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"If there was mountain lions in Pennsylvania), I think we'd be getting reports from farmers and people with pets that there were attacks on their animals," Martinelli said. Contrary to popular belief, there are no black panthers in North America; no one has ever captured or killed a black Mountain Lion. I have not spoken with a Game Commission officer personally, so I don't know whether anyone killing a puma in Pennsylvania could do so without legal repercussions. Two different people told me that they, or a close relative, had seen pumas on more than one occasion. There is a small breeding population in the state, despite being killed off in the 1920s. The Mountain Lion is a large, slender cat with a smallish head and noticeably long tail. Some outdoor enthusiasts insist they have seen the big cats here and believe them to be naturally occurring, native animals. 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. "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. How, Who, and Why? A brief look, yes, but no question we saw a coyote. A total of 32 mountain lions have been struck and killed by vehicles in the study area since 2002. It is an Italianate Villa home that features authentic Victorian furniture and finishing. This is only hearsay, however, since I'm only going on their stories. A dark brown puma, backlighted by a strong sun, could appear all black, or very dark, and he accepted that. Would a puma then qualify as a native species? Viewers can never be certain that what they're seeing on a computer is actually what it's purported to be. Did they migrate south from Canada? I've seen scores of leopards in the grasslands and deserts of East Africa and I've never seen, nor spoke with anyone, who has seen a black leopard there. Unfortunately, their web site no longer seems active, and has been taken over by some wacky drug product. In captivity mountain, lions can live to be about 20 years old. Features Writer Micaela Hood is signing off with the Pocono Record after five years of covering arts, culture, entertainment and sports in northeastern . Same story as 'black panthers' across the country, because of course there, scientifically, can be no such thing. To be fair, I've also spoken with people who, at first, thought they'd seen a puma only to find, to their embarassment, that they were looking at a house cat! It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. Check out the tails of the two! Everyone else, when reporting, were frustrated as they were told they had seen a bobcat. Martinelli said that if there were mountain lions in Pennsylvania, there would be more sightings of them. For information on predator tracks, check out this guide: https://www.wildliferemoval.com/animal-track-identification-guide/, Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. They mostly live in the far western Trans-Pecos region of the state, with about 50,000 to 80,000 acres of suitable land currently being used by the cat. Unless I am only dealing with a lot of delusional people with little judgment, something is out there. Flying over the area, I've looked down and commented upon the amount of habitat that would be available for a puma, if only they existed. The story behind our new web site. Where they always here as a relic population? In only one report had an official from the Pennsylvania Game Commision, a local warden, actually agree with the person reporting the sighting. In the area around the border of Pennsylvania and West Virginia there are mountains and deep caves that contain some of the coal mines that were a major part of the state's industry in the early part of the 19 th century. Mountain Lion in Pocono's Pennsylvania Kacie PA 7.9K views 2 years ago Mountain lion in bucks county pa or not? 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? "I thought I had a sighting in the late '90s," Delaware Water Gap National Recreation park ranger Chris Kross said. He's sitting in a plastic doghouse, paws crossed, amber eyes locked on the two men ticking him off by their mere presence out beyond the fence. 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. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. "They're getting a lot of that out west. There's a whole world to learn about and Colby is content to spend his life learning as much as he can about it! While there have been no confirmed occurrences of mountain lions in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, dozens . That summer, a team from the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg excavated the nearly complete skeleton of the ancient elephant, the first of its kind found in the Commonwealth. I usually follow-up on these reports and, via email or phone conversations, I receive more details. And how many would let them go, or provide an opportunity for escaping? He also noted that if the cat was here, wouldn't they be reproducing and increasing in population by now? Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Who knows? 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. Penn State's Nittany Lion hide sampled for DNA sequencing, Mountain lion reports in Pennsylvania popular, but often a hoax, More Local News to Love Start today for 50% off Expires 3/6/23. The large tracts of untouched rocky land and bighorn sheep populations make for pristine mountain lion habitat. Would my mountain ridge be declared 'Critical Habitat' for the puma? Granted, the image is not great, and I used some Photoshop adjustment layers to enhance the image, making it a bit easier to see. They have almost been killed off a few times, but conservation efforts have helped to keep their numbers stable. There is also a small population of cougars in Florida. What you wouldn't expect to find here anymore is a mountain lion. Can so many people be so wrong? The next day, another friend, who works for Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, called me to ask if I had seen the photo of a Pocono mountain lion with a deer in its jaws. 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. Accounts abound concerning interaction between these great beasts and people in northeast Pennsylvania, with wolves into the early 19th century and in the case with cougars, well into the early 20th century. Colorado is the perfect habitat for mountain lions. How do I deal with shaving weight for carrying my gear? It was definitely a mountain lion, and it had a big buck, white-tailed deer in its jaws. But this one was black, and he knows mountain lions are some variant of brown. 