Mountain Lion in Pocono's Pennsylvania Kacie PA 7.9K views 2 years ago Mountain lion in bucks county pa or not? Same story as 'black panthers' across the country, because of course there, scientifically, can be no such thing. "If my son would have been on a pedal bike, without a helmet on, that thing would have nailed him," said Walters, 44. Can so many people be wrong? The large tracts of untouched rocky land and bighorn sheep populations make for pristine mountain lion habitat. According to the commission, the last Pennsylvania mountain lion was killed in the late 1800s. I've seen hoaxes, of pumas carrying deer shot with game cameras, but these were of western cats. The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. A bobcat gives you a warm, that-kind-of-looks-like-my-cat-but-slightly-bigger feeling. 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. A few could, perhaps, be mistaken idenity. Erosion from glacial melt and violence glaciers did to the land left a. The life cycle then repeats itself. This happens usually around the 18-month mark. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. (570) 325-3229. Some outdoor enthusiasts insist they have seen the big cats here and believe them to be naturally occurring, native animals. "They are very strong animals," she said. My friend was a former hunter and fisherman, and spent a lot of time in the woods, as did I, but neither of us had ever seen a coyote. She also houses a bobcat named Nia she took in from a couple who couldn't handle her. 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 believe them. 2023 www.poconorecord.com. On some investigations, Foster has teamed up with Stacey Griffiths, who started the Central PA Mountain Lion Sightings page earlier this year. I'm a photographer, yet I've never had a chance to snap a photograph of one of these bears. I'd love to hear of any reports you have. "The day will come," he said, "when someone will pull the trigger on a mountain lion.". The last native mountain lion known to be killed in Pennsylvania is on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. A mastodon's skull was first located in Marshalls Creek, Monroe County, on July 5, 1968. Where they always here as a relic population? The last known mountain lion in Pennsylvania was killed in Berks County in 1874. In the forests of Kenya, however, they do occur. "There hasn't been one solid piece of proof to believe they are here. Mountain lions typically eat about one deer per week, along with other smaller prey as the opportunity arises. 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? 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. However, recently I saw a photo of a melanistic bobcat, as black as could be, with bright yellow eyes. (What is meant by "heads" is not clear.). do I get an immediate, 'Oh yeah!' A neighbor scared the animal away before it could finish its meal; the sheeps carcass was used as bait, to catch the big cat. 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. Phineas Teeple of Manchester Township is thought to have killed the last wolf in Wayne County. If you see a puma (mountain lion-cougar), contact me. As a state known for its mountains, its no wonder that mountain lions live here! Let me explain this. Additionally, California banned the hunting of cougars back in 1972, encouraging population growth. 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. There's a saying that "things aren't always what they appear to be." Is there a Mountain Lion Conspiracy? She feeds and cares for them with donations and grants. Wyoming has a historically stable population of mountain lions, but recent drops in numbers have caused some to worry. 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? 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. Outdoor adventures abound, and so do our fabulous shopping and restaurants. Here, they've not been," Lau said in an e-mail. Continuing with that thought, if that were so, then it'd be possible, if not very likely, that the Eastern puma would be an Endangered Species. Everyone else, when reporting, were frustrated as they were told they had seen a bobcat. Once a mountain lion matures, it will leave its mother and find its own territory. Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? And yet today the debate continues: Are there mountain lions in Pennsylvania? Confirmed cougar sightings have increased in the Midwest and Great Lakes states in recent years.". In 2015, a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker was placed near the site where the mastodon was found. Any Truth It also mentioned that someone raising a mountain lion without a license may either have let it go when it became too large to handle, or that the animal had escaped. Caribou remains, dated by radiocarbon in excess of 10,000 B.C. But more and more people in Pennsylvania, from the Alleghenies to the Poconos to rolling farmlands in York County, claim they are seeing the big cats here, even though the state's "last" native lion, also known as a cougar or puma, was shot and killed in Berks County in 1871 and the feds have declared the Eastern subspecies extinct. The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. So how or why could there be a conspiracy? For many who have believed to have seen a cougar in the wilds of the Poconos, these arguments might be less than convincing. Are Mountain Lions in Missouri Making a Comeback? Have all of those who have seen a puma really seen a bobcat? At the end of the last Ice Age, many animals in Pennsylvania died out. Melanism is the reverse, where there is an abundance of dark or black pigmentation. Best hike for seeing waterfalls. 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 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. And how many would let them go, or provide an opportunity for escaping? Geologist Dr. John Yolton made the identification. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. ? The Pocono Mountains are located in Northeastern Pennsylvania. I regularly ask hunters and outdoors people if they've ever seen a mountain lion, or know of anyone that has. The image in the Upper Left was from a Game Camera, sent to me by a friend. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one game camera image that still looks very credible to me. Here's a glimpse at what long-gone Pocono beasts the region's very first wave of residents may have seen, and the wild things that followed up to as late as the early 20th century. I haven't seen any reports like that.". A placard affixed to the fence outside Rocky's pen states that "cougars are solitary creatures and rarely seen by humans." Cougar vs Mountain Lion What Are the Differences? Packer Hill Ave. Jim Thorpe, PA 18229. Note the long, usually thick tail. If you're interested in this, please pass on this link, and if you see a cat, please let me know! 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. 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. One sighting I give complete belief in was from a friend who told me a puma crossed right in front of their vehicle, and paused on the berm for a few seconds, at a distant of ten yards or less. 