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. Because the neck bothered me, I decided to do some Photoshop on the puma in the lower left, moving his head higher up and changing the image to a contrasty black and white - to give a silhouette for comparision. I'm thinking of the solution often suggested for pesky endangered species out west, namely wolves and grizzly bears. Eastern mountain lion officially declared extinct - pennlive.com Adults are a uniform tan or tawny in color, with a white or cream-colored chin, undersides and inner legs. The hunting policy of the state may be the cause of the dropping population, and pressure on the Fish and Game Commission has increased. Illinois can also now be added to this list a mountain lion was found on the outskirts of Chicago. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. Activities Milford Things To Do Hotels Map Of Activities Delaware Water Gap Hotels Bushkill Lake Harmony Hawley Skytop Tannersville Pocono Mountains Counties About the Poconos Pocono Mountains History Weather Area Services . Consider that the endangered Florida puma has mixed genes. Archived Questions of the Month In 2016, a trail cam photo in South Jersey was later determined to show a house cat. A typical home range is around 150 square miles for adult males and 50 square miles for adult females in our region. 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. 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 . 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. Let's see a clear photo, or a carcass or something. If we don't see it, it doesn't exist. Of interestRamapough Lenape chief: National park in PA and NJ would be among 'most destructive things' since colonization. I believe that the folks that are reporting, in detail, their sightings are faced with a similar situation. So how or why could there be a conspiracy? Among other uses, the tax was levied "for destroying wolves, foxes, heads and crows." That's true. But no one that I've communicated with had these preconceptions, and seeing what they saw was a complete surprise. 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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. There is no known estimate of the number of mountain lions inhabiting Texas. You be the judge. Mountain lion populations struggle to outpace the high hunting limits. Mountain lions (cougars, pumas, and more) are among the top predators that live in the United States. Oregon has a large, stable breeding population of mountain lions. There's a saying that "things aren't always what they appear to be." The last documented sighting of an eastern cougar was one killed in Maine in 1938. Editor's note: The Pocono Record and Tri-County Independent have collaborated for a series of stories called Mountain Beasts: Pocono cryptids, legends and lore. People can manipulate, enhance or combine photos and then create their own stories about the subject's origin, location and even identification. Newspapers carried stories in 1956 about hunters supposedly seeing and killing wolves in Pike and Monroe Counties. A dark brown puma, backlighted by a strong sun, could appear all black, or very dark, and he accepted that. with a fluted projectile point were found near Middletown, Orange County, New York. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. This ideal habitat allows for a large population of 2,000 mountain lions to thrive. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. redo these pages to match the new web site But that's not 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. An animal's coat can stray far from the norm. The coat can be spotted or solid and varies in color from light browns, reddish and silvery grey. Never has this been more accurate than in today's digital, computerized world. The other three images are from my file, selected to most closely approximate the pose of the cat from the game camera. After all, how many people have pumas? Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? Colby is a freelance writer from Charlotte, North Carolina. Imagination? Mountain lion killed in Connecticut was on the opposite side of Pennsylvania a year ago, Is it real? Several populations of Gray Squirrels scattered around the country are black, and recently I heard of a neighborhood of black Eastern Chipmunks. 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. But even without that second look there was no question that we'd seen a coyote. For many who have believed to have seen a cougar in the wilds of the Poconos, these arguments might be less than convincing. Mountain lions have an interesting life cycle that consists of a few different characteristics. Kross only saw the animal for a second, but it made a believer out of him. Mountain Lion in Pocono's Pennsylvania Kacie PA 7.9K views 2 years ago Mountain lion in bucks county pa or not? Where reports dating that far back from escapees? 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. 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! And again, while they may have been mistaken, they certainly were completely convinced that they had seen a puma. 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. Recent post: Why Is It Called Beaver Stadium? This is not a Pennsylvania puma! Good luck, and let me know! Mountain lions are 7-9 feet, while bobcats are 3 feet long. Let me explain this. Bobcats tend to be darker brown, with lighter belly fur and spots while mountain lions tend to be more uniform brown, tawny color. 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. Two different people told me that they, or a close relative, had seen pumas on more than one occasion. There isnt an official estimate on mountain lions in the state. Big cats in Pennsylvania: mountain lions or bobcats? - Pocono Record If we say it ain't so, it ain't so! It seems unlikely, considering captives have never shown this trait, but people are reporting big black cats. He knows and was familiar with bobcats, and it was not a weird house cat that he and his friends misjudged in size. Are there pumas, or mountain lions, in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic States? Mountain Lion (Puma concolor) - Texas This one streaked across the road in the early evening, and fortunately, it stopped when it climbed a hill on the other side where I had another view from my side of the truck. The Asa Packer Mansion, built in the year 1861, is a historic house museum. There are also big swaths of thick of forests in parts of the state. There is a big community of mountain lion enthusiasts across the Northeast convinced that the animals still exist in breeding populations. I had three cameras positioned, so had a cat visited, I'd have had it. 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. "I know they're native to this area. 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 to the East. Noted Wayne County historian Phineas Goodrich recorded in his 1880 book on local history that the common gray wolf was much more common in this area than the cougar. "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. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Murray has cared for four mountain lions since she took over the rescue in 1998. I'll offer my own little anecdote. There is a small breeding population in the state, despite being killed off in the 1920s. A total of 32 mountain lions have been struck and killed by vehicles in the study area since 2002. 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. 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 owners. These experiences are still available, but the reality is there is so much more for the mature traveler to enjoy in the Pocono Mountains. 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. Asa Packer Mansion Jim Thorpe. Most, quite honestly, don't know or can't believe or accept what they saw, they really can't believe their eyes. Once a mountain lion matures, it will leave its mother and find its own territory. The state of Texas is home to many mountain lion populations, but the numbers are incredibly hard to find. Here it is: I still couldn't get the big head/little neck, and the body is a bit stouter/shorter, but a striding cat might be stretched out a bit.
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