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. Mountain lions that are looking for new breeding areas are known as transient and are almost always males. "From people that I trust have had visual sightings, they've seen mountain lions.". Conversely, an outdoor writer I know told me that when Pa. enacted a menagerie permit law years ago, 'a lot of mountain lions suddenly died,' as the owners of these cats, rather than going through the paperwork, simply released their pumas and claimed that they had died. Something to consider, even though we all trust the government. They include a reported attack on horses at a farm near Dillsburg, York County, that Foster thinks may be legitimate. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one. None of these sightings has been authenticated, and many of them, including a recent, alleged mountain lion picked up on a surveillance camera in Lackawanna County, turned out to be bobcats. The rounded ears, Others would like to see some scientific proof. Recently, a man I spoke with told me that he was reminded of a sighting he and two friends had 20 years earlier, and after recalling the incident he was motivated to call his college buddies and reflect on their observation. Periodically, via Google searches, I receive reports from people who believe they had seen a mountain lion in Pennsylvania, or in other mid-Atlantic states. "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. Use of and/or registration on any portion of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your Privacy Choices and Rights (each updated 1/26/2023). 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. Once a mountain lion matures, it will leave its mother and find its own territory. The State cites that there are no road-kills, and in a heavily trafficed state like Pennsylvania there should be kills. Discover the Little-Known U.S. River Gorge That's, The 9 Best Books About National Parks for Travelers, mountain lions seem to be making a comeback. All rights reserved (About Us). More Questions about Pumas in Pennsylvania 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Let me know if you have seen one! I had three cameras positioned, so had a cat visited, I'd have had it. Mountain lions are 7-9 feet, while bobcats are 3 feet long. Well, right behind our property lies a mountain ridge, one of several that makes a continuous forest that extends, with little interruption, for scores of miles in three directions. The state of Texas is home to many mountain lion populations, but the numbers are incredibly hard to find. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? These powerful, majestic creatures once lived across much of the country but have since been killed or pushed out of most of it. Knowing that pumas range widely, would my ridge be the only one closed? 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. The Pocono Mountains are . If we don't see it, it doesn't exist. Michelle LaRue, executive director of the Cougar Network and a research ecologist at the University of Minnesota, will discuss the eastern expansion of cougars from their core range in the western U.S. at 7 p.m. in Moravian College's Haupert Union Building, Bethlehem. Let's say the facts indicate that there have been a lot of 'pet' pumas, and many of these escaped. However, many of my reports were at distances that people knew, and as you look at the images of the puma there really is a big difference in color and shape between a puma and a house cat. The bounty for adult wolves and cougars was raised on March 16, 1819 to $12. In 2015, a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker was placed near the site where the mastodon was found. They're seeing an animal they don't know or recognize, and while some may be watching a smaller bobcat about 35 pounds), some believe they've actually spotted a cougar. Good luck, and let me know! I'm thinking of the solution often suggested for pesky endangered species out west, namely wolves and grizzly bears. I'm a photographer, yet I've never had a chance to snap a photograph of one of these bears. Do Mountain Lions Attack Humans? The hunting policy of the state may be the cause of the dropping population, and pressure on the Fish and Game Commission has increased. If you see a puma (mountain lion-cougar), contact me. 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." If you can figure out how to travel far back in time for even a day, get lots of wildlife photos, as the rest of us might never believe your story. They ponder rare fossil evidence unearthed and seek to make sense of stratified geology, both fleeting in the face of what we call progress. Several populations of Gray Squirrels scattered around the country are black, and recently I heard of a neighborhood of black Eastern Chipmunks. If mountain lions are discovered in PA anytime soon they'll either be big foot's pets or genetically engineered and released by the DCNR to cull the orangu-bear population. The agency has declared extinct the eastern cougar, one of 11 subspecies ofmountain lions native to North America. It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. Check out our online field guide to read more in this series. After all, how many people have pumas? I believe Kross fully, but I wanted to hear more. Why is bat photography so difficult? Suppose, instead of declaring the puma, or Eastern mountain lion, extinct, the USFWS actually recognized the existence of the cat as a wild, breeding species. It has the color of a mountain lion, but the long tail appears to be missing. The other two clans were the Turtle and Turkey. Apparently, this picture was really making the rounds. I'd love to hear of any reports you have. They know what they saw, regardless of what the facts say, and they know they saw a puma. Where reports dating that far back from escapees? 