-or-fox-swipe-its-barcode-and-just-end-the-argument/2008/02/18/1203190740554.html

AHH Ha soon the dept of wildife won't be able to deny they are here!!!! looks cool, will possibly identify any plant, scat, track or other evidence in 3 minutes!!!! im deff getting one of these puppys. new jersey mountain lions here i come!!!

...I don't think too many NJH guys look here..LOL
..Thats a cool tool...probably gonna be pricey!!
d-whats your screen name on NJH?? If you don't want to post it,PM on NJH

i have just recently been reading some of the stories and looking at the pics posted on the NJH site, i dont have a screen name

Another incidental cougar trapping in ND:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/12307

That's eight incidental trappings in the last two years in ND. Why hasn't this ever happened east of this Mississippi River?

Chris,
A retired Warren Tech School Teacher visited me today. He lives in Oxford,by the lake.His neighbor told him last week he saw a mountain Lion cross the road by the lake, and the mans wife saw it at the back of their long back yard by the stream which comes off the lake??? ????????NO PICTURES, NO PRINT PICTURES, NO AUTHORITIES NOTIFIED...apparently this guy is now carrying a camera LOL.....I told him ," Call me next time I will investigate. This weekend I will try to do an interview ..and field search...if time permits??....OOHHH...Chris......Don't be such a pessamist[smirk]...LOL

Ghillie

http://www.savethecougar.org/

..lots of recent activity in Michigan!

wow, alot coming from the allamuchy, cranberry lakes area, theres something out there!!!!!!!!!

G,

Get some estrus scent from Inheat.com or try some Canine Call scent and get a camera out there.

Pessimist? Sooner or later one realizes that cougars play by the same rules wherever they live...they leave tracks, scat, pics on random remote cams, dead bodies on roads, and they kill deer unlike anything else out there except for the occasional burly bobcat. They leave lots and lots of evidence, none of which has been found in a Mid-Atlantic state in over ten years.

....I don't own one yet...but I will try to follow up

Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:36 pm Post subject:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I would have to say bobcat-it is not rare here in WNY, so it makes it the most likely suspect(remember Occam's Razor!) Also, I have a very small female cougar, and her paws are over 4" wide. The last adult male cougar I owned had paws over 7". Also, although the scat seems large-let me tell you-when a mountain lion poops-it looks like a big Rottweiler did it! LOL. Try baiting your trail cam with Obsession Perfume-it drives cats nuts. Texas A&M uses it to attract Ocelots to census them. Good Luck!!

found this ..trackincats

I think theres plenty of evidence out there, ...and nobody,...well few are looking

Occam's Razor, indeed.

The Wildview Extreme 2 cam is being marketed with batteries and a beefier memory card for $99. You can probably find them on sale now. I've also seen the Extreme 3 for even less, though I'm not sure why.

The paws may be that large, but I can't imagine the prints are. The prints I looked at from a male and female cat at the Space Farm Zoo cougar enclosure were nowhere near that size.

Here's the thing about evidence, G. The reason I keep bringing up the incidental stuff, the trappings and roadkills and pics on random cams, is that they have proven to be a clear indicator of cougar presence, even in very low densities. Just like the East, cougars were wiped out in the Midwest 100 years ago. Then all of a sudden in the late '90s, before there were barely consistent sightings, bodies started turning up in states like Iowa, Missouri, and Oklahoma. And when trailcams hit the scene a few years ago, cougar pics started coming in on average Joe hunter's deer cams. There are thousands of these cams out there now up and down the East Coast, yet there's still only that one pic from east of the Mississippi, last August in Minnesota.

In a way, there's a constant, reliable evidence test being run 24/7 from traps, roads, and private wildlife cams. And I would venture to say that confirmations are likely to appear more often from these sources than they will by finding tracks, scat, and deerkills. But we'll see. The '00 Maine confirmation and last month's Wisconsin confirmation came from sightings that produced evidence.

But, of course, you've got to have a cougar around to produce evidence.

Chris,
I posted the above for the lure suggestion of Obsession....ever heard this before?
Ghillie

Nope.

just saw a coyote today, on my way home from church. it was all wet, and was limping. he was maybe 30 pounds, he came from a swamp and was sniffing the field near by. pretty cool, still aint a cougar tho.

http://boards.ancestry.com.au/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=47&p=topics.folklore.ky

read these post from kentucky! one person mentions, having his window opened when he was young, and a panther came in, and his dad came in a shot it??? doesnt have a year, but he said it was ID as a cougar?? pretty kool

....Just checked out googlemap...looking at the Allamuchy Deer Park and Cranberry Lake region...interesting...seems I would pick this area over any to expect cats....follow it NW...there's definately a large corridor....to the North and NorthWest....and look at the names of the towns going N,then look at the sighting reports above....???coincidence?? ....Just Looking???Just a Thought!!!
Ghillie

http://maps.google.com/

wild eastern gray wofl killed in massachusetts

i have two pairs of hooded mergansers in my pond near the woods. how common are these birds and are the endangered? any feed back would be greatly appreciated.

on the show "after the attack" they showed a map of mountain lion range. it showed it in red, and the new england states were shaded red, and so was the gulf coast??? why?? is there something they found out??

I just watched the "after the attack" show and saw the map, but did not see New England or the gulf coast colored in red. I only saw the western United States all the way down to northern South America colored in red.

im just saying i saw the far gulf coast, right along the edge, aswell as new england shaded in red.

http://www.trackincats.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1125

a guy who posted named fngonuts, also saw what i saw.

d--show airs again March 19 4 a.m....Yes ,there was red over the east coast portion from Maine to Maryland...west to mid Pa and NY...

Chris,
Have you buy chance mapped these sightings above?.....I hung a map and started push pinning locations.....I started at the beginning...funny thing is I've only done a dozen or so from 05'....but as they are posted by dates they move down the map...and coincide with the Allamuchy Corridor I described above ....LOL...gonna try it with more recent posts....I'll let you know my findings(chuckle)
Ghillie

I guess I just didn't notice it. Sorry about that.

I didn't see the show (no TV), but consider the source, the topic, and publicity 101. You'll get more folks to watch in the East if you show 'em a map with cougar range in the East. Is this current range, former range, potential range? Why would these guys have different beta than Eastern cougar researchers, and Eastern wildlife agency and academic biologists?

Here's another case where there's a bunch of evidence where a cougar has turned up, but NO SIGHTINGS.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/12389

I used to record sightings, G. Even had territories staked out base on gender patterns. I'm sorry to say they just got impossibly uncorroboratable.

[quote]Why would these guys have different beta than Eastern cougar researchers, and Eastern wildlife agency and academic biologists?[quote/]

...I don't think they do....thats probably where they compiled their information...as per range ...and other info...I'll review it tonight...recorded it?

http://www.savethecougar.org/Michigan-cougar-tracks-3-12-2008/ ...on the U-P

Just finished Beast of Never....interesting read

There is a myth circulating on this website that there are no population of mountain lions living wild east of the Mississippi, north of Florida. This is not true. There are two officially acknowledged populations of cougars existing in the east. The first is in Delaware and the second, with more potential and more promise, is in the state of Michigan. Unless otherwise noted, my information has been gleaned from Bob Butz’ book entitled “The Search for the Eastern Puma - The Beast of Never, Cat of God,” published in 2005. First I want to talk about the information on the Delaware cats and its significant ramification for the rest of the east. And then on to Michigan.

According to wildlife officials of the Delaware Fish and Wildlife Service, a small band of mountain lions are living on the state’s northern border with Pennsylvania. Probably of captive origin, this band of cougars have accounted for the sightings that have occurred over the past ten years, that is to the date of publication of Butz’ book, sightings I might add that have included mothers with kittens. These sightings have occurred in a densely populated area on the outskirts of Newark, Delaware. This is a population of pumas that have, in that ten years, AVOIDED being captured or struck by cars. I repeat, they have avoided being struck by cars, despite the area being crisscrossed by a patchwork of well-used roads. Therefore, the following three facts have been established: 1) Formerly released or captive cougars can live in the wild; 2) mountain lions can live near a densely populated human area; and 3) mountain lions can live near a densely-populated human area and can AVOID being struck by cars. And as an obvious corollary to the above, not all escaped or released captives are declawed. The above facts render the argument as misleading and false that if there are cougars in New Jersey, one would have been struck by a car by now.

But all we had to do is do the math to know that this could be true, without those facts from Delaware. Bear with me for a moment. There are some 3,000 coyotes in NJ. Now suppose 36 are killed on our roadways each year. If we are to assume a transient population of ten mountain lions in NJ (and I’m being generous here) at any given time, then, all things being equal, we can expect to see .12 dead mountain lions on the road - that’s less than two/10ths of a mountain lion, not much of a chance, huh?

But the more interesting prospect that the cats in Delaware pose, is that if cougars can live near a densely populated area, the mind reels at the prospects in more suitable habitat. For instance, the great expanse of national parks and forests that form a contiguous corridor from the Smokey Mountains of North Carolina, to the Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. A corridor of prime habitat that includes the Smokey Mountains National Park, the Jefferson and Washington National Forests in Virginia, the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, and west-ward into the Monongahela Forest. Many have theorized that a small remnant population of eastern cougars could have retreated into this remote area. In the seventies, Nicole Culbertson, compiled a status report of the puma in the Smokies. Her conclusion based primarily on reliable sighting reports, was: “The number of lion sightings through the years suggest that the mountain lion may never have been actually extinct in the Great Smokey Mountains area. The lion may have been able to maintain itself in small numbers in the more inaccessible mountainous regions in or around the park. The present lion population could be derived in part from this small reservoir . . . it is believed that there were three to six mountain lions living in the park in 1975.”

Thinking out of the box for a second, what would prevent a released or escaped captive from mating with an eastern remnant, or for that matter with a western migrant? Are the southern Appalachians and the northern mountains of Vermont, Maine and New Brunswick, Canada being populated by such matings? Can the increased sightings in these locations be attributed to such matings? For instance, can such a mating be responsible for the cougar that was shot in Pocahontas County in West Virginia in 1976? Evidently the cougar was shot by a farmer as it jumped the fence with one of his sheep. A pregnant female was captured two days later. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials advised WV officials to release the pregnant female in the Cranberry Glades section of the Monongahela National Forest. This suggests that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service believed that Cranberry Glades was an ideal habitat, but when Todd Lester, President of the Eastern Cougar Foundation, inquired as to the results of the necropsy done on the male, he discovered that either the report was destroyed or lost, and as bizarre as it sounds, Lester discovered that the female and cubs she was carrying were also lost. But this is not surprising in a state like West Virginia that depends heavily on tourism dollars for its economy. For while the chances of being attacked by a cougar are less than being attacked by a dog, the primal fear of being eaten by a predator is as ingrained in the human psyche as the unreasonable fear of flying.

