Cougar in Suburbia?

[Loyalist Dave]

So they closed a park that lies about 7 miles from the DC border, known as Greenbelt Park, and administered by the US Park Service, when a woman reported she saw a mountain lion. After checking the area, and finding numerous animal tracks, the US Park Service found evidence of coyotes, but not a cougar. With the past years there have been several unconfirmed sightings of a cougar in a county park about 30 miles Northwest of Greenbelt. The park has since been reopened.

There are plenty of deer in the area to keep a cougar very well fed, and it could possibly avoid leaving much evidence of it being around, plus not prey on folks' domestic pets, such as the family dog. Coyotes are not even close to cougars in appearance, so I wonder if the suburbanite simply freaked out when she saw a 'yote, or if she did see something like a cougar? (I wonder if a glimpse at a very mangy coyote, so no hair, would make one misidentify?)

LD

 

[Armored farmer]

There has been cougar sightings here in our neighborhood all my life. We have been using trsilcams for 10-15 yrs now, and never a picture of a cougar. Plenty of bobcats and yotes though.
My $.02

 

[troy fairweather]

i live in ny and about 8 years ago we were drilling a water well in pine bush ny about a hour from nyc at lunch i was looking across a field and could not believe what i saw it was a mountain lion my boss chuck did not see it. we hit gravel so we had to go back the next dad. the next day i put my sks in the truck. chuck said i was crazy. we get there get out of the trucks and we here people yelling. the house net door had there dog out on a run by there shed right next to the woods the cat was attacking the dog it was a black lab . by time i got the gun out and killed the cat the dog was dead. the dec said it was only the 3rd or 4th lion he ever seen in ny. oddly that was not the first cat i shot. my cousins own a reserve were they take retired circus animals and old zoo animals. they had lions triggers bears elephants zebra camels u know what zoom and circus thing years ago a wight rhino they had broke out and injured 2 people they knew me and my dad had large rifles and were on a call list if any thing got out and could not be put under. 2 days after high school we got a call one of the black panthers got out tor up the guy moving it cage to cage. dad as at work. i tracked the cat down on there atv and shot it with the same sks. them carts are now joke.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

A few years ago there were multiple sightings of a cougar in Cedar Rapids, which is as suburbia as it gets in Iowa. A cousin lives there and her neighbors saw it chasing deer through her yard a couple times.
State wide there had been no "confirmed" sightings for over 100 years up until about 20 years ago. The DNR would discredit any sightings saying they were bobcat or coyote. When a couple were shot and hit by cars they couldn't deny it any longer. About one a year is killed in the state now and it is legal.
They are impressive and beautiful animals. People get hung up on that and forget they are a large predator which we have no room for in Iowa.

 

[jmorris]

My Sister moved to Colorado and her backyard ends where NORAD begins. I got them a game camera when they moved there. Big cats, bear, deer, turkey, they all live where we haven’t killed them or their food source off.


Lots of places that used to be out in the country when I was a kid are now suburbs today.

 

[Patocazador]

Cougars (Florida panthers) have been in this state right along. The biologists said there were none north of the Caloosahatchee River (Fort Myers). However, about 15 years ago one was killed by a car on I-4 inside the Tampa city limits. Numerous others have been confirmed throughout the state. A pair were photographed by a biologist on a WMA 11 miles from me. They are protected here and the young males roam a lot seeking new territory. They are now established north of the Caloosahatchee with confirmed breeding. They kill a few goats and calves and the state is supposed to reimburse the ranchers for lost livestock due to panther predation.

 

[Officers'Wife]

First off, the only city people ID of a cougar I would believe is an automobile from the last century.

That said, canines and felines of all breeds & species are going to go to where they can get the best deal. If you were a coyote where would you rather be? Out on the farm where you have to run for your rabbits and generally get shot at for your trouble or in town where Joe Sixpack's kid has his 4H rabbit in a flimsy cage behind the garage and the town ordinance demands no firearm discharge?

