Jones has never seen a mountain lion, but he thinks they're prowling around. Stay Alert! I have seen Bobcats. The diseaseproduces fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes within three to 30 days. Add Michael's RSS feed to your feed reader According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, feline predators such as the eastern cougar, which is also known as the mountain lion, are "extirpated," meaning they're all but wiped out in the northeastern United States. Bobcats (2a; photo credit: Dave Jackson) and coyotes (2b; photo credit Scott Weikert) are often confused for cougars (2c). It has been well known that cariabou have migrated from Canada, so why not the mountain lion? Some restrictions apply. This offer only applies to OutdoorNews.com and not for any Outdoor News print subscriptions. The last wild cougar in Pennsylvania was killed in 1871 and the last cougar born on the East Coast was killed in 1938 in Maine. FAIRFIELD, Pa. An instinct coiled way down in the human brain knows the difference between a bobcat and a mountain lion. So is the second largest extant cat in North America still managing to eke out a living in the Keystone state? Recently he was given a plaster cast of what was suspected to be a cougar track from Wayne County, made after a "large cat-like creature" was seen locally. Murray has cared for four mountain lions since she took over the rescue in 1998. Home Pennsylvania Opinion Search for cougarscontinues in Pennsylvania, If youre a regular reader of this publication, or one of my neighbors, then you already know my father and, A fish may see a parade of presentations go by, therefore yours should be better than the rest. 2023 WWB Holdings, LLC. If you're hiking, stay on the path and don't venture into the woods. Still, people say they know what they saw out there. They wanted to hear from anyone who saw a mountain lion or signs of one, like tracks or scats. That's significant because, in states where mountain lions live, they're often struck by vehicles or otherwise found dead. Mountain Lions - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) NPS.gov Park Home Learn About the Park Nature Animals Mammals Mountain Lion Mountain Lion Last updated: May 4, 2018 Was this page helpful? Lion take a fawn in a swamp 1 mile from my home in the same county. After hearing of alleged sightings over the years -- sketchy reports of rural folks listening to big cat screams in the night, inconclusive paw prints, photos and videos that never materialized and the occasional unexplained livestock killing -- a cougar carcass was supposed to be delivered to university wildlife experts for necropsy. There have been no "confirmed" reports of mountain lions, AKA Puma concolor, in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s. . Where a house cat would be along as a car tire and half the height of a tire. And, if. It will happen eventually. The abundance of wildlife that thrives in Pennsylvania makes sightings of interesting animals fairly commonplacebears, foxes, coywolves and elk are all within the realm of expectations. By Rudy Miller | For lehighvalleylive.com. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. "With all of that said, though, there's a general lack of evidence of mountain lions in Pennsylvania. One was spotted late Tuesday in Hamilton near a bus stop. Some have even reported seeing a "black panther," a near-impossibility because of the rarity of that recessive gene. PhillyVoice Staff, The coloration and the shape of the head lean toward mountain lion. 1. You read it here first: Mountain lions still exist in Pennsylvania: Just prior to the start of Pennsylvanias two-week firearms deer season, the volunteers at the Eastern Puma Research Network put out a call to hunters. Their conclusion: Sir, you dont have a mountain lion. A week later the farmer shot the mountain lion. Cougars distaste for humans runs so deep that a study found that simply playing talk radio was enough to get these cougars to permanently abandon what they were eating. $1 per month for 6 months (you will be billed $6) and then your subscription will renew at standard subscription rates. Mike Jacobsen was checking his fences near Denton after last month's windstorm when his kids pulled . "Likewise, I'm not aware of any escapes from captive facilities in my time here. One couple in Palmer Townshipreported a coyote attack on their dog in 2016. On a recent stifling morning in Adams County, the 290-pound mountain lion with perfect bone structure is ignoring the raw chicken breast and pork chops a handler tossed into his pen. In the wild, adult mountain lions can weigh anywhere from 65 to 220 pounds. Im 62 and hunted most of my life here in PA. Dont EVER expect to get the truth from anyone with Game departments in any U.S. state. It eventually ran away from the scene. adroll_adv_id = "T6XR4YM2C5FGXNZIDZPFXI"; There is also a small population of cougars in Florida. The last promising scat turned out to be from a large coyote that had eaten a lot of meat. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Males territories are generally twice the size of a females territory (50-350 square miles), and they overlap the territory of several females. The red face of a mountain lion came out of the top of the mountain then dropped down. A bobcat gives you a warm, that-kind-of-looks-like-my-cat-but-slightly-bigger feeling. There's also a $10k bounty for evidence of anyone illegally re-introducing them to PA. Dan Taylor, a San Diego-based wildlife biologist who grew up in the Philadelphia area, told PhillyVoice he was initially thrown for a loop by the photo. According to the commission, the last Pennsylvania mountain lion was killed in the late 1800s. A coyote or bobcat is a little shorter than a tire and roughly one and half the length of tire. But many others believe wild mountain lions are traveling from Western states, where as many as 30,000 could exist, and across the Midwest to Pennsylvania seeking new territory. The bobcat is native to most of North America and is the only feline predator, aside from feral domestic cats, found in Pennsylvania. They often carry their tails erect, which is rare for cougars and when done clearly has a bow to it; and house cats can have long coats, which is a sharp contrast from the short coat of a cougar. (AP FILE PHOTO) A Philadelphia Inquirer story said more and more people in Pennsylvania claim they are seeing mountain . While juvenile males do make long journeys when they are young, they rarely make it to the Lake States (Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin). There has never been any conclusive evidence.". Click here to login. On some investigations, Foster has teamed up with Stacey Griffiths, who started the Central PA Mountain Lion Sightings page earlier this year. 'Nothing to see here folks, move along'". Sounded like a giant animal was sprinting down the mountain right before we saw it. Recent post: Why Is It Called Beaver Stadium? It has the color of a mountain lion, but the long tail appears to be missing. Also on the extirpated list are wolves, lynx, moose and wolverines. There are approximately 4,000 of those 10- to 40-pound cats in the state. "Also, pretty sure there is color variation in a bobcats fur color, so what Im thinking is a good-sized, tawny colored bobcat.". If you see a mountain lion. The Royal Society 284(1857). If you think you see a predatory cat ready to pounce, you're likely mistaken. (The fear of cougars is unfounded. A mountain lion named Rocky, at the East Coast Animal Rescue, Tuesday, September 4, 2018. The map below includes both confirmed and unverified puma sightings in the larger San Francisco Bay region (and beyond) since 2004. "I kind of doubt they saw a cougar, but I'm not God.". 2016. This definitely wasnt a bobcat. 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While it would seem impossible to confuse the two after seeing them in person, Foster said many of the sightings are in the dark, from roadways and trail cams, with bodies half-concealed. Mountain lions have killed humans in the wild, though sightings and encounters are rare even in the American West and Canada. Pennsylvania's venomous snakes are hard to find. Michael Tanenbaum The cougar is much larger and needs at least four trees to be covered. "The coloration and the shape of the head lean toward mountain lion(Felis concolor)but they have a tail thats almost as long as their body, and this animal clearly is lacking a tail," Taylor said. Previous Post Dani Moz featured in blockbuster movie trailer Required fields are marked *. Reintroduction of the cougar (Felis concolor) in Adirondack Park: A problem analysis and recommendations. The team has investigated hundreds of reports, but most turned out to be bobcats. I told her I knew what a Maine Coon cat looked like and this was BIG, had short hair and LONG tail. There is also a small population of cougars in Florida. Big Cat, long tail, Mountain Lion past directly in front of my car. UPDATE: An alert reader took this photo late September, 2008, from his trail camera near Plummer, PA. UPDATE: An alert reader sent this photo of a mountain lion taken about three weeks ago (September 2009) near Farmington, Pa, in Fayette County. Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. "If my son would have been on a pedal bike, without a helmet on, that thing would have nailed him," said Walters, 44. While it would seem impossible to confuse the two after seeing them in person, Foster said many of the sightings are in the dark, from roadways and trail cams, with bodies half-concealed. One solution [to the loss of ginseng] that [this complete nut ] believes will ensure the herbs survival is to reintroduce mountain lions, wolves or other natural predators to the Appalachians. Pennsylvania is too inhabited to support a population of cougars, unless there are major changes in cougar biology, cougar behavior, and public opinion. I was driving on a dark and stormy night about 9 years ago on Rt-515 just off of Rt-23. TPWD Confirmed Mountain Lions. It occurred after 8 p.m. Monday night, January 23, 2023, at Highway T and Old Highway 100 just north of Villa Ridge in Franklin County. Journal of Mammalogy 97(5):1435-1440. They helped to keep prey populations in balance, which created a more diverse and better functioning ecosystem that could respond to disturbances. Are the mountain lion sightings in Monterey for real? So, if you live close to here please keep this in mind while you are hiking or walking along the wooded areas. They're responsible for80 percent of the pollination of the fruit, legume and vegetable plants we need to eat. Mountain lions live in rescue centers like Murray's, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission said a dozen or so people are permitted to possess them. Bears feed for 20 hours a day during late summer and early fall as they fatten up to hibernate. Much of the prime habitat in the West is already occupied by larger more dominate males, so juvenile males make long journeys to disperse to setup a new territory or find an area where they can push out the dominate male. The distance traveled varies based on habitat, time of year, and study methods. A bobcat or coyote would fit within two or three red pines. There have been two mountain lion sightings this week in western Montana. "We've been here 45 years and I've probably been told by people at least 100 times that they've seen a cougar or mountain lion," said owner Vince Hall. 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