In Chris Bolgiano’s book entitled, “Mountain Lion – an unnatural history of pumas and people,” she describes the cougar as almost “preternaturally adaptable”. They have colonized many different eco-systems in the Western hemisphere and she relates how they were, after human beings, the most wide-ranging large mammal in the new world. So, they may have a reservoir of adaptability that is deep even by cat standards. In recent years, she goes on to relate, they have followed deer herds north into Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and by the 1960’s were seen in the Yukon territory and Alaska’s Wrangell Island. Bolgiano theorizes that pumas can now be following the coyotes path east around the Great Lakes and down the Appalachian range. “When they (coyotes) reached the east, coyotes grew larger and quieter than they had previous been known to be. Eastern Cougars – whether remnant natives, immigrants, escapees, or a mix of all three – would likely be capable of similar and perhaps much more dramatic changes.”

To be sure, some sightings in the east are by people of dubious character and agenda, but some sightings are by people of immense credibility, well versed in wildlife biology, that can’t be laughed at or dismissed. For instance, the sighting of the former superintendent of the Shenandoah National Park or the sighting by John S. Gottshalk, retired director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. In 1981 while driving on a road with his son in the Monongahela Forest, Gottshalk observed a cougar crossing the road directly in front of him. “It was tawny colored, extremely long tail that cougar’s have, it crouched down, peered at us for five seconds or so, and then glided like a wraith into the forest” from an April 1st, 1991 New York Times article:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE0D81F3EF932A35757C0A967958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all Gottshalk insisted it was a cougar and that others have seen them since.

Some confirmed evidence in the east, starting with some of the most recent sightings. In 2006 in Grant County, WV, an adult and cub was sighted and a cast of tracks made by John Lutz. These were confirmed by wildlife biologist Jon Vinroot and Canadian wildlife biologist Gerry Parker. In 2005 a videotape of a confirmed black panther in Pendleton County, WV. In 2006, confirmed tracks in the Smoke Hole Wilderness area of the Monongahela National Forest in Grant County, WV. The source for these is John Lutz’ website.

Bob Butz’ book relates that in 1996 Todd Lester found an independently verified cougar track in Wyoming County, WV. And now the following evidence from Chris Bolgiano’s book: In Craftsbury, Vermont scat confirmed as being cougar was found in 1994, three cats were sighted in that case. Also in 1994, tracks of a cougar and kittens confirmed by Maine Dept of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. In 1993 New Brunswick, Canada, tracks and scat confirmed to be cougar. In 1990, New Brunswick, Canada, confirmed video of cougar and confirmed cougar scat by Jay Tischendorf.

Now on to Michigan, where the evidence suggests a viable reproducing population of cougars. Whether they are eastern remnants, western migrants, or escaped or released captives, this is not clear, but they are there! In the book entitled “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife of Michigan,” largely funded by the state’s non-game wildlife fund, compiled by wildlife Ecologist David Evers and published in 1994, with input and oversight by the MDNR’s biologists, comes this startling and exciting revelation: “In recent years, reports of cougars have become increasingly more frequent and believable in Michigan and upper Great Lakes region . . . In 1984, confirmation of a Michigan cougar (through a blood sample) was obtained for the first time in Menominee County. There also are encouraging signs that the Michigan cougar is not transient but occurs in a self-sustaining population . . . Since 1982, sightings of cougars have been reported from most Upper Peninsula counties with breeding evidence reported from Delta, Marquette, Menominee and Schoolcraft counties . . . Whether individuals are from a small, remnant population that survived human pressures through the last two centuries, transients from the western Great Lakes region, or privately released (or escaped) western subspecies, the cougar needs to be recognized, protected, and studied in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.” Further official confirmation of the acknowledgement of the existence of pumas in Michigan are the warning signs posted at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lake Shore in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. These signs, erected by the National Park Service, are posted on all thirteen of Sleeping Bear Dunes hiking and cross-country ski trails; they inform the public that they are in cougar habitat, warn them of recent sightings, and explain the behavior they should exhibit if encountering a cougar.

The mission of Bob Butz’ book was to find out the truth about the existence of cougars living wild east of the Mississippi. His quest revolved around Patrick Rusz, a wildlife biologist who believed, after finding confirmed scat and tracks in the Michigan wilderness, that indeed the cats existed in Michigan. Butz and Rusz go on an exciting but often demoralizing quest to find the ghost of the forest. A highlight of the book is Bob Butz’ personal, electrifying and spiritual encounter with the animal he was seeking to find. “Three years into this, I wasn’t looking for the puma anymore. I’d looked and found it. Everybody on both sides said that, yes, there were probably pumas in Michigan. Whether you came from the camp that saw them as FERCs (formerly escaped or released captives) or viewed them as scattered survivors from the past, what did it matter? For once the law of the land (“the similarity of appearance clause”) and our hearts agree: It doesn’t matter, not a whit. Pumas now need advocacy, not more groups running around talk, talk, talking about more objectivity.”

In his book, Bob Butz relates sightings and confirmations of scat and tracks including the following exciting evidence. In 1997 a crystal-clear photo of a puma appeared in the Sept 13, 1997 issue of the Detroit Free Press. This cat was called the Alcona County cougar. This cat was believed to be the same animal videotaped a few months before. In the summer of 1998 the Alcona County cougar was spotted by Conservation Officer, Larry Robinson. In 1993 a perfect photo of a puma taken by a deer hunter from his blind. The location was subsequently verified by Patrick Rusz, the wildlife biologist who is the subject of Bob Butz’ book. In 2003 a panther was observed by father and son deer hunters perched in a tree stand. There is a photograph of tracks and a paw print in one of their boot tracks.

Of course there are countless other sightings and confirmed evidence of those sightings, and countless sightings at Sleeping Bear Dunes by park officials and visitors, that are described in Bob Butz’ book that led to the conclusion of the book compiled by David Evers, and the conclusion of the National Park Service, that indeed cougars exist in Michigan and need to be protected and respected.

Peter,

The Delaware confirmations have recently been struck from the Cougar Network's confirmations page. The evidence has actually never been adequately peer-reviewed.

900 bobcats have been roadkilled in PA since 1985. NJ records about 50 roadkilled bears a year. Roadkills are a very reliable incidental indicator of a species presence (15 panthers last year in Florida; 11 in '06). Even in states where cougars are just beginning to turn up in very low densities in the Midwest, roadkills (and train kills!) are present.

Michigan DNR appears this week to have made its first confirmation, in the Upper Peninsula. I liked Beast of Never a lot, but Rusz and the MWC have run into all kinds of credibility problems. Butz's own sighting was typical. Why on earth did these "experienced" field researchers simply not cover the tracks with a bucket and come back the next day and get casts or pics?

More later...

c

Chris,

The state of Delaware officially acknowledges and confirms the presence of Mountain Lions, however small, on its northern border with Pennsylvania. This is its official stance. In July 2007, the NJ Herald reported a sighting of a mountain lion in Sparta, NJ and they related that the closest confirmed mountain lion presence is in the state of Delaware. In an article by Marcia Bonta, Chris Bolgiano acknowledges a population of cougars in the sate of Delaware that she believes is probably of captive origin. Now if the state of Delaware officially acknowledges the cougar, who is the Eastern Cougar Network to refute them?

In Michigan, the Eastern Cougar Network and Mark Dowling, with their inflated sense of scientific objectivity, couldn?t discern the forest from the trees. They missed the boat in Michigan because of their closed-mindedness and lack of imagination. We should trust their judgment? I don?t think so. But more on that later in Bob Butz? own words.

Now, Chris, it is irrefutable that the cats in Delaware prove the following three things.
1) Captives can live in the wild (not all captives are declawed, yet another myth); 2) cougars can live near a dense human population; and 3) cougars living near a dense human population can avoid being struck by cars for at least ten years. Thinking like a scientist now Chris, the above facts clearly demonstrate that given a population of mountain lions, it is not necessarily true that one must be struck by a car.

That cats are struck by cars in other areas where they are present doesn?t explain why they aren?t struck by cars in Delaware, nor does it prove that we have none in New Jersey. Thinking as a scientist, it behooves one to discover why the Delaware cats are not struck by cars. Consider the medical paradox of the low incidence of coronary artery disease in Eskimo?s despite the fact that they consume large quantities of whale and seal blubber. In your approach you would say that people in other parts of North America who consume that level of fat have high cholesterol ratings and coronary artery disease. And so, it must not be true about the Eskimo?s or else the study was wrong. But a true scientist would want to find out why the aberration from the norm exists in the Eskimo?s paradigm. Scientists did investigate this paradox and discovered that the Eskimo?s intake of cold water fish containing omega-3 fatty acids decreased their cholesterol levels and therefore their risk of coronary artery disease.

Now Chris, I did some research into the Delaware cats and discovered they that have avoided being struck by cars primarily for the following two reasons: 1) they travel through culverts avoiding the roads, and 2) there are simply not many of the cats, maybe a handful. The information about the culverts was gleaned from Marcia Bonta?s website in an article of hers that researched the existence of mountain lions east of the Mississippi.

You mention that 50 bears are annually killed on NJ roads. Assuming a transient population of 20 mountain lions, and all things being equal, we would expect to find .31 mountain lions killed on our roads. Not many, huh?! Now on to Michigan.

Chris, you are perpetrating another myth, and that is that Michigan just recently confirmed the presence of mountain lions. This is simply not true. In the book entitled, ?Endangered and threatened wildlife of Michigan,? funded by Michigan?s non-game wildlife fund, compiled by ecologist, David Evers, and with input and oversight by MDNR biologists, comes this revelation: ?In 1984, confirmation of a Michigan cougar (through a blood sample) was obtained for the first time in Menominee County. There also are encouraging signs that the Michigan cougar is not transient but occurs in a self-sustaining population. . . Since 1982, sightings of cougars have been reported from most Upper Peninsula counties with breeding evidence reported from Delta, Marquette, Menominee and Schoolcraft counties.? The 1984 incident involved a deer hunter in Menominee County who wounded a puma. The blood and bone fragments were analyzed by the Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and Bio-Medical Sciences who confirmed a positive identity to mountain lions. In 1993 a perfect photo of a puma was taken by a deer hunter from his blind. The location was in Oscoda County. The location was subsequently field verified by Patrick Rusz, the wildlife biologist who is the subject of Bob Butz? book. In another incident Bill Hurd, the park curator of Sleeping Bear Dunes spotted a cougar and found tracks.

The Eastern Cougar Network seems to be in bed with the government agencies and their biologists who are anything but enthusiastic or passionate about finding evidence of cats east of the Mississippi. Dowling and the Eastern Cougar Network dismissed much of the findings in Michigan of Patrick Rusz as not legitimate. To be sure, Patrick Rusz may be overzealous in his approach, but he has what any good scientist must have and Dowling doesn?t ? and that is imagination and passion. In the confirmation of pumas in Michigan, Patrick Rusz and Bob Butz have been vindicated and Mark Dowling and the Eastern Cougar Network have lost their credibility as an objective entity searching for truth.

