are there mountain lions in the poconos

Perhaps my Fed Ex driver was simply recalling a rural legend, but he said it was an employee that he knew, and it was a story he heard first-hand. The mountain lion population in Nevada is essential to the control of deer and rodent populations in the mountainous regions of the state. Mountain lions weigh 90-160 pounds, while bobcats weigh 20-30 pounds. In this at this distant epoch, archaeologists attempt to clear some of the mists and mysteries of prehistoric times. Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. About half of the state of Montana is ideal for mountain lions, primarily in her western and central regions. Everyone is familiar with albinism, the absence of pigmentation that results in a white, essentially pigment free animal, defined by pink skin and pink eyes. DCNR gave the following as examples: the saber-tooth cat; a small, three-toed horse; the Pleistocene beaver, and the mastodon. Cougar vs Mountain Lion What Are the Differences? I can't dismiss the eye-witnesses I've interviewed. After all, skeptics often suggest that puma sightings are just deer sightings, so it would be logical to worry that a hunter might shoot an endangered puma, mistaking it for a brown deer. In Michigan, there has been multiple sightings of 'black panthers,' animals that were thought to be mountain lions, or pumas, except that they were black. Packer Hill Ave. Jim Thorpe, PA 18229. However, if you've seen a mountain lion, or other mystery creature, or evidence of either, in Pennsylvania, contact outdoor writer Marcus Schneck at mschneck@pennlive.com.). There's a saying that "things aren't always what they appear to be." This happens usually around the 18-month mark. the more visible white on the chest, the lack of spots, the huge hind quarters. The first is the mating season which can occur during the late to early spring months. "From three really reliable sources who are always around the woods from Monroe County to Bradford, there is no doubt that there are mountain lions in Pennsylvania," East Stroudsburg University football team offensive coordinator and avid hunter Mike Terwilliger said. It seems unlikely, considering captives have never shown this trait, but people are reporting big black cats. One might argue that the eastern puma is extinct, but that does not mean that there are not pumas (mountain lions, cougars) in the east. Some may be animals that dispersed into the region from western populations. The question is just like in the story of the boy who cried wolf) if that day ever arrives, how will we believe those first, true sightings after so many hoaxes have been perpetrated on the public? Mountain lions, Goodrich wrote, were more dreaded than wolves as the cat could climb over any fence that could be built. "Hunters are always saying they see mountain lions, and the Game Commission always says there aren't any," said Robert Hale, owner of Buffalo Gap Outfitters in Dillsburg. Recently, on our Arizona Hummingbird and Bat Photo Shoot, I found a deer that had been hit by a car and had moved off to die beside a stream just 200 yards upstream from our lodge. All rights reserved (About Us). With that hope in mind, I have, for years, asked outdoors people if they ever heard of a mountain lion, or puma, in their area -- with my questioning limited to people in my home state of Pennsylvania. But this one was black, and he knows mountain lions are some variant of brown. These cubs are born blind and helpless. I'm wondering, then, if the complete dismissal of sightings of Eastern pumas (other than the acknowledgement of released or escaped pets) isn't motivated by economics. This, after they were told that there were no pumas in Pa. This animal was undoubtedly a bobcat. There are at least 20,000 black bears in Pa., and a small percentage are killed each year, but we're probably not talking about 20,000 pumas in the state. Enter your email in the box below to get the most mind-blowing animal stories and videos delivered directly to your inbox every day. If pumas do exist in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, could they all be released cats or escapees? In only one report had an official from the Pennsylvania Game Commision, a local warden, actually agree with the person reporting the sighting. He wrote that not being a roving animal, the mountain lion was much sooner destroyed than the wolf, and he said that if there were any left, it would have to be in the most desolate places in the county. Had this been faked, I'd suspect the hoaxter would try for a more authentic background. Granted, the image is not great, and I used some Photoshop adjustment layers to enhance the image, making it a bit easier to see. Learn more about us & read our affiliate disclosure. Here's an example: A man is holding a dead eastern diamondback rattlesnake, which was found in North Carolina and measured more than 9 feet long and weighed 95 pounds. It will happen eventually. Travis Lau, a spokesperson for the Game Commission, said the state has a "never say never" approach when it comes to mountain lions and acknowledges that Western cats could be moving east. Note the long, usually thick tail. The Game Commission concluded they were coyotes. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? "It's one of those things where I'll believe it when I see it," said Jason Farmer of Pocono Summit, my hunting partner for the last eight years. At one point, there was debate whether that cat should be protected, since its genes were diluted from escapees or released pumas that originated in South America or our West. I want to believe they're here, but I'm having some trouble. A Mountain Lion Cover Up Armand Martinelli isn't only the mayor of East Stroudsburg, he's also a hunter who is connected with plenty of people in the area. Now, if there were any escapes, and if any of these bred with a possible minuscule number of eastern pumas, a relic native population, wouldn't the gene pool be corrupted? As the latest hoaxed photo of a mountain lion supposedly killed in Pennsylvania died a slow death on Facebook yesterday, the head of an organization tracking the eastern movements of the big cats was preparing a presentation for a Pennsylvania audience tonight. A mastodon's skull was first located in Marshalls Creek, Monroe County, on July 5, 1968. Some may also be kept illicitly as pets, which would quickly become a problem as the cat matures. Currently, mountain lions seem to be making a comeback in regard to their historic range. The Florida panther is an endemic subspecies of cougar that has lived in the everglades region for a very long time. And, some may be escaped or illegally released pets. Only once has anyone later determined that they had misidentified the cat, seeing a bobcat and not a mountain lion. The state of Texas is home to many mountain lion populations, but the numbers are incredibly hard to find. a high priority. "It's fall bow-hunting season soon," he said. Most of the people I've spoken with live in this belt, but biologists friends I've spoken with have told me of their own reports, first-hand, from hunters in the Poconos who saw pumas, too. If youve done any research on your own, you may have noticed that we didnt include a lot of states that have had cougar sightings, especially in the last few years. On that note, I was speaking with a Fed Ex driver recently who told me that one of his colleagues had seen what he swore was a dead mountain lion on the side of a road. Foster, the Messiah College professor, said he has investigated about 15 reported mountain lion sightings since late May, and believed "three or four are pretty likely a mountain lion." I don't want to seem like a nut case here, but I must ask this question and you'll soon understand why? The name Pocono is derived from the . Apparently, this picture was really making the rounds. RelatedBigfoot, mountain lions, and other mythical creatures: PA officials discuss what they know. Two other reports went, in detail, on what they saw, the size, the length of tail, etc. I haven't seen any reports like that.". The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. The Cougar Network, working with state agencies, have documented multiple mountain lions as far east as Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan in recent years, as well as one cat killed on a highway in Milford, Connecticut, in June 2011. Biologists who investigate these reports claim that several may, indeed, be mountain lions, but most likely they're animals that have escaped from captivity or have been released by their. I've spoken to PGC personnel, two being friends, and neither believe there are pumas in Pa. One cited how a bobcat's tail can be much longer than you expect, although I've never seen a bobcat tail longer than, at most, twice the size of the tails illustrated above of the bobcat. A phantom creature has been sighted in the vast Delaware State Forest region of Pike County. I have three observations here: 1. What would account for the long tails? The reintroduction of mountain lions into South Dakota is one of the great wins of modern conservation. A placard affixed to the fence outside Rocky's pen states that "cougars are solitary creatures and rarely seen by humans." 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 - 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? original web site, although if I ever have enough time I might Each year, over tha past five, I've spoken with at least one person who swears they personally saw a puma in this state. I've looked in the PGC game laws booklet and saw nothing on this, which I guess you could conclude means a puma would not be legal to shoot. Encouraged by the bounties, settlers waged war on these perceived beasts. Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? Ramapough Lenape chief: National park in PA and NJ would be among 'most destructive things' since colonization, Bigfoot, mountain lions, and other mythical creatures: PA officials discuss what they know, Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. They have almost been killed off a few times, but conservation efforts have helped to keep their numbers stable. Why is bat photography so difficult? An animal's coat can stray far from the norm. While there have been no confirmed occurrences of mountain lions in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, dozens of sincere reports of sightings and tracks and even more hoaxed reports emerge across the state each year. I hope no one ever shoots a puma to prove their existence here, but I hope someone gets a great photo, of the cat, of a road-kill, of tracks, and that I see it. "I'm proud to know her," Murray said of the tiger, "but I wish I didn't.". Mountain lions that are looking for new breeding areas are known as transient and are almost always males. So many of these sightings have been proven wrong misidentified bobcats, coyotes or even house cats) that it would be irresponsible for a biologist to accept any of them as fact without absolute physical evidence hair, droppings, tracks or a road-killed animal. Wishful thinking? It was definitely a mountain lion, and it had a big buck, white-tailed deer in its jaws. PHILADELPHIA (AP) An instinct coiled way down in the human brain knows the difference between a bobcat and a mountain lion. So how or why could there be a conspiracy? The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. But Dave "Gadget" Jones, a retired wildlife conservation officer from Lackawanna County, claims he's seen a white bigfoot and a UFO in Pennsylvania, so who knows? But no one that I've communicated with had these preconceptions, and seeing what they saw was a complete surprise. What is the Kiboko backpack? Who knows? Every year we receive a few similar reports from hikers, hunters or other outdoor enthusiasts. Here in central Pennsylvania we live on the outskirts of what one puma-tracking website has as almost the high point of sightings, extending from north-central Pennsylvania in a southwestern diagonal that extends into the mountains of West Virginia. While the chances that I'll ever see a puma in Pennsylvania myself are virtually zero, I'm always on the alert -- for the bobcat I've never seen in Pa., for a fisher, bear, deer, red salamander, toad, or snake, and yes, I'm always hoping that I too will become one of those who saw something that officially cannot exist within the state, a puma I know I saw but, of course, could not have! Would a puma then qualify as a native species? About six months ago I posted the question, Are there Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania? The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. Do elk live in Pennsylvania? Recently, on a back road in Pennsylvania, a friend and I had our first sighting of a coyote in Pennsylvania. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. How do I deal with shaving weight for carrying my gear? It has the color of a mountain lion, but the long tail appears to be missing. I've read a lot about this, and the usual explanation is the very human desire to see something, to see what someone wants to see, and thus these people are seeing bobcats or brown cats or dogs or foxes and, because they 'want' to see a puma, they do. The last native mountain lion known to be killed in Pennsylvania is on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Martinelli said that if there were mountain lions in Pennsylvania, there would be more sightings of them. The coat can be spotted or solid and varies in color from light browns, reddish and silvery grey. Over the last two years I have occasionally posted a Question of the Month soliciting sightings from people who believed that they have seen a mountain lion in Pennsylvania or in other areas in the mid-Atlantic states. 2023 www.poconorecord.com. All rights reserved (About Us). I could fill pages recounting the eye-witness reports I've heard, and for every report critics could certainly say 'but there's no physical evidence!' Mountain Lions do remain in the western states and there is evidence that in 2011, a mountain lion migrated about 1,500 miles from South Dakota to Connecticut where it was killed by a. One man sent me a game camera photo that was blurry but looked like a mountain lion, or puma, as I like to call them. I am hoping that more and more people will learn of my own interest in this, and will pass on this information and that I'll receive more reports and, hopefully, sometime, a game camera photo that is definitive. Let's say the facts indicate that there have been a lot of 'pet' pumas, and many of these escaped. The sightings were great bear views, but too fast or fleeting to allow me to grab a camera. Asa Packer Mansion Jim Thorpe. "They're getting a lot of that out west. Here's more about mountain lions in Pennsylvania: If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Those cats for which DNA evidence was recovered had come east from South Dakota, part of the known, modern-day, U.S. mountain lion range. But more importantly, he also said that regardless of color, he saw a big cat, with a tail that looked to be about 4 feet long! By the mid-1900s pumas were eliminated from almost all of the eastern states, and by mid-century were officially extinct east of the Mississippi, except for a remnant population in southern Florida. All rights reserved. A recent alleged sighting in South Abington Township, Lackawanna County, had Facebook groups abuzz. Would that declaration close that ridge to hunting? The Poconos is a mountain area in northeastern