 

[Double Naught Spy]

It is almost funny how many people claim to see mountain lions/cougars in unexpected areas and the reports end up unconfirmed or just plain all out misidentifications. We have that going on with some regularity here in north Texas. People often misidentify domestic cats as these animals. They also get misidentified as the magical black panthers which don't actually exist. People find large footprints, almost always showing claw marks, and assume it is a mountain lion when in reality, it is nothing more than a big dog (they know nothing of footprint identification).

Bobcats get identified as mountain lions. Odd, but true. In fact, a hunting buddy of mine showed me a video of a 'mountain lion' that he took that was of a bobcat. He based his identification on its large size and ability to leap high up in a tree. Well, the tree was actually small and the cat had no tail. When the cat was compared to other things in the image, it was apparent the cat was much smaller than was initially perceived. Even so, the buddy now believes he has a giant bobcat.

Here is a hunter who called in a juvenile mountain lion that was roadkilled to the game warden apparently along with other folks. http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/7195665/1 It was a bobcat.

This isn't to put down my buddy or other spotters of these cats, but to illustrate how sometimes the eye sees what the mind wants it to see.

And, that isn't to say that mountain lions won't venture into the suburbs, only that false reports and unsubstantiated reports are much more commonplace than verifiable reports.

 

[George P]

i live in ny and about 8 years ago we were drilling a water well in pine bush ny about a hour from nyc at lunch i was looking across a field and could not believe what i saw it was a mountain lion my boss chuck did not see it. we hit gravel so we had to go back the next dad. the next day i put my sks in the truck. chuck said i was crazy. we get there get out of the trucks and we here people yelling. the house net door had there dog out on a run by there shed right next to the woods the cat was attacking the dog it was a black lab . by time i got the gun out and killed the cat the dog was dead. the dec said it was only the 3rd or 4th lion he ever seen in ny. oddly that was not the first cat i shot. my cousins own a reserve were they take retired circus animals and old zoo animals. they had lions triggers bears elephants zebra camels u know what zoom and circus thing years ago a wight rhino they had broke out and injured 2 people they knew me and my dad had large rifles and were on a call list if any thing got out and could not be put under. 2 days after high school we got a call one of the black panthers got out tor up the guy moving it cage to cage. dad as at work. i tracked the cat down on there atv and shot it with the same sks. them carts are now joke.

At one time, NY had huge populations of what they called "black panthers" (and not the political group). whether you call them panthers, pumas, mountain lions, they are all the same. Here in FL, the mysterious and supposedly critically endangered Florida Panther has been seen in many areas around the state, not just in the Everglades where it is supposedly only living. I almost hit one a few years ago up in the panhandle. When I mentioned that to a waitress in a diner, she said there's usually one hit every two weeks or so.

 

[WestKentucky]

As a kid I had heard stories of big cats living in what little remains of the McGahee Swamp are which was drained and has since been used for farmland. I grew up in those woods and I never believed it. I even ridiculed the “doofus” that claimed that a lion walked under his deer stand (no cell phone footage to prove it, convenient). About 5 years ago I found a half eaten 6 pt buck that was about 12 ft up in a tree. The revolver came out of its holster and I got out of those woods.

 

[Jack B.]

Cougars (Florida panthers) have been in this state right along. The biologists said there were none north of the Caloosahatchee River (Fort Myers). However, about 15 years ago one was killed by a car on I-4 inside the Tampa city limits. Numerous others have been confirmed throughout the state. A pair were photographed by a biologist on a WMA 11 miles from me. They are protected here and the young males roam a lot seeking new territory. They are now established north of the Caloosahatchee with confirmed breeding. They kill a few goats and calves and the state is supposed to reimburse the ranchers for lost livestock due to panther predation.

I was driving on 192 coming from Melbourne about 30 years ago and saw a Panther run across the road just before I got to Holopaw. I've hunted all my life so I know what different animals look like and this was a Panther(Cougar). So they have been around for awhile.