Bob Butz states:

?The ECN (Eastern Cougar Network) had long refused to recognize as legitimate any of the Michigan evidence uncovered by he seven scat samples verified by CMU; the track evidence and observations made by MDNR and Forest Service employees; the sighting made by rangers and naturalists at Sleeping B ear; unmistakable pictures taken in Oscoda and Alcona Counties in 1993 and 1997. All of it on the grounds that Rusz had clearly lost his scientific objectivity. Consequently, Dowling and I [Bob Butz] had some good debates about what constituted objectivity in the realm of eastern pumas. While he got no argument from me that Rusz had made some major scientific missteps along the way, I didn?t think you needed to be a scientist to see the perfect image of a puma in a photograph (i.e., the Alcona and Oscoda county photos) . . . Three years into this, I wasn?t looking for the puma anymore. I?d looked and found it. Everybody on both sides said that, yes, there were probably pumas in Michigan. Whether you came from the camp that saw them as FERCs or viewed them as scattered survivors from the past, what did it matter? For once the law of the land (the ?similarity of appearance clause?) and our hearts agree: it doesn?t matter, not a wit.?

Here are Bob Butz? thoughts on the ECN and Mark Dowling: ?Pumas now need advocacy, not more groups running around talk, talk, talking about more objectivity. We have enough real scientists for that. So my question to Dowling was always the same: What was ECN really doing for pumas in the East if it wasn?t an advocate for them?

(Still quoting) In our debates Dowling never seemed to understand that you could be an advocate for something and still maintain your credibility. I got to know Dowling as extremely knowledgeable about almost everything having to do with pumas east of the Rockies. But as much as Patrick Rusz had a reputation for blind belief in all things puma, Dowling struck me as the type who pushed objectivity not only to the point of being downright negative, but also to a black and pessimistic place that made him prone to tearing down the efforts of those really out there acting to solve the mystery - even if they sometimes made mistakes.

(Still quoting) Easy as it was to pick and find fault with people like John Lutz, Patrick Rusz, Todd Lester, Bill Reichling, and a dozen other amateur researchers out there, the fact remains: These people were really doing something. . .I gathered that Dowling didn?t agree with my shared observation that there might indeed be a conflict of interest at ECN when the people they were beholden to for the sake of maintaining their scientific credibility were some of the very same individuals and agencies that had never shown any real interest in pumas.?

Lots of thoughtful stuff, Peter. Thank you.

Which Michigan myth am I perpetuating? The Menonimee County bone fragment was determined to be from a bobcat:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/12169

Rusz and Swanson's scats have failed to stand up under peer-review:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/11283

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/11287

Butz foreshadows Rusz's data problems with the trouble he was getting into with his lab.

Like the pics posted here last year from Liberty Twsp., the Alcona and Oscada County pics appear to be of mounts. The Mesick and Stokes videos are housecats. A six month-long study at Sleeping Bear Dunes failed to produce cougar evidence:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/easterncougar/message/8872

However critical one wishes to be of state and federal wildlife agencies, however reluctant they may be to accomodate and protect cougars, when they're up against verifiable, peer-reviewed evidence, they announce it.

The odd thing with Delaware is that their evidence has not been shared or peer-reviewed, and it's been quite some time since anything else has turned up. Why so long?

Without explanation, CN has taken Todd's WV confirmation off their list. CN has also taken a questionable stance regarding cougars of Latin American origin. If releases can survive and breed on their own, which appears to be happening in eastern Canada, don't they deserve protection, regardless of the irresponsible tactics which put them there? No one cares a whit where reintroduced western bald eagles or peregrine falcons came from. The argument that such cats would compromise the hypothetic genetic pool of eastern cougars is no longer relevant (the subspecies never existed). Texas cougars were brought in to augment inbred Florida panthers, and we now know that all of these North American subspecies are genetically the same. If a cougar can fill the ecologic niche, and behaves itself, why quibble about its origin?

One can certainly question CN as being in the pocket of agency interests, but what is the alternative? These are the people who will be responsible for recovering and managing cougars in the East. One can fire shots from the bow, suggest and look for cover-ups, but isn't it better to establish working relationships, to lobby for cougar protection and recovery in partnership with wildlife managers? My own limited experience has convinced me that there are rangers, biologists, and park managers in NJ and NY who want to find cougars, who have even sanctioned my efforts to find cougar evidence, even as they conduct their own follow-ups to sightings where there's a good chance that evidence may be present, or a report appears in a potentially problematic area. NJ F & W have been quite aggressive in attempting to track down leads, however unsuccessfully.

The ECF has courted agency support for four years of studies in WV, PA, and KY, as has the Smithsonian in MD and VA. The NY DEC and the NY State Museum, with Cornell and SUNY ESF, ran a large carnivore study concluded in '06 at 54 locations with cams and track traps in the Adirondacks, collecting and analyzing over 300 scats. No cougars. Like every other sanctioned cougar study north of Florida east of the Mississippi, folks trying to find cougars have been unable to.

When you throw in the absence of incidental evidence like roadkills, accidental trappings or shootings, and the proliferation of private trailcams, of which there are now thousands out there, one can't help but notice that with more people looking and with better technology, there is less evidence of cougars in the interior East in the last decade than there was in the '90s.

I wish I could say that a remnant population survived the 19th century bounty hunters. I wish I could say that a fraction of these sightings bore evidence. I wish I could say that the ECF hotline has produced a confirmation. I wish I could say that releases are out there and breeding in the Mid-Atlantic. But the fact remains that both sanctioned attempts, and supporting incidental evidence, have failed to suggest barely a hint of cougar presence in the interior East; and there appears to be less evidence now than there was a decade ago.

Whatever their origin, if they were breeding, why is there less evidence in the interior East now than ever? A cougar lives about ten years in the wild. Is the reason that there is less evidence because there are fewer releases? I think this is the case.

With less evidence, Peter, and with the USFWS delisting pending, it is of profound significance to ensure that the states will provide protection and recovery protocols for cougars, when they arrive. A confirmation here and there won't do it. It is important for anyone interested in the cougar's return to the East to support the efforts of organizations committed to lobbying the states for cougar recovery.

I and others won't stop looking, but this, more than finding evidence, is the critical work that needs to be done.

you mention the stokes cat video, can i see this video even though its a cat?

also how far is indiana, maybe donner's traveled here or into pennsylvania.

eastern panther mystery cat of the appalachians, is this a good book. please list all the good books about the eastern cougar. i would like to further my knowledge, by reading these books that you recommend.

http://www.southamptonnj.org/Redlion.htm

story about how the red lion in south jersey got its name, here you go ghillie put this on NJH. it comes from a bear hunter, who instead encountered a lion

....Google the Chicago and surrounding area terrain...towards South Dakota?...Wisconsin?....LOL.....

what is the "T" for chris??
ghillie this cat seems ot be a south dakota dispersal. what shame. aint much cities after chi town r there?? coulda settled on up in michigan or ohio. maybe coulda went to donner in indiana,to begin an easten cougar population a second time around. what a shame, hopefully there is quite a few more out there that wont get gunned down. oklahoma confirmation too. thats some good news.

t was a test to see if the post was working again.

We won't know if this was the same cat from Wisconsin until the blood work comes back (which had a SD genetic makeup, but who knows where it was born). All speculation at this point. But, it was a young (still some spotting evident, putting it at 1.5-2 years) healthy male, the kind of cat that travels far looking for its own territory...and probably further trying to find females that aren't there.

[quote]....But, it was a young (still some spotting evident, putting it at 1.5-2 years) healthy male, the kind of cat that travels far looking for its own territory...and probably further trying to find females that aren't there.[quote]

Thats a BOLD statement....who says they aren't there?....there have been multiple sightings of females with young all over the east ......when flooding and forestfire push females where do they go .... do they get pushed into other cat territories...and get pushed further to establish new territories????....Wisconsin, Kansas,Oklahoma,Missouri,Michigan...CHICAGO.........he is just ONE OF THE UNLUCKY ONES....what about the cats that made the trip safely ALREADY???, ....LOL

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-skokie-cougar_webapr17,1,162491.story?track=rss

I don't know how bold it is. They're recolonizing the Midwest, at least west of the Mississippi River, where the evidence keeps turning up, and not just a body every other year or so, like in Illinois: bodies, tracks, scat, random trailcam pics, cats trapped and shot. There's a reason CN's map looks the way it does:

http://www.cougarnet.org/bigpicture.html

Sightings, unfortunately, aren't evidence, and there is precious little evidence east of the Mississippi, and less now than there was in the '90s, despite having way more technology to find them, and way more people looking. Why does evidence appear on one side of the Mississippi, but barely on the other?

Why are young males - not old toms, or moms, or young females - getting killed on the east side of the Mississippi basin, when we've got bodies of all of them on the west side (just like in Florida)? Because young toms are the ones making it across the river, because young toms are the pioneers.

I am quite sure I spotted a Mountain Lion in Matawan NJ in a field behind Tire Depot and Car wash on Rt 35 south......4/16/2008

gar can you give description of the cat? size?
tail length? color? anything would be greatly appreciated.

Chris,

This is in response to your March 21 post.

The power, weight and scope of the puma’s status in Michigan (as of 1994) as explained in the book entitled, “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife of Michigan,” does not depend on one incident, such as the Menominee County bone and blood samples. But its weight and scope is supported by the scientific credentials of the MDNR’s biologists, whose input and oversight into the compilation of the book resulted in the following conclusions:

“There also are encouraging signs that the Michigan cougar is not transient but occurs in a self-sustaining population . . . Since 1982, sightings of cougars have been reported from most Upper Peninsula counties with breeding evidence reported from Delta, Marquette, Menominee, and Schoolcraft counties . . . Whether individuals are from a small remnant population that survived human pressures through the last two centuries, transients from the western Great Lakes region, or privately released (or escaped) western subspecies, the cougar needs to be recognized, protected, and studied in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.”

The book entitled “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife of Michigan,” was funded by Michigan’s Non-Game Wildlife Fund and compiled by Wildlife Ecologist, David Evers, under the guidance of the MDNR biologists from the office in charge of managing Michigan’s non-game species. Therefore in 1994 the office in charge of managing the state’s endangered species categorically acknowledged the presence of pumas in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Therefore the state’s official acknowledgement of the existence of mountain lions in the Upper Peninsula preceded by some 14 years the recent “first confirmation” of a cougar in Michigan.