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. Contact the AZ Animals editorial team. The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. What does a Puma (Mountain Lion) look like on a Game Camera? Still, people say they know what they saw out there. A mastodon's skull was first located in Marshalls Creek, Monroe County, on July 5, 1968. Kross only saw the animal for a second, but it made a believer out of him. Here are the 15 US States That Have Mountain Lions. Sadly, the hunting guidelines for cougars in Idaho are lax, with 400-600 cats being killed each year. If you see or photograph a puma in the mid-Atlantic states, please email or call me. For many who have believed to have seen a cougar in the wilds of the Poconos, these arguments might be less than convincing. "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. This, after they were told that there were no pumas in Pa. Wyoming has a historically stable population of mountain lions, but recent drops in numbers have caused some to worry. Do elk live in Pennsylvania? "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. Yet, except for Florida, which has about 100 of them "Florida panthers"), no eastern state has a verifiable population of these large 100- to 200-pound cats that were extirpated 100 years ago. "They preyed upon the caribou, and probably the mastodon," Leslie wrote of these large animals flourishing on the grasses and cold-climate flora that sprouted following the glacier's retreat. redo these pages to match the new web site But that's not Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. Fish and Wildlife Service. Thank you for reading! Encouraged by the bounties, settlers waged war on these perceived beasts. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. A Mountain Lion Cover Up Ironically, I almost deleted the image, as on the small camera LCD monitor the cat was small and I thought that it was just another deer that moved along the stream. Bobcats tend to be darker brown, with lighter belly fur and spots while mountain lions tend to be more uniform brown, tawny color. What is the Kiboko backpack? "They are very strong animals," she said. They are generally believed to be young cats roaming in search of new breeding territories to claim as their own. The first is the mating season which can occur during the late to early spring months. Bobcats, feral cats and domestic dogs may be misidentified as mountain lion. In 2016, a trail cam photo in South Jersey was later determined to show a house cat. Mountain lions thrive there due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. 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? I haven't seen any reports like that.". One of these days, though, I'll get one that won't be, and I hope that will be soon. Looking for things to do in the Poconos? Adults are a uniform tan or tawny in color, with a white or cream-colored chin, undersides and inner legs. I've know of reports since 1973, in Cooke Forest, the heart of a lot of Pa. wilderness. The Florida panther is an endemic subspecies of cougar that has lived in the everglades region for a very long time. There had been 17 other mastodon finds in Pennsylvania up to 1968, but all were fragmentary. All rights reserved (About Us). I love the big cats and devote a huge amount of my field time photographing African lions, leopards, cheetahs, and in 2011, tigers. Leap transferred ownership rights to the state. The Pocono Mountains are located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. All of the above are Mountain Lions, or Pumas, or Cougars. Why do I advocate manual exposure so avidly? By the time he returned the vehicle was gone, and so was the cat, and no mention was ever made of this road kill in a radio or newspaper report. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and I've seen about 10 black bears in Pennsylvania, and all within ten miles of my home. Who knows? 2023 www.poconorecord.com. Biologists traced it back to the Black Hills of South Dakota, from where it ventured nearly 2,000 miles looking for a new mate. If you're interested in this, please pass on this link, and if you see a cat, please let me know! Murray also has a cross-eyed white tiger named Keisha, who crushed chicken bones with ease but delicately stepped into a metal pool to cool off. 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. The state of Idaho is large, expansive, and full of rocky wilderness. Joseph Pugliese 2.2K views 7 years ago Beautiful Bobcat in our yard as our. It has long been popular with honeymooners, but today the Poconos are a popular destination for families, skiers, adventure seekers, NASCAR fans, and those from urban areas around New England, New York City, Philadelphia . Never has this been more accurate than in today's digital, computerized world. I'll be anxious to learn of your report. In Pennsylvania, I receive a few reports of black, big cats, which makes one wonder -- are there melanistic (black) pumas out there, or are those sightings always wrong. Imagination? Recently the US Fish and Wildlife Service formally declared the Eastern Puma an extinct species, except for the remnant population in Florida. Puma vs Mountain Lion: Is There a Difference? The state of Arizona is home to a large, stable population of mountain lions. 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. The record size for this species is 8 feet, and it probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds, which shows how exaggerated this claim is. 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.). 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. I regularly ask hunters and outdoors people if they've ever seen a mountain lion, or know of anyone that has. A few could, perhaps, be mistaken idenity. If it were, it would be listed. 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.). "He doesn't like men too much," said Suzanne Murray, owner of East Coast Exotic Animal Rescue in this south-central Pennsylvania town. I'd suspect it would still be considered very rare, after all, it was thought to be extinct. On the second night, a mountain lion passed by, apparently drawn by the smell but put off by the stench, as the cat did not visit the kill. Mountain lions are well-established in 14 western states and have also recently been confirmed in 10 Midwestern states: Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin. There is no known estimate of the number of mountain lions inhabiting Texas. a high priority. Both sheep and young cattle fell prey to wolves, unless they were under constant watch. The photographer had no reason to stage the shot -- indeed, the composition and background was terrible, and not what you'd expect for something staged, but the shot wasn't perfectly clear. You be the judge. Two other reports went, in detail, on what they saw, the size, the length of tail, etc. There are, from time to time, eyewitness accounts from hunters or hikers who claim to have seen the cat. Compare any game camera image with the shots above, or this game camera image, to confirm your identification. Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the Eastern subspecies of the mountain lion extinct, which would seem to bolster the skeptics. In prior interviews with the Game Commission, the suggestion was made to this writer that what many people may actually be seeing is a bobcat, perhaps in less than ideal circumstances. "Likewise, I'm not aware of any escapes from captive facilities in my time here. In January, the U.S. Archived Questions of the Month Provided by Touchpoints Possibly, but it seems unlikely that enough would have been released or had escaped to make for a viable population. Every year we receive a few similar reports from hikers, hunters or other outdoor enthusiasts. Since mountain lions are the top predators (unlike most other states with grizzly bears), they have a well-developed population. With the Great Lakes in its way, the cat moved either north or south of the water, and the latter route would have seen it pass through at least some of Pennsylvania. The other three images are from my file, selected to most closely approximate the pose of the cat from the game camera. No evidence has ever been produced to support those charges. Hopefully, we'll see the real thing. 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. At the end of the last Ice Age, many animals in Pennsylvania died out. All of the above images are of bobcats. I've seen about 20 mountain lions, or pumas, in the field, but all but 2 were in Chile. With healthy populations and strong conservation programs, however, they seem to be pushing back east. Their are two web sites I know of that dealt with eastern pumas, with the one, the Eastern Puma Research Network, concentrating on sightings in the east. 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). Mountain lions have killed humans in the wild, though sightings and encounters are rare even in the American West and Canada. Remember, this one was photographed in Arizona in good puma country, although this was the first one I've recorded there. 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. Eyes are normal and are not light sensitive, and the over-all color, generally black, is usually not detrimental and may actually be of benefit. And when our officers go out to investigate reports of mountain lions, or when our staff reviews photos that are sent to us, often we're able to verify some other animal mistakenly was reported as a mountain lion.". Caribou remains, dated by radiocarbon in excess of 10,000 B.C. When he told me this, he commented on how an experience like the one he and his friends had just is not forgotten. The skeleton was reassembled at the State Museum, where it has been on display ever since. Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. Many of the reports I receive are extremely credible. In books I've read critical or skeptical or down-right dismissive of the idea of pumas in the East, the argument has been advanced that the hopefull puma-dreamer/spotters arguing that the State needs to prove pumas don't exist does not mean that in the State not proving this means that pumas indeed do exist in this state. So how or why could there be a conspiracy? Despite reported sightings throughout the East, including Pennsylvania, and a confirmed mountain lion killed in Connecticut in 2011, there has been no evidence that any of those cats were native . Interestingly, the US Fish and Wildllife Service has declared the Eastern Puma extinct, except for the Florida population known as the Florida panther. Mountain lions were once widespread across North America, but their range shrunk dramatically as they were pursued through unregulated hunting and by farmers aiming to protect their livestock, and moved off the landscape by habitat fragmentation. Jones has never seen a mountain lion, but he thinks they're prowling around. The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. These cubs are born blind and helpless. Note the long, usually thick tail. Are there pumas, or mountain lions, in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic States? A bobcat gives you a warm, that-kind-of-looks-like-my-cat-but-slightly-bigger feeling. More conclusive evidence is needed: Keep your cameras handy. The rocky habitat that covers much of the state is perfect for these ambush predators, especially since humans dont inhabit much of the land. Now, forty years ago coyotes were rare or almost nonexistent in Pennsylvania, and had had that same sighting back then, when coyotes were thought not to exist within the state we would have had the 'facts' to doubt what we saw. Learn more about us & read our affiliate disclosure. A neighbor scared the animal away before it could finish its meal; the sheeps carcass was used as bait, to catch the big cat. They've been extinct in the eastern part of North America for more than a century. Mountain Lion Reports Any Truth It is almost safe to say that the panther has in these parts become extinct, Goodrich wrote. But the point of this article isn't whether or not mountain lions exist in Pennsylvania or the Poconos. Most of my original Questions of the Month for the last several A second image of the same cat, in a different light, reveals the trademark spots of a bobcat. A placard affixed to the fence outside Rocky's pen states that "cougars are solitary creatures and rarely seen by humans." Furthermore, a different set of photos showed a "mountain lion" dragging a deer into the woods in Bradford County. In his 1973 book "Faces in Clay" Leslie lays open the archaeological treasures of stone arrow or spear points and tools lost long ago by a succession of native peoples. In Tennessee, the most likely places you would find them would be in the forest. The mountain lion population in Nevada is essential to the control of deer and rodent populations in the mountainous regions of the state. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. 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.