 

[Jack B.]

They are in Florida this was earlier this year near Naples Florida. Warning if you love cats don't watch.

 

[Choctaw]

I grew up and have hunted in rural West Texas all of my life (54 years so far) and have seen exactly one mountain lion. I have found tracks of two others. If they aren't finding tracks or other sign then I would doubt her report.

Lucky it's summertime or all the areas schools would have gone into lock-down.

 

[H&Hhunter]

I live in Mt Lion country. We see tracks and find lion kills on a regular basis in the draw at the bottom of my property. I’ve seen several over the years, one big tom at night crossing the road. He stopped and stood on the roadside and I watched him for a good minute before he slipped off into the brush. I like having them around as they keep the deer population in check. We’ve got way to many deer around here.

While I won’t say that Mt Lions are harmless, they are very solitary and docile towards people for the most part. Your chances of seeing a Mt Lion are slim. Mt Lion attacks on humans are extremly rare. I’ve got way more important things to do than worry about Mt Lion defense. It seems that a large precentage of city folks that move out here have Mt Lion phobia. Most of them wind up moving out after their first hard winter when they discover that there is county road maintence out here but it might not show up for three of four days after a major blizzard, leaving you stuck at home. Those that stay get over their irrational fear of lions eventually.

 

[H&Hhunter]

It is almost funny how many people claim to see mountain lions/cougars in unexpected areas and the reports end up unconfirmed or just plain all out misidentifications. We have that going on with some regularity here in north Texas. People often misidentify domestic cats as these animals. They also get misidentified as the magical black panthers which don't actually exist. People find large footprints, almost always showing claw marks, and assume it is a mountain lion when in reality, it is nothing more than a big dog (they know nothing of footprint identification).

Bobcats get identified as mountain lions. Odd, but true. In fact, a hunting buddy of mine showed me a video of a 'mountain lion' that he took that was of a bobcat. He based his identification on its large size and ability to leap high up in a tree. Well, the tree was actually small and the cat had no tail. When the cat was compared to other things in the image, it was apparent the cat was much smaller than was initially perceived. Even so, the buddy now believes he has a giant bobcat.

Here is a hunter who called in a juvenile mountain lion that was roadkilled to the game warden apparently along with other folks. http://texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/7195665/1 It was a bobcat.

This isn't to put down my buddy or other spotters of these cats, but to illustrate how sometimes the eye sees what the mind wants it to see.

And, that isn't to say that mountain lions won't venture into the suburbs, only that false reports and unsubstantiated reports are much more commonplace than verifiable reports.

I have seen one mature Lion in Texas. It was East of Paducah on the Triangle Ranch above the North Cottonwood River. I jumped the lion off a deer kill it was eating a freshly killed whitetail doe. We found several lion killed deer in the area for a couple of months then it disappeared.

 

[FL-NC]

There are occasional sightings of jaguarundis (look it up) here in the panhandle and in southern Alabama- both eyewitness as well as trail cam. My neighbor who works for a power company claims to have seen one on an easement a few months ago. FWC claims they were killed off years ago, but generally won't comment on the witness reports.

 

[Double Naught Spy]

At one time, NY had huge populations of what they called "black panthers" (and not the political group). whether you call them panthers, pumas, mountain lions, they are all the same. Here in FL, the mysterious and supposedly critically endangered Florida Panther has been seen in many areas around the state, not j

I don't know what they were calling "black panthers," but there were no actual black panthers, aka black mountain lions. They don't exist. They certainly don't exist in the frequency that people report them. Funny how many folks have seen one or more of these, but not actually seen a regular mountain lion.

 

[George P]

A black panther is the melanistic color variant of any big cat species

According to John Lutz, co-founder of the Eastern Puma Research Network: "I’d like to set the record straight … there are definitely WILD big cats in the Empire State. The majority of WILD mountain lions are in the Adirondack Park Region, but smaller populations survive in the Catskills & Finger Lake Regions."