However, the official stance of the MDNR in 1998 that the status of cougars in Michigan are released or escaped captives doesn’t jive with the 1994 assertions made in the aforementioned book. Therefore it seems that one arm of the agency didn’t know what the other was doing or they knew more than they were willing to say. The recent discovery of confirmed cougar tracks in Michigan is a tribute to Mike Zuidema, the man who found them. It was the culmination of his twenty-year dedicated and passionate pursuit of evidence for the cougar in Michigan. That passion was kindled after his own sighting of a cougar in the wild. Bob Butz’ book relates how Zuidema put biologist Patrick Rusz onto potential cougar hotspots in the Upper Peninsula. This resulted in the collection of many scats by Rusz that were confirmed by an independent lab to be cougar. Though Rusz’ evidence was not peer reviewed, the recent confirmation in Michigan is not only a tribute to Mike Zuidema but a vindication for Patrick Rusz, the MWC, and the validation for the findings that were revealed in the book “Endangered and Threatened Wildlife of Michigan.”

Chris, I find it curious that a few posts back you highly recommended Bob Butz’ book, this in light of the fact that in a subsequent post you impugn Butz’ integrity by questioning the veracity of his sighting and his subsequent handling of the tracks. If Butz actually witnessed a cougar, then that would substantiate the numerous sightings in that particular area. On the other hand, if you believe he was lying, then you recommended a book by a man whose veracity and agenda you question. What would his (Butz’) motivation be for lying? What vested interest did he have in the cougar’s existence in Michigan? In fact, he seemed to have been brutally honest as to Patrick Rusz’ inclination to be overzealous in his pursuit of the truth.

And now on to Sleeping Bear Dunes. Now the irrefutable proof that the Department of the Interior believes that there are cougars present at Sleeping Bear, are the warning signs that they posted on all thirteen of its hiking/cross-country ski trails. And these signs warn 1) you are in cougar habitat (not maybe you are in cougar habitat, but that you are in cougar habitat); and 2) what to do if one should encounter a cougar. Now the recent 6-month study at Sleeping Bear Dunes that didn’t show any evidence of cougars, just proves, thinking like a scientist now, that they didn’t find any evidence for 6 months. It doesn’t prove they exist or don’t exist. Again, thinking like a scientist, one would be compelled to give an explanation as to why no evidence has turned up. The question is, Chris, did the Department of Interior dismantle the signs after the 6-month study?

Now on to Delaware. The state of Delaware acknowledges a small band of cougars living on its northern border with Pennsylvania. You question why it’s been some time since anything else has turned up. I know you are well aware of the mountain lion’s proclivity for traveling great distances and its biological need for dispersing. To me, that they could have traveled into Pennsylvania and environs is a very easy and plausible explanation. And that is exactly what has been verified in an article written by Marcia Bonta (http://marciabonta.wordpress.com/category/mammals/ mountain-lion/). “Other sightings in the area of White Clay Creek Valley continued off and on until 1998 when a biologist spotted it on the Delaware side of the White Clay Creek Preserve which Pennsylvania shares with Delaware. In 2000 the reports in New Castle County, Delaware, mounted to five by late June. It seemed only a matter of time until that cougar crossed into Pennsylvania.”

“And on August 7 it did. According to Kevin Housel, an employee of the United States Geological Service, who was doing geological survey work in the Preserve, ‘I came up over the rise and saw her five seconds tops. She went down on her haunches when she saw the truck. Then she tore off. I saw a three foot tail at the end of her body and she looked in good health.’ He said he thought she was a three-year-old female. When I asked how he could be so certain, he replied that he had studied two captive cougars at Zoo America in Hershey Park for a school project. Housel knew enough to look for tracks but couldn’t find any because the land was dry.”

Hi Peter,

I recommended Beast of Never because it's the best book out there describing the vicissitudes of the search for cougars in the East; not because it confirms or doesn't confirm the presence of cougars in Michigan.

Three years out from its publication (four since it was written), and one track has been confirmed in Michigan, last month, not in the Lower Peninsula at Sleeping Bear Dunes or Roscommon or near the southern state line where the Stokes video was shot, but in the Upper Peninsula: the eastern corridor from Minnesota and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, bodies and random trailcam pics continue to turn up in Illinois, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Why hasn't this happened, or continue to happen, anywhere else east of the Mississippi River north of Florida, including Delaware, where plenty of people, including some agency wildlife professionals, who want to find evidence, can't? How are cougars avoiding being hit by vehicles, shot, trapped, and photographed in the suburbs, corridors, and rural places of the East, the same way they are in the 'burbs of Colorado and California, where they've adapted for life in closer proximity to humans, and continue to leave bodies and pics? Why hasn't a cat gone astray and been gunned down in Lansing, or Pittsburgh, or Wilmington? Why do we get roadkills of black bears, bobcats, and coyotes, but no cougars?

Why is there so much undisputed, concrete evidence west of the Mississippi River, and so little east of it?

Why are cougars different here than they are everywhere else?

Case in point. A cougar is recently suspected of taking livestock (a fairly rare occurrence) in the east SF Bay area suburb of Hayward. A trailcam is set up, and bingo, cougar pics.

http://origin.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/ci_9045452

Why so easy there, but not here?

...maybe because theres 6000+ cats in California??????...let's see if theres any photos that come out of CT

http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=8206062

Point taken. Yet the animal implicated is the species photographed. How many undisputed pics have caught a cat at the scene of the many purported cougar attacks on livestock east of the Mississippi?

Seems the Chicago cat was also the Wisconsin cat:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-cougar-dna-wisconsin-web-may01,1,7308176.story

One cougar now accounts for at least half the evidence in two states.

The timeline:

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/land/er/mammals/cougar/milton_cougar_timeline.htm

Chris, seems to be a few new sightings in stokes state forest. i was up there today trout fishing, on flat brook, caught a few and just watched a few deer and the beavers...... the mountain lions two favorite foods..... They just gotta be up there, they gotta be, a few, but they gotta be there, thats the part of new jersey that is the most untouched, the most wild, they could be up there and never be seen....

http://www.naturealmanac.com/cougars/index.html

....the writing was on the wall.....LOL

d,

If they're there, evidence will turn up. I hope you find it.

G,

From the Big Wildlife page on Oregon's cougar management plan

http://bigwildlife.weebly.com/myths-about-cougars.html

quoting Paul Beier, who has spent more time studying cougars at the urban/wilderness interface than anyone: http://oak.ucc.nau.edu/pb1/ .

I haven't been able to find his 1991 study quoted below, which found 95% of cougar sightings IN COUGAR HABITAT to be misidentifications:

"MYTH #2: Based on public sightings and complaints, Oregon has become overrun with cougars since the banning of hound hunting.

REALITY CHECK: Public sightings are not reliable indicators of cougar numbers, yet the plan's objectives and methods rely on them as triggers for killing cats.

[R]eports of sightings are worthless (or worse) as an indicator of cougar presence, cougar numbers, or trends in cougar numbers. (Dr. Paul Beier)

In one seven-year study period, perhaps as many as 95% of the routine [cougar] sightings were cases where the observer misidentified a bobcat, coyote, domestic dog, domestic cat, raccoon, or deer. (Dr. Paul Beier)

Changes in sighting data is more a measure of changes in peoples attitudes or anxieties related to the cougar and has almost no relevance for evaluating changes in cougar populations. (Dr. Rick A. Hopkins)

Few complaints are verified by the ODFW. A 1994-96 study shows fewer than 5% of the complaints in Oregon were verified. Since so many complaints are invalid and influenced by media and fear, they are not reliable."

Lots of luck, indeed.

Chris,
theres been an aweful lot of changes since that was written( almost 15 years)....you don't need no survey for "the big picture"....and its not about the cats that are seen...What about the ones that AREN'T????

Logically its basic biology....in abscence of control, over a given period of time,populations expand...kinda like the NJ Bears...LOL

OOOOOHHHHH.........and as for Oregon.....maybe Bigfoot is pushing the cougars out?? :)

If they are unseen, and leave no evidence, where has the population expanded to?

Why would Beier's sightings study be any less relevant today?

......unseen cats do leave evidence.....and look around you.....a lot has changed in the past 15 yrs

G,

Taking a look around, what has changed in the past 15 years is that the evidence has STOPPED appearing since 2000 in the eastern US: NY '93 & '94, WV '96, MASS '97, KY '97, Maine '95 & '00. A bunch of sanctioned studies - NY, NJ, PA, MA, VA, WV, KY - have been launched in the last decade to find cougars, and every one of them have failed to produce evidence. Incidental evidence - roadkills, trappings, shootings - have also stopped occurring in the eastern US.

Looking around, all the evidence since 2000 has come from the Midwest and eastern Canada.

I Live in Eastern Pa Along the delaware River, about 30 minutes north of Philadelphia. I was up early about 3:00am and heard a cat crying, but was a bit louder, raspier (more robust than a typical tom cat) I didnt think too much of it. the next day My wife and daughter spotted a big cat in the back yard passing thru. they described it as way bigger than a house cat, With a thicker tail (not bushy) that was the size of a dog. My wife said it looked like Simba from Lion King! I am curious could there be mountain lion or cougars this far east?

SIMBA!!!!!! yeah they probably saw a mountain lion, sightings are increasing throughout PA.

.....Ron....can you give a better location for reference....don't take this sighting lightly for the safety of your wife , child, and others! Tell your neighbors.... Fish and Wildlife!!!!
Ghillie

Chris,
Any info or links from the Mt Lion Workshop(news ,reports etc), or any word on the USFGW study??
Ghillie

G,

I haven't heard anything earthshaking yet coming out of the workshop. I'm not aware of the abstracts being posted online, but you can usually get a copy by contacting the organizer.

The results of the USFWS review have been delayed several more months.

....1 down......

1 down??? whats going on ghillie??

....1 month down!!!....waiting on the survey---.....you know !?, the Scientific data from the Experts......LOL

...Anyone hear about several sightings in and around the Bangor, Mt Bethel Pa area.....supposedly in the newspaper....couldn't find anything.......my brothers neighbor saw it in a cornfield while walking....he is an outdoorsman.....this is two miles over the Belvidere Bridge, close to the Delaware..........................................also activity in Ohio,NY,Md Maine, Michigan and West Virginia

ghillie wow exciting!!! keep searching. i will be too. on the huntingpa.com website under the message board, predatoor section there is a scat ID question, take a look.... its too big to me to be coyote. also here is a link...

http://sierraactivist.org/article.php?sid=43289 check it out, says last NJ cougar was found dead in Allamuchy in 1805.

also on another note, anywhere know whats going to happen to the 3 MAMA bears and 10 CUBS in branchville.

im up here about 10 miles form High point and i just watched a mama with 2 cubs run through the neighborhood.

d........your'e kiddin..right......a Bear in NJ...........LOL

Wow, I've never encountered so many liars in one place.

what r u calling us liars for........?????? why even post on here if your just going to be mean about the topic???? huh Frank??