Pennsylvania.It is 2,400 square miles of wooded mountains and valleys full of beautiful lakes, rivers, forests and wildlife. One came to her as the result of an owner's divorce. The State Museum of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg, displays a taxidermy mount of a mountain lion in glass case, with the notation, "This lion, found near Hawk Mountain in Berks County around 1871, is the last native mountain lion known to have been shot in Pennsylvania. I love the big cats and devote a huge amount of my field time photographing African lions, leopards, cheetahs, and in 2011, tigers. Over time, cats that had been released in Florida, probably pets that outlived their welcome, bred with the native puma, and their genes mingled, Over the last few years I've done several Questions of the Month regarding Mountain Lions, or Pumas as they should properly be called, in the Mid-Atlantic States and in Pennsylvania. The Mountain Lion is a large, slender cat with a smallish head and noticeably long tail. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. They mostly live in the far western Trans-Pecos region of the state, where they can freely roam 50,000 to 80,000 acres of land. And this genetic mix has been recognized, and the Florida puma is still protected. Only when I reviewed the images on my laptop did I discover that I had a mountain lion! She also houses a bobcat named Nia she took in from a couple who couldn't handle her. The story behind our new web site. A total of 32 mountain lions have been struck and killed by vehicles in the study area since 2002. The head of the puma is small in comparision to a house cat when compared to the entire body. What does a Puma (Mountain Lion) look like on a Game Camera? Have some feedback for us? Bobcats, feral cats and domestic dogs may be misidentified as mountain lion. Reports generally go uninvestigated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which discounts them as mistaken identities, illegal pets escaped or released and outright fabrications. There is a big community of mountain lion enthusiasts across the Northeast convinced that the animals still exist in breeding populations. He also noted that if the cat was here, wouldn't they be reproducing and increasing in population by now? The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos / p o k n o z /, are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania.They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, Wyoming Valley and the Coal Region to the west, and the Lehigh Valley to the south. The other three images are from my file, selected to most closely approximate the pose of the cat from the game camera. Heres What the Data Says. The mountain lion, which is also called a cougar, puma or panther, weighs on average between 75-120 pounds, has long whiskers and a distinctive swooping tail. One of the three branches or clans of the Lenape Tribe at the end of the 17th century was known as the Wolf (Minsi). The Cougar Network, working with state agencies, have documented multiple mountain lions as far east as Kentucky, Tennessee and Michigan in recent years, as well as that cat killed on a highway in Milford, Connecticut, in June 2011. Cougar Network tracks mountain lion expansion from the western U.S. to the east. I receive about one email or phone call a month, on average, from people that I do not know who are contacting me because their sighting compelled them to do a Google search on puma sightings, and they found my site and previously posted questions. He notes how over the millennia, the region was inhabited by humans, only to be depopulated by migration brought on by the search of food due to a fickle climate, war or epidemic. I've seen so many examples of these distortions, exaggerations and lies over the last couple of years that I've grown very dubious about anything I see on a computer. It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? "While it seems unlikely, it's not impossible that these animals are showing up in PA," said David Foster, a biology professor at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg. Two different people told me that they, or a close relative, had seen pumas on more than one occasion. Some have even reported seeing a "black panther," a near-impossibility because of the rarity of that recessive gene. More common critters co-existed with early Native Americans in the Poconos, including two species long since removed: the wolf and mountain lion (also known colloquially as panthers and cougars). Colorado has a large number of mountain lions within its borders, mostly due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the Eastern subspecies of the mountain lion extinct, which would seem to bolster the skeptics. The image in the Upper Left was from a Game Camera, sent to me by a friend. Depends on who you talk to, I guess. The next day, the photo disappeared from the site. Mountain lions typically eat about one deer per week, along with other smaller prey as the opportunity arises. Of interestRamapough Lenape chief: National park in PA and NJ would be among 'most destructive things' since colonization.

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