The organization claims more than 900 reported sightings of these big cats in the state since 1965, many of them "from credible witnesses with backgrounds in forestry, law enforcement and wildlife."

 

[Art Eatman]

My wife was driving on a rural county road about 10 miles NW of Thomasville, GA, and saw a cougar run across the road. We were talking about it at Happy Hour, and a guy sorta sneered, "Just how do you know it was a cougar?" My wife, in finest Southern Lady fashion, cooed, "It looked just like the hide we have draped over the couch at home."

 

[troy fairweather]

My wife was driving on a rural county road about 10 miles NW of Thomasville, GA, and saw a cougar run across the road. We were talking about it at Happy Hour, and a guy sorta sneered, "Just how do you know it was a cougar?" My wife, in finest Southern Lady fashion, cooed, "It looked just like the hide we have draped over the couch at home."

lol i would have died. there is nothing like seeing those big cats up close.

 

[George P]

My wife was driving on a rural county road about 10 miles NW of Thomasville, GA, and saw a cougar run across the road. We were talking about it at Happy Hour, and a guy sorta sneered, "Just how do you know it was a cougar?" My wife, in finest Southern Lady fashion, cooed, "It looked just like the hide we have draped over the couch at home."

Thomasville is just up the road from me about 30 minutes; next time I go to Kevin's, I'll keep my eye out......

 

[H&Hhunter]

I don't know what they were calling "black panthers," but there were no actual black panthers, aka black mountain lions. They don't exist. They certainly don't exist in the frequency that people report them. Funny how many folks have seen one or more of these, but not actually seen a regular mountain lion.

There has been at least one documented case of a melanistic (black) mountain lion. It was killed in Guancaste Costa Rica in 1959. While I agree that there is no such thing as a “black panther” in regards to what people are claiming to see in abundance. The existence of a melanistic Cougar is possible but extremely rare.

 

[Art Eatman]

Several night time sightings of a pair of dark brown "black panther" cougars in south Brewster County, Texas. One daylight sighting that I know of. At one time, a trapping effort for radio collars in the Chisos Mountains area of Big Bend National Park yielded 22 lions, vice the expected four.

Heh. After a wake at a residence some two hundred yards from the StarLight Theater in Terlingua GhostTown, about a half-dozen people slept on the ground by the campfire. A buddy of mine drove home about 3AM. He drove back at around 10AM and saw cougar tracks on top of his tread marks, maybe fifty yards from the campfire. Probably attracted to the sweet aroma of barbecue.

We've found cougar "dining rooms". Mama lion will bring cats, dogs, rabbits or javelina to a spot near the den, to feed her cubs. Bunches of skeletal remains.

 

[tomturkey]

A friend called me one afternoon that she had seen cougar tracks on a two track in a wild life management area. I went and took pictures of the tracks. When I showed the pictures to the cougar specialist of the Mi. DNR he tried to make dew drops from the tree above the tracks into toe nail marks making the tracks canine. There was an old trapper sitting next to me and he agreed with me that they were cougar. He said he sees cougar tracks in the UP quite often. I also showed the pictures to another DNR employee. I think that she agreed with me but did not dare say so as she would probably lose her job as the DNR does not want to admit they are here.

My lifelong hunting buddy has seen cougar a few times on the other side of the county. One time he had to go get his girl friend out her tree stand as she was afraid to come down after having one come through under her stand. She saw bob cats quite often so she knew the difference. That cat had been seen crossing a pasture a half mile east of his place.

The Michigan DNR just does not want to admit they are here. Just like they did not want to admit that there were wolves in the lower until some one caught one in the northern lower.

 

[Shanghai McCoy]

The KDWPT (the "T" is for tourism) denied that there were any here for a long time. Despite sightings in the state and every state around Kansass..
Oh, and since they didn't exist it was against the law to shoot one.