Hey guys,

It's me, Mike from a long while back. I first posted December 30, 2007, and I can't recall when I last posted...needless to say, it's been a while.

It seems that even as the months have passed, nothing has turned up in New Jersey.

However, something really fascinated me recently; the other night, I flicked on the History Channel. They have this show every now and then called "Monsterquest". In the episode, there were strange accounts of slaughtered pets and livestock in gruesomely similar fashions within the vicinity of South Carolina (Bolivia, SC to be exact). The first of these reports date back to 1954, but recently, as of 2007, more than 60 animals were killed with frightening efficiency, and it an expanded territory stretching across the state of South Carolina: nape bites and throat slashes with little signs of struggle. The animal was called "Vampire Beast".

Sounded incredulous, and I had no idea what it was. To be honest, I wasn't even THINKING mountain lion. But when eyewitnesses were tested with sounds, the findings of the researchers revealed that they had indeed identified the vocalization of a very large cat, particularly a Bengal Tiger.

Either a tiger was let out of the zoo, or there are probably mountain lions in South Carolina.

I'd say that's a pretty fair guess...especially considering the beast has been reported to kill 200 pound goats and even a 120 Rottweiler.

There's no way a bobcat could have done this, and black bears probably did not inflict the neck-specific wounds.

Incidently, there was another episode of the same show regarding "black panthers" in the United States, and it too speculated the possibility of an Eastern Mountain Lion population.

Best of luck to you guys out there, and I hope that the hard work, research, and time that you have invested produces fruit.

Sincerely,
~Mike

And d,

Please try not to get so emotionally charged if somebody (spammer, troll, or not) makes a scathing remark. The fire won't get put out if you feed it.

In general, just keep things cool and level-headed.

Take care,
~Mike

Hello i have a question.Are there mountain lions in mercer countuy

yes mike, i shouldnt get so annoyed with those spammers. and mercer county, anyone have any sightings from the area to help vivek here. vivek did u see one there?? can u describe it??

Wife and I spotted a cougar on our way home to Brooklyn from Jackson. It was going into the woods on rt 527 north on the border between Jackson and Manalapan (just north of i-195). Clearly tan and muscular, long tail and a coigar. Very impressive. Tried to take shot with blackberry but missed it. Cousin is a Jackson twp volunteer firemen, who has many buddies on both Jackson, Freehold and Manalapan police department, said they get multiple reports each month and have spotted the cars themselves. They are aware that local farners are bringing the cats in to control deer and other pests. Also caim Great Adventure arewa near rt 537 is prime sighting area. Also reports the 'cat lady' released a dozen or so a few years back.

willl add more as i get it

Tony

regarding the cat lady from Jackson, NJ

http://www.susanorlean.com/articles/lady_and_tigers.html

No.I did not see one.But because mountain lions are my second favirote animal im really intrested.Also we have tiny hills over here

cougar spotted on Univ of Maryland campus

http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0708/540413.html

Superb find, Tony. Thanks for the post.

Chris, didn't you say somewhere up there that the state of Delaware confirmed an existence of an isolated mountain lion population near the border of Pennsylvania?

I'd figure that the University of Maryland seems close enough to this locale for one to have accidentally wandered atray.

~Mike

i talked to one of my co workers today. he is an avid hunter, fisherman, and trapper. he accidentally traps bobcats all the time, and releases them. he was telling me that he shot two deer this past winter and set the carcasses up after taking the meat. he was hoping to attract coyotes, but what he found the next morning was incredible. large cat tracks, the size of his hand, they were surrounding the carcass. he had told me that he hears them many times at night as well. his neighbor even spotted one in a rocky outcropping of the mountain in their backyard. the area of this recent activity is in the crigger/neilson/card road area of wantage, very close to frankford.

chris? ghillie? where have you guys been. anything new?

d,

Took a bike excursion (alone) up to West Milford, NJ. Nothing relevant to report.

~Mike

Ohio Mountain Lion (Medina) attacks man in driveway

http://www.wkyc.com/news/local/news_article.aspx?storyid=94225&catid=3

Tony,

Or somebody else correct me if I'm wrong, but according to the description, the victim estimated the animal to weigh 30 to 40 pounds. Sounds more like a feisty bobcat attack (albeit rare) than a full-grown mountain lion...although of course it could be argued that it might have been a juvenile/adolescent.

Sadly, there's no further descriptive details provided.

I sure hope those tracks are thoroughly examined, though. If there's any chance that the animal is to be properly identified, it would probably be that way.

~Mike

If you watch the online video clip - there is a dark grainy video that appears to be a mountain lion. I spoke with a PA wildlife park officer and he has seen prints, and heard cougar cries this past weekend on the PA / NJ border near NW NJ.

UMD cat believed to be a Savannah cat

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=598&sid=1453497

Are you going to answer me

vivek,many of us here believe that there are cougars in new jersey. they are not recognized as a species here, they are considered extirpated from the state.

woman photographs cougar in arkansas, trail camera catches a big old panther haha in mississippi. two of the newest pieces of evidence!!!!

But are there mountain lions in mercer countuy nj

Vivek,

there are likely to be cougars wondering the woods of New Jersey and that certainly includes Mercer county with its very large wooded areas in the western part of the town. Whethere these cougars are pets escaped or released or naturally wild visitors from the west is unknown. Also there has never been conclusive evidence (photos, body) discovered.

Are they also in the eatsern part

But the goverment should keep the mountain lions because they will help control are deer populatioun

chris,

remeber my post asking bout the feral hogs?? well glouster county reports having a population of around a hundred. with sows having as many as 3 litter a year, new jersey will soon have a new big game species to hunt, and a new prey base to attract them lions haha.

Well are their mountain lions in eastern mercer countuy

Can you please awnser if their are mountain lions in eastern mercer cluntuy

vivek, to answer your question. there are prolly a few escaped pet cougars running around that area. up here to the north in sussex county, maybe there are wild ones, possibilty is very low though.

Vivek,

If I may say so, from the lack of solid, conclusive evidence regardless of how elusive or shy the animals are, your chances of seeing a mountain lion in New Jersey are about as likely as seeing a Bigfoot in Washington state. With the exception of the few who have claimed to see them and those who work effortlessly to find them here, they don't exist.

To say that the cats don't exist here in the east would be folly; mountain lions are known to be one of the most adaptable animals, with known existing territories extending from British Columbia to Tierra del Fuego. With the advent of the population surge in recent years, it is possible, however unlikely, that the cats are extending their territories eastwards.

Historically, the mountain lions have been extinct in New Jersey for centuries. But considering the trends in recent years, a rebound from a strain from the west is possible, albeit highly unlikely.

While there is the remote possibility of pet or captive cougars escaping or being released into the wild, this claim is still unconfirmed, and thus is merely speculation.

There has also been a bit of debate and heated controversy over what actions to take in the event an established population of the animals is discovered. As of yet, this is still tentative and remains unsolved.

I am a nature enthusiast, and have always had a proclivity to the wild and the realm of science for my entire life. The mountain lion has also remained iconic of what is wild, exotic, and dangerous in the western North American wilderness. Thus, the prospect of finding a population in the east is both thrilling and thorny.

But in all things fair, I sincerely doubt that the cats live anywhere in the state of NJ. I have yet to confirm a few things with Chris (i.e., the Delaware mountain lion population), but I haven't seen him around here in a while. In my opinion, he's the guru of this board, and the leading expert on mountain lions here. If the opportunity avails itself, speaking to him would probably be your best bet for finding the best information on the subject.

I hope this helped in answering your question.

~Mike

I live in Toms River, NJ, near the Rt. 70/Rt. 527 intersection. My home backs up to about 40 acres of woods. About a year ago I woke up in the middle of the night and hear the most blood-chilling, demonic-type wailing coming from outside. I have never, I repeat- never heard any animal sound like it. Perhaps it was a bobcat, but after reading all the posts on this site, I am wondering if it were a cougar. It makes sense to me that with all the deer in NJ, that cougars could be migrating this way. I have also seen a coyote in my backyard recently, and a black bear was spotted about a mile from my home recently. I spoke to a guy who works for the PA highway department (or something like that) and he said they find them occasionally on the road but that no one wants it publicized. If they're in PA, logic tells me they're in NJ.

The blood curdling sounds you heard were probably raccoons fighting. I used to have them fighting in the trees right outside my bedroom window. When you don't know what it is it is a terrifying sound, but usually no blood is even shed.

I don't think predators like mountain lions make noises like that. It would be counter productive.

Cougars are silent predators when they hunt, but
the mating call of a female cougar in estrus has been described by many, outdoorsman and biologists alike, as an unearthly, chilling, high-pitched cry that would unnerve even the most seasoned outdoorsman.

Cougars are silent predators when they hunt, but
the mating call of a female cougar in estrus has been described by many, outdoorsman and biologists alike, as an unearthly, chilling, high-pitched cry that would unnerve even the most seasoned outdoorsman.

all the mountain lions if there is any would have been wiped out in huracane hanna

hanna woulda done nothing to them. the deer and bears are still here.

I used to live on the edge of Wharon State Forest in Indian Mills. There are no mountain lions there.

My father spotted a dead mountain lion on the side of the highway in Colts Neck, NJ this morning. He said it was huge....I found this site looking to see if there was any report of it yet...............

thank you for this report, i'll do a google search. can you give me a description? long tail? tan color? sorry just trying to rule out that it may have been a bobcat.

.....or a headless deer:)LOL......so much for the
The results of the USFWS review ....what does Chris have to say about this??????????

As I was walking around the cemetery by Yellow Frame yesterday,I glanced down into the fields off the embankment. I saw a large animal with a brownish colorede fur. It was too large to be a coyote or a fox-it wa the size of a Great Dane. As the cold winds whipped around, my curiosity got the best of me and I proceeded to walk toward the fields and woods,at that point, two large deer also ran by-the "Creature" I went to look closely at was distracted by the deer,and watched them intently,as I got closer to see"It was a large cat- the species I would describe as a "mountain lion or cougar" (or in that family) I was quite shocked and taken back..As an avid animal lover, I know my species and all types of animals.I did not know such a large cat could live in New Jersey.But, I saw it with my own eyes...Once the cat glanced up at where I stood-he or she,quickly slinked away into the woods. And, I do say-"slinked" having two cats at home, I know this was a CAT-cause of its body motions and mannerisms.Quite a sight to see!

I posted about the dead mountain lion...my father said it wasn't a deer...it had a long thick tail. He thought it was a deer at first because he said it was tannish in color. It was on Route 18 (I think) in Colts Neck....We're from northern NJ so I'm not familiar with that area....
We're animal fanatics though and he would've known if it were a bobcat.....He said it was way too big....He's heard other truckers mentioning sightings too. Don't mean to sound like a Daddy's girl but if my father saw it...it was there.

A close friend of mine who is also a hunter/fisherman said he saw a Mt Lion aprox 150 pounds 2 or three days ago on Canistear road in Vernon NJ... across from the old canistear graveyard. This location is about 7 miles from wawayanda state park where there have been numerous other Mt lion sightings...even by park police/rangers. My friend said it looked huge and was well fed. Very scary.

P.S.

He knows It wasnt a deer....b/c it was dragging a dear across the street.

... so I dont want to hear that it was a golden retriever or bobcat or deer...unless the 3 aforementioned are known for doing that.

Has there been any official evidence of a Mt.Lion signting yet besides storys like myself? Just curious b/c this isnt the first story I have herd from people that live in my area.

can you explain how it looked?

as Vivek asked, please give us a description of the cat.

One of my co-workers spotted a dead mountain lion next to the fast lane near exit 30, the Basking Ridge area of Route 287 this morning. There was quite a bit of traffic caused by people taking a look at the unfortunate cat. Of course this story was met with great skepticism by the rest of the office until he gave a perfect description of a mountain lion; tan and white, big paws, etc. Upon seeing a picture of one, he confirmed that was precisely what he saw.

Since I retired I hike regularly in the deep woods of both Allamuchy Mountain North and South. I have come across human hand size Cat tracks on numerous occasions along the wet areas of several trails. Last Tuesday I definitely saw a Mountain Lion off of the White trail just before the ascent up Allamuchy Mountain. I saw it from about 50 yards climbing up the boulders to reach the ridge top. I do not hunt, and I have come across numerous bears in the park that do nothing but run away. I don't want to officially report a siting, but, if anyone hikes or Bikes Allamuchy North, DO NOT SIT DOWN!

FRESH REPORT: on friday november 28th a hunter, woh has 35 years of experience in the woods, saw two mountain lions off of route 517 in sussex county. he has hunted mountain lions out west, and there is no mistaking them.

I witnessed a cougar get run over on RT-15 North.
Last night I was driving up to the Del Water Gap around 11:20pm. I was outside Woodport Lake Winoa area on Rt-15 North when I saw this huge thing appear slinking across the road. I braked and the cat was fine and continued into the right lane where the person in that lane well...it was very sad. I was in disbelief as to what I thought I just saw. I wish I had a chance to do it over and save it. Being run over is no way to die, even for an animal. Hey, can we get some lights on RT-15? Your speeding tickets are $300 a pop. Use that money to save some lives and make the road safer.

....and you didn't stop to get pictures????

exactly what i was thinking ghillie. D***it

wheres Chris--........D... check out the post and then the article......It leaves me a bit confused??

http://www.thejump.net/board/viewtopic.php?t=8654

G,

That's Mike Guerin's site. He wrote the article that begins on p. 6 of the newsletter.

With all due respect to the discussion on this site, I've decided to limit my online time to the sightings phenomenon. The history of my posts here reflect the evolution of my views on this subject. I've come to the conclusion that the record of evidence doesn't support cougar sightings. Occasionally, like the cat shot recently in Georgia, former captives appear in the East, but they don't represent a breeding population. There is simply no objective reason why bodies and random trailcam pics like those documented recently in Louisiana continue to turn up in the central Mississippi basin, but they don't anywhere east of there. And I've yet to hear a convincing argument to explain this disparity on the various sites where I've posted.

I've also learned that pointing out the evidence disparity convinces no one with regard to sightings. The sightings debate is no longer something I wish to devote significant time to. The ECF has solicited sightings and evaluated evidence from Nova Scotia to Georgia and west to the Mississippi River for ten years. They and others have conducted sanctioned cam studies. They haven't produced a single cougar confirmation. As my message in the newsletter states, returning cougars to the East, by protecting dispersers and habitat in the Midwestern states where they are recolonizing; advocating for reintroductions mandated in both the Florida panther recovery plan and the Endangered Species Act, is where the ECF has turned its attention.

Many will continue to disagree, but for me, the sightings debate is concluded. For some of us who wish to see cougars returned to the East, it's time to switch strategy.

Good holidays,
Chris

Chris,
With All do respect, I still believe there is a small chance ....even without the evidence....dispersers as you call them, are throughout the east without question . Keep up your Good Work and continuing efforts towards recolonization with the ECF,....and don't be a stranger...LOL

....and to all,... do have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Years.
Ghillie

a lil christmas hope for you guys. i was recently told that a mountain lion was hit in ogdensburg. it was hit at dusk and many people stopped to take pictures, hopefully these pictures will surface on the internet. the Dept. of F&W was called and arrived approximetly 20 minutes after being called. they took it away and told no one what they were going to do with it. i heard this from a relative just tonight, i know it sounds like another BS story that is always on the internet, but i think its the real deal, and i hope photos surface on the interent to back up what i've heard. thanks guys and have a great christmas and happy new year. may there be more good tracking snows ahead!!

beast of never, cat of god and bobcat master of survival, got em for xmas!!!

I believe it was summer of 2007 my friend and i were walking at night through the speedline parking lot in westmont nj coming back from getting waterice ....and we saw a very large cat with a long tail not too far away ....we didnt tell anyone really because we knew they would just laugh it off if we had said we saw a cougar or mountain lion...like our parents basically did!

While deer hunting in washington twp nj i spotted a cat lurking across a dump.I looked thru my scope and compared the cat to a tree in my sight picture I estimate the cat to be three feet long(body) approximately 50 to 60 pounds.I used my range finder and it was 137 yards away with a 9 power scope.There was a 9 foot high tree behind it. I went and measured it latter.I know what i saw . Heads up hunters and anyone walking around allahika hunting preserve.

I install gutters for a living and was working in a very wooded part of Farmingdale, NJ, in November of 2008 - specifically McQueen Blvd. I noticed what appeared to be a cat much larger than any housecat on a branch in a tree about sixty yards away. Although I need glasses to read in dim light at close range, for distances my eyesight is still extremely good. I kept watching the cat, and it then jumped out of the tree with one leap and ran away. I would put it at about 50-60 pounds, dark grey in color, like a black panther you might see in Florida. I recently got a good look at a bobcat in Millstone Twp., also while working, and I do not think it was a bobcat because the tail was long. People are naive to dismiss all of these accounts as nonsense or mistaken identifications. There are a whole lot of deer out there for these types of predators to feed on. I can't say 100 percent what type of cat it was I saw, except that I do not believe it could have been a housecat, unless cat food manufacturers are putting some crazy additives in their food. Maybe somebody brought a panther up from Fla ad let it loose.

thank you for your story, it could have been a young mountain lion, or possibly some sort of extic cat that escaped from its owner, such as a jaguarundi or jungle cat.

Any sightings in White Twp. Warren county Lived there for past 22 years I have not seen anything though.

Have there been any recent sightings in the Watchung Mountains? I live in Plainfield, right at the base of the mountains, and want to keep my eye out on my nightly runs :) We used to see only racoons and possums, maybe a rare deer sighthing. Now I see groups of deer all the time, it's common to see them during the day. I also see foxes pretty routinely when we never saw them in the past.

anymore news?????? this forum has really gone stagnant, it stinks

I live in Colts Neck New Jersey, some time last November 2008, two people who work for me saw what they strongly believed was a lion in my back yard. I have two acres that backs up to a wooded area and creek. They were certain it was a lion by the beige color, long thin tail, shape of the ears, size and lenghth of the body and especially by the way it was walking. When I told my husband he thought they were crazy and brushed it off. I remained sceptical. After the topic came up this weekend at a party I was surprised to here that there were mountain lion sightings in Colts Neck, NJ in the past. Have there been any other sightings out there??? I have young kids and a puppy that play out in the yard everyday and especially in the summer, at night sometimes too. I'm really concerned about this and get the feeling after reading some of these blogs that the DEP/police are not putting enough focus on this... I plan on filing a report tomorrow. If you think you may have seen a mountain lion, please post a comment and file a report with the DEP and/or Police Dept. so we could work together to keep out community safe! Thank You!

Hi Connie,

I understand your apprehensions, but there is truly no danger. Cougars don't hunt people (they are hard-wired to hunt deer). If they did, there would be hundreds of attacks every week in states like California, Colorado, and Florida (no documented attacks), where they live in close proximity to human activity.

There are on average two cougar attacks a year in the US and Canada. Two. Usually, by young, inexperienced cats out on their own for the first time. Those are the same chances statistically as being hit by a meteor.

Part of why the public believes cougars are a threat is because the survivors often make it onto Today or Good Morning America, sensationalizing this most rare of wildlife encounters. In contrast, vehicle collisions with deer kill 200, injure 20,000, and cause more than $1 billion in property damage annually. That's a real public safety issue, but you don't see survivors of deer collisions interviewed by Matt Lauer, although they are by far the largest daily wildlife threat to people. Unlike cougar attacks, deer collisions aren't exceptionally rare, nor sensational.

Couple this tiniest of statistical chances with the fact that there hasn't been a cougar attack anywhere east of the Rocky Mountains since the 19th century, nor a wild cougar confirmation along the eastern seaboard in 8 years (in Maine), and no confirmations in NJ in the 7 years since this thread has been running (not to mention more than 150 years before this), and you may begin to get a sense how there is virtually no risk to your family or pets from a cougar.

Chris

BTW, Lions of the Lyons, a book by Ramon Bisque about co-existing side-by-side with cougars in the Front Range of Colorado, is available through the ECF's website:

http://www.easterncougar.org/pages/store.htm

Several early attacks by young, dispersing cougars stopped as the population matured and reached carrying capacity in the Front Range.

There is also this link for other attack literature:

http://www.easterncougar.org/pages/bibliography.html

Chris

The end of February 2009 I saw a young mountain lion stalking something in my backyard. I live in Succasunna,NJ. It was about 30 yards away and I saw it for a full minute. It looked about 40 pounds. I wasn't sure what kind of cat it was until I looked it up on the internet. With out a doubt, it was a mountain lion.

40lbs? thats a very small lion, they're usually upwards of 90 to 130 lbs..... im thinking it was a bobcat. can you give a description? like did it have a long tail? and did it have spots? what color was it?

Yes it was a bit smaller because I believe it was just an adolesent. It was not a bobcat. It had a very lon thick tail. It was tan in color and did look like it had some spots like all adolesents do.

very niceee, wel if you see it again, try to get pictures. thanks for your report

Whiting, NJ: It took three 1/2 yrs. from my first encounter before I finally saw the cougar/puma/panther crossing the road, in daylight, about 5 minutes before dusk.
At the first encounter, I was walking alone in my senior co-op village in the wee hours and was stalked for about 6 blocks by a large animal moving, unseen, behind the tree line. When two deer crashed onto the scene, the creature lost interest in me and went careening after them. Left without explanation at the time, I blamed it on the Jersey Devil and haven't gone out walking in the dark since then.
Three summers later I didn't see, but felt, there was a large cat resting in a little grove of bushes on the side of my home, at night, when I took out the garbage. I felt it was just watching me.
That winter, I found one large cat print in the snow in front of my home, early in the a.m. (too early for the sun to have melted the snow and enlarged a smaller print.
And, finally, the actual sighting: I was driving home (about three blocks away) when what I thought was a deer crossed in front of my car, moving to my right. I stopped, peering to the left side of the road, waiting to see if there were more deer coming (not wanting to have one of them strike my car) and saw nothing. Glancing back at the "deer," I got a shock. By now, it had crossed to the other side of the road, was up on the lawns between some homes, and about to go into the foliage. But it certainly wasn't a deer. It was tawny like a deer and about the same size, but it was a huge cat. Cat head! Cat legs and paws! And was it my imagination or did the long cat tail have a ball-like shape on the end! And it moved like a cat. Even though it was strolling slowly, it covered ground quickly. The cat didn't acknowledge my presence or that of my car. I sat staring until it disappeared, then noted it was heading in a straight line for the back of my house and its favorite leafy hideout.
I think these animals have lost most of their natural habitat and have somehow managed to co-exist with humans--only the humans aren't aware of this. I didn't report the sighting because if no one believed me, I'd be ridiculed; on the other hand, if they did believe me, they'd come and hunt the cat. Anyhow, I no longer go out in the dark to put out the garbage during the season when the greenery is lush on the side of my house.
My friend, a Piney woman, loves to walk through the Pine Barrens, deep in the woods. She said one day she went down a path leading to a clearing and came face to face with a black panther. Alone in the woods, miles from any help, she stared at the cat and it stared at her. The staring contest went on until the cat turned and strolled off into the woods. My friend said there was evidence that someone had been regularly feeding the cat in that clearing. She still goes out for deep woods walks, but she doesn't go near that spot any more.

Just found this site this week...but see comments regarding puma sightings in Delaware, where their DNR acknowledges incidents in New Castle County but not in Kent & Sussex Counties.
Yet we have 2 videos taken near Burrsville in 2001 showing a definite adult cougar walking along a woods line while farmer wife's is filming it & calling Delaware officials. They called us (Eastern Puma Research Network) asking if we could respond to look at tape & identify animal. We did as asked & Delaware DNR gave us a copy of tape. In nearby Caroline Co, Maryland I'm positive same cougar was spotted 1 day earlier by a retired MD. Port Administration Police Lieut. near Smithville.
Tracks of 2 cougars, apparent siblings were found & identified by late Zoologist & Baltimore Zoo Assistant Director Dr. Ted Roth on May 7, 1975 along the upper Nanticoke River near Galestown. Additional sightings have been reported along same river from Chesapeake Bay & its swamps near Elliott to Galestown in last 2 weeks according to a source at MD DOT.
Multiple big cat sightings have been reported in & around Gumboro Swamp near town with same name since the late 1800s....the grandfather of my wife Linda lived along a dirt road within 100 yards of the Gumboro Swamp in the 1930s & could remember hearing the terrifying screams of panthers nightly. Similar reports of the 1930s panthers offspring continue till today....but neither the ECN nor the ECF wants to discuss these big cats....
For more cougar & black panther data go to the Eastern Puma Research Network website & read the facts: www.easternpumaresearch.com
Sincerely,
John A. Lutz, Director
Eastern Puma Research Network

Louise,
Very interested in your report (May 16, 2009), as I also live in whiting and have seen evidence of a large cat behind my house. Would you be willing to show me where your sighting occured?

read michigan wildlife conservancy. white paper hiding the cougar. under additional information

To Greg:
Regarding Whiting sighting of big cat, I can show you the area where it stalked me (but didn't reveal itself), where I saw one paw print in the snow in front of my home, where I think it rests under a big bush in my yard, and where I saw it cross the road (in all its glory!) while it was still light. Tour best given in daylight for obvious reasons.
What area in Whiting do you live? My village is in middle of Whiting, off Rt. 530. Would you want to meet in public place, such as Heritage Diner? Then you could follow me in your car along the "cat track." Can you post your answer here?

Louise,
I live in Wynewood,off of route 539. I'd be glad to meet you in the parking lot of the Heritage. I'll be in a blue SUV. Would tommorow(Thurs.7/23) be ok,around 2PM.? If so,let me know.
Thanks,
Greg

I live in Jackson, New Jersey and on Monday I was driving in my car with my friend Pat we were driving along Jackson Mills road between Hyson and County Line road there is a soccer field or what was gonna be a soccer field there when all of a sudden this mountain lion ran out of that field in front of my car to the feild across the road it was about 85lbs tan and a long tail, I kept yelling to Pat what is that ! what is that! I went home and looked up what I saw on the comp. and mountain lion, cougar and puma pics came up and it looked exactly like what I saw, was I shocked to learn it was a mountain lion? Hell yes, did I report it? No because the police out here wouldn't believe you if you called and you would look like your crazy. But I know what I saw and Pat also looked it up with a friend of hers and said she came to the same conclusion. So yes I believe there are mountain lions in Jackson New Jersey

By the way the field is big and there is wooded areas around it. So now as far as I can tell by this site this is the 3rd siting in Jackson.

Louise,
Since I didn't hear back from you, I'm assuming that today was not going to work. Please let me know when it is convient for you. Weekends and Tues./Thurs. afternoons are the days I'd be available.
Thanks,
Greg

Sorry, Greg, for not getting back to you sooner.
My computer has been down until I can get it looked at for free, next month, and I am at the mercy of the public library facilities. My calendar is not with me as I sit here, typing this. Will go home and check calendar and get back to you. In the meanwhile, I've researched the matter and found outbreaks and growing populations of jaguars in southeastern US, mountain lions and mysterious black cats (US panthers or escaped from collection jungle cats?), and armadillos moving north at alarming rate. Due, it is said, to global warming and encroachment of civilization into their habitats. Will get back to you today if possible.
Louise

Greg:
Tuesday, 7/28, in front of Heritage door works for me. 11 a.m. OK for you?

Louise,
Tuesday the 28th would work for me,but not until around 2PM. Is this possible for you?
Greg

Greg:
Tuesday, July 28, 2 p.m. it is then.
See you in front of Heritage.
Think if you want to also see where it stalked me for blocks in the dark of night, where it cried on the common lawn, and where it sometimes hangs out (completely hidden in the dark by large bushes)by the side of my house.
And if anyone else wants to see the road where the big cat crossed, but is now long gone, you may join us.
Louise

Louise,
Interested to see all the places you've talked about. See you Tues.
Greg

My cousin called me this morning and said that a mountain lion ran in front of his car crossing the street in Berkeley Heights, NJ

Greg:
This is being written on Monday.
Still on for tomorrow, Tuesday, at 2 p.m.
Louise

Greg and I did manage to meet today in Whiting and I took him around to all the sites of my mountain lion sightings and encounters. Turns out, about 1 1/2 years ago, a woman from my village in Whiting told him of seeing a mountain lion in the same spot I saw mine (and this was one very long block from another lady's sighting, and about a block from my home where there's been more activity). A good day in all!
Louise

nooo new reports up here in north jersey. hope many new reports come in during the upcoming fall, when thousands of hunters will be prowling NJ forests.

I just saw a Mountain Lion on July 29th on Love Lane here in Netcong. (My second time in the last 4 years) Im not the only one though! When I told the cop he told said he saw the same thing, in the same place, the same day! This area has been getting reports for years now and right now it's a real hot spot.

Point Mountain in warren has a reported sighting....mother and two juviniles. Also, Eastern Pennsylvania, a report of a farmer shooting a Mountain Lion in his fields...someone call Monster Quest!!!

Dawn,

Can you get more information from your cousin as to where in Berkeley Heights, NJ he saw the mountain lion - i.e., near what major streets or parks - is it near the Watchung Reservation, by any chance?

Anne

My neighbor saw three Mountain Lion cubs in Lafayette, NJ this weekend. They were spotted and still had spots on their bodies. My wife is going crazy!

There have been two sightings in the past week in Denville, NJ. There has also been a report of someone seeing a mountain lion dragging a deer into the woods.

I saw pics from someone's hunting trail cam in Dingman's Ferry, PA. The Lion was dragging a deer past a corn feeder in the woods.

I have family in Denville and they received a letter stating that there was a mountain lion sighting in their neighborhood.

I have seen yet another pic taken on a deer trail cam of a cougar in southern sussex county.

Two sightings in Rockaway over the past two weeks.

http://www.njherald.com/story/news/03Bobcats

story about bobcats in the nj herald

I saw a mountain lion walking on a deer trail at the top of a slight ridge (in our backyard)at about 8am last spring. We see deer all the time and fox and coyotes from time to time. This animal was large (deer size) but a little lower to the ground and with a cat face and ears. It was slinking along and had a very long tail. It jumped up on a fallen tree that was leaning at about a 45 degree angle then as I opened the back door, it jumped off and ran into the woods. We are in Stockton and have many acres of woods behind our property.

3 Mountain Lions were spotted off of Clove road in Montague...local resident took pictures

Hello--I have just found this site and am VERY interested! I also live in Whiting and am very curious as to which "village" the cougar was sighted in? Please someone (Louise? Greg?)tell me more--I would love to know!

those pics on Clove Rd are BS. they are from Colorado. You're all a bunch of freaks by the way who drive pick-ups with howling wolves on your jackets.

"Posted by: d on November 17, 2008 7:05 AM One of my co-workers spotted a dead mountain lion next to the fast lane near exit 30, the Basking Ridge area of Route 287 this morning. There was quite a bit of traffic caused by people taking a look at the unfortunate cat. Of course this story was met with great skepticism by the rest of the office until he gave a perfect description of a mountain lion; tan and white, big paws, etc. Upon seeing a picture of one, he confirmed that was precisely what he saw."

. . . One morning in Jan 2005 I was looking out my kitchen window and observed a large, tawny cat with a long tail running along a wooded area about 75 yards from my house in Basking Ridge. The cat continued across North Maple Ave. and ran east up a hill near Verizon headquarters, toward the Great Swamp.

I knew from a friend's experience that I was likely to be brushed off if I notified authorities about what I'd seen. It wasn't until the next AM when I told my husband about the cat that I realized that there was snow on the ground.

The two of us followed the route I'd seen the cat take. Although the snowcover was thawing quickly, there were discernible tracks where I'd seen the cat. We took pictures and called a naturalist from the GSNWR.

He examined the tracks and couldn't say for sure what they were. He said he thought they weren't the right size for a mountain lion, though. The next day he called me back and said that he'd been mistaken . . . that he'd spoken with other professionals and had been told that there was no reason to think that a mountain lion hadn't made the tracks.

I came upon this site because I'd been forwarded the "Clove Road" email and wanted to see if it was a spoof. As I read thru postings, I felt a pang when I saw the post above about a mountain lion having been killed so close to where I saw "my" cat.

I still have photos taken that day if anyone is interested.

How do you know that those pics are of cats from CO? I've looked around the net and haven't found anything.

I got the e-mail about the cats on clove rd. The car has CO. plates for whatever that's worth

If anyone sees any in NJ, they should IMMEDIATELY call:

1) NJDEP at 888-WARN-DEP, and then:
2) NJDEP wild/large cat expert : 908.638.4127.

Pics labelled as of Clove Rd. Montague show a vehicle with Colorado plates and non-native plants.. and there's identical pics circulating -Claiming: taken in Conifer. Conifer is just west of Denver.

a police officer ran the plate in the pic from Montague and found the pics were taken in Colarado.

someone sent me those pictures supposedly taken off clove road in montague. my grandchildren live off clove road in montague and i was worried because they live right next to woods and roam those woods. still, there are bears to worry about.

bears are not as dangerous as long as you dont have food with you.

approx 2 wks ago saw a mountain lion coming out of a tree between my property and my back neighbor. called animal control and they did NOT respond but said they were not surprised. Manahawkin, NJ. I'll be attempting to call the numbers given on this site.
ME

I understand that you fear for your safety. These animals have been robbed of their habitat. They are not killers they just want to survive. For some of you so called hunters to go out and get a trophy GOD HAVE MERCY ON YOU. If you want to live in their world be smart. Appreciste their beauty while they still survive.

I was hiking with my dog on 1/17/10 in the Muckshaw Preserve in Springdale/Andover,NJ and came across tracks in the snow that I immediatey assumed where bear tracks because of the size. However after a minute of following the tracks through the brush and onto some left over snow, it became clear that these were cat tracks and large ones at that. There were 3 of us and my mastiff so, not really anything to fear and we continued on the hike. For those of you who know the area, we wanted to check out the famed "Moody's Rock". When we found the rock over hang I notice several large scat's around the area and rocks. I hike extensively in North jersey and can pick out a deer,bear and coyote scat with ease and these were closer in size towards that of a very large dogs but visibly consisted of hair and other bits. Both the poop and the tracks were too large to be a Bobcat in my estimation. My dog is a large cane corso and her feet are big and these were much bigger. I would also estimate they were left there no more than 24hrs prior but possibly alot less. Whats interesting is up until the late 1700's this area was known to have quite a population of cats, probably due to lots of wilderness and caves. Bear sightings are a dime a dozen in parts of North jersey, especially around Hewwit/West Milford but I'd love to actually get a glimpse of Mountain Lion. Also, keep an eye out for the illusive NJ porupine. I took great picture of one up close just off Clinton road in Hewitt this past summer.

My freind's family live in Sussex County, NJ. A few weeks back, they saw three mountain lions in a backyard. My friend's uncle took photos which he posted on his facebook page.

I suspect that it is a mother w/ two grown cubs.

I stumbled across this blog and now realize just how little evidence there is of mountain lions in our State.

Tonight, I suggested to my friend that he have his Uncle get in touch w/ you and share his photos.

I have always been interested... having seen a mountain lion, about twenty years ago, in Bushkill PA.

I will stay in touch.

Regards,

Anthony of Brick, NJ

I live in Morganville, NJ. About a week ago my wife said she saw a strange animal in the field across from my home. She thought it may be a lost dog in the area. Again on Tuesday she saw it, this time she called me at work and I told her to grab binoculars I have in the garage. Looking with the binoculars, she says - it not a dog, it's a huge cat! Describing what I believed to be a mountain lion or maybe a bobcat. Although the size she described - from a distance - a large dog or small deer - leads me to believe it could have been a mountain lion. And reading some of these posts, not too unrealistic. I've now been a nut with my SLR - 200m lense - staring out the window.

Warren County

It is a wonderful sign that our beloved Jersey is supporting such a wide diversity of game and predators alike (We truly have it all). Appreciate this creature, respect it and you have nothing to fear.

Getting rid of it because it scares you or makes you uncomfortable is the amongst the most shameful statements I have come across. Besides the only creature we have to fear are those who walk on two legs.

are you sure you guys arent seeing a bobcat....i grew up in monmouth county and never saw one....moved to the poconos three years ago and was terrified because i heard there might be some up here and have yet to see one...they are not known in this area anymore and im guessing it might be a bobcat

New Jersey Star Ledger report of March 11, 2010:

"Authorities search Monmouth County wooded areas for mountain lion sighted by motorist
By James Queally/The Star-Ledger
March 11, 2010, 6:47PM

MONMOUTH COUNTY — Police and wildlife officials are searching wooded areas and neighborhoods along the Manalapan and Marlboro after two people reportedly spotted a cougar prowling along a roadway early this morning, authorities said.

Shortly before 7:30 a.m., a man was driving on Robertsville Road in Manalapan when he saw what he described as a mountain lion following a deer across the roadway, according to Manlapan Police Captain Chris Marsala. Officers from both the Manalapan and Marlboro responded to the location, but did not find the animal.

A short time later Anthony Lena, a Marlboro Animal Control Officer, claimed he saw a "large cat with a long tail" walking along a creek bed near Robertsville Road, Marsala said. Manalapan officers returned to the scene along with officials from the state Division of Fish and Game and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, but the second search also turned up no sign of the animal.

A helicopter was dispatched to aid in the search sometime today, said Marsala.

Officers did find "feline tracks" in a muddy creek bed bear Robertsville Road, according to Marsala, and a wildlife biologist was analyzing photos of the tracks today.

Wildife experts believe that except for a small collection of the large cats in Florida, cougars — also known as mountain lions, pumas or panthers — are extinct on the East Coast, and that most reported sightings are simply a case of mistaken identity.

But in 2007, state authorities said they received at least 70 calls from residents claiming they spotted one of the sharp-toothed felines."

All the hunters, fishermen, hikers, mtn bikers......and not one picture? (almost all cell phones have cameras nowadays). Not one dead cat on the road? No video footage any where from anyone? Please people.

I saw one yesterday while hiking Backpacker Magazine's "New York City: High Point" trail (between 41.252483°, -74.689529° and 41.257717°, -74.682549°). It wasn't fully grown, maybe 60lb, I have a friend with a 90lb german shepherd and it wasn't that big, but almost. It was golden colored and was standing in the trail as I was moseying along. Once it heard me it looked up, which caught my eye, and once I looked at it, it turned and ran directly away from me down the trail and then off into the woods. It ran very fluidly and low. I walked very quietly back to my car (which was the direction that it ran), but obviously I didn't see it again.

I'd say I saw it for maybe a total of 7 seconds. If I had a camera in my hand I wouldn't have been able to get a picture in time. People always want pictures, but these animals are so cagey they spook the instant they see you. Perhaps because those that ran instantly weren't shot in the past?

did it have a long tail? if not then you saw a bobcat

One question for the skeptical "authorities",how many wild fox have you seen,dead or alive,in your life? I've spent most of my free time traveling the pine barrens,for at least the past 30yrs.,and I've seen certainly less than 10. Probably around 6 or 7 at the most,and yet it is a well known fact that we have a huge population in most states,including cities. They're nocturnal and smart,just like cats! Enough said.

Back in the fall of last year I was walking the dog out at night along a row of pines that I have in my back yard and I was startled and frightened by a sound from one of the pine trees. Sounded as though it came from the other side of the pine tree. Somehow my intuition told me that something was probably watching me. It was a growlish, rumbling sound that reminded me of the sounds that a lion makes. I can also liken it to the growling/ rumbling sounds that were used in the Jurrasic Park movie as sound effects that represented dino's ( I think the
T-Rex)when he growled (not when he screamed). I immediately turned and run as fast as I could to the house (approx. 20 feet or so). I called my daughter and told her that some wild animal growled at me and for her to be careful when she comes home from work. I could not see as it was dark and the trees are large and dark also, but I am feeling completely positive that it was some kind of wild cat judging by the sound. I was telling a co- worker about it yesterday and she said there was talk of panthers and cougars being in South Jersey. I just wanted to share this and to tell others to be cautious. I live in Millville N.J. If I had to guess what the sound was I would say a lion because the only time I have ever heard this type of sound is when I have watched shows on t.v. with lions on them. I want to fence the yard in at least. I now am afraid to walk the dogs out at night. You know anything is possible in this world. Look at how many stories you hear about people having illegal animals. Remember the alligator last year in a Jersey pond somewheres in central or north Jersey. You just never know what may be lurking out there and believe me, I learned that last year, when I was attempting to walk my dog. Millville is located in Southern New Jersey.

Parsippany NJ 5-19-2010 Mack Cali corporate campus 5:40 PM As I came to the outside of the underground parking I spotted something running very fast next to the main road on the grassy part of our "park Like" grounds - at first glimpse I thought it was a deer, my mouth dropped open when it hit me it was a big cat with a long long tail and sleek body running about 30-35 MPH - it was amazingly beautiful, but was also concerned about its well being. Apparently there has been sightings near the Boonton Resevoir/near Parsippany before. I am from Sussex County and have never seen wild cat in that area so it makes it more unbelievable to see it in Morris County.

BTW (on the blog above) I called the NJ
Dept of Fish Game and Wildlife in the number stated on this site, no one answered, I left a number and told them to call me back if they needed any other information about the sighting.
Did they call me back? NO. Did/does anyone seem to care? NO. Will they care when their dog/or other pets get attacked or possibly a human?
MOST likely. So dont say I didnt tell ya so.
I DID SEE IT! Really I did. :)

In order to file a report, you must fill out a 2 page document available on the DEP's web site. It is an extensive scientific document, most will give up before completing it and sending it in.

if these sightings are of spotted cats they are bobcats

how do you explain the tails?

Large, contiguous, undisturbed tracts of mature woodland provide multiple layers of food sources for prey species. With no significant (large-scale)logging for about 100 years along the northern Delaware River Valley, mature trees now provide an abundance of mast (particularly acorns and hickory nuts). The return of mature trees is accompanied by resurging groves of fruit-bearing shrubs, and a complex diversity of understory growth, including fruitbearing small trees. With a stable long-term source of vegetation to support deer, rabbit, beaver, and other small game, it is no surprise that we are seeing a correlating increase in predator population, such as the mountain lion, returning as an inegral part of our eastern forest ecosystem. As a land surveyor and avid outdoorsman, I have an intimate familiarity with local flora and fauna. I have personally heard the extended, piercing vocal shriek of the animal described here by other posters, in the heavily wooded acreage I own near the Shawangunk Ridge/Basherkill area. It is unmistakable. Several longtime local hunters, who for decades have taken deer from the vicinity of the Neversink River, between Port Jervis NY and Otisville, immediately confirmed the sound I had described to them to be the cry of our mountain lion.