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? Pocono Record sports writer Mike Kuhns wrote a great piece on Oct. 14, "Does the mountain lion roam PA?" The mountains and isolated forests of the state allow these large cats to live their lives without encountering humans very often. All rights reserved. . "The cougars examined in the Northeast in the past 70 years are likely released or escaped captives. Sadly, the hunting guidelines for cougars in Idaho are lax, with 400-600 cats being killed each year. If it were, it would be listed. No An official form of the United States government. The other site, The Cougar Network, is still active, and is reporting the cats expanding range from the West, but offers little about the phenomenon of Pennsylvania cats. Over time, cats that had been released in Florida, probably pets that outlived their welcome, bred with the native puma, and their genes mingled. The Cascade Mountains are an important habitat for mountain lions in the region, and a stable population lives within the state. Note the size of the tail, the pointed ears, the speckled coat, the basic lack of white underneath. The Asa Packer Mansion, built in the year 1861, is a historic house museum. John Leap of East Stroudsburg's Lakeside Peat Humus Co. and an employee, Paul Strauser, found the bones in a peat bog off Route 209. The next day, the photo disappeared from the site. 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. The last native mountain lion known to be killed in Pennsylvania is on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. Encouraged by the bounties, settlers waged war on these perceived beasts. Are mountain lions on their way to Pennsylvania? 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'd suspect it would still be considered very rare, after all, it was thought to be extinct. I wanted to know if they're here, so I called some people I trust and asked them one simple question: Are there mountain lions in Pennsylvania? Ashley Catherine Fontones, Pocono Record. I am bothered by the constricted neck of the cat on the game camera; 2. the tail is curved down, rather than up, but it may have been in mid-swing; 3. the goldenrod-appearing flower, and the background of cars, gives a sense of scale and location. It wasn't, and I assumed it was a road-kill. And this genetic mix has been recognized, and the Florida puma is still protected. (National Park Service). Consider that the endangered Florida puma has mixed genes. This will be one of your best identification marks, along with size. Mountain lions can live in almost any habitat including forests, prairies, deserts, and swamps. The states beautiful wilderness and mountainous terrain are prime mountain lion habitats. They include a reported attack on horses at a farm near Dillsburg, York County, that Foster thinks may be legitimate. Mountain lions roamed all of the continent prior to the arrival and westward spread of European settlers, but only the eastern and Florida subspecies were found east of the Mississippi. Over the last few months several people have responded to this question with reports of their own. 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. Reports generally go uninvestigated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which discounts them as mistaken identities, illegal pets escaped or released and outright fabrications. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. Among those who have investigated the primeval times of the Pocono Plateau and Delaware River valleys and tributaries was the late Vernon Leslie, Ph.D., a Wayne County historian and archaeologist. A law was passed March 10, 1806, requiring the county to pay the person producing the scalp of a full-grown wolf or cougar, $8, and for the scalp of a young whelp or cub, $4. In Tennessee, the most likely places you would find them would be in the forest. The bounty for adult wolves and cougars was raised on March 16, 1819 to $12. 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!' The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? Had this been faked, I'd suspect the hoaxter would try for a more authentic background. Although there was no evidence that the 2011 mountain lion ever set foot in Pennsylvania, DNA evidence confirmed that it had been both west and east of the state. The cat is known to live in the western U.S. and Florida, South America and Canada. 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. 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. 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. In July and August I received seven different reports, and everyone involved had done a search of some type to compare images of bobcats and pumas. "It's fall bow-hunting season soon," he said. I don't want to seem like a nut case here, but I must ask this question and you'll soon understand why? The cat was far enough away that I couldn't get a size reference, and I believed the cat was further away than it actually was. The bones were found perfectly preserved. The earliest wave arrived at the end of the last Ice Age; the last wave is the Lenape or Delaware Tribe, which made contact with colonial settlers in the 1600s. (National Park Service). 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. In all those hours I never saw a coyote, bear, or bobcat, and yet all live in my area. I'll be anxious to learn of your report. Since mountain lions are the top predators (unlike most other states with grizzly bears), they have a well-developed population. The record size for this species is 8 feet, and it probably weighed 15 to 20 pounds, which shows how exaggerated this claim is. Mountain lions (cougars, pumas, and more) are among the top predators that live in the United States. 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. Murray has cared for four mountain lions since she took over the rescue in 1998. 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. One of the important things for any animal is a place to call home. An escapee is also possible. And yes, there are people in Pennsylvania who say they exist here. Never has this been more accurate than in today's digital, computerized world. What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? 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. That may be true, or was once true, but even a declawed puma, if it can survive off rabbits and squirrels, and breeds, its offspring would be fully equipted to survive. In January, the U.S. The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. The name Pocono is derived from the . Today, we are going to explore the 15 US states that have mountain lions, plus a few others that may have some. That's true. I believe Kross fully, but I wanted to hear more. Consider that the endangered Florida puma has mixed genes. Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. The agency has declared extinct the eastern cougar, one of 11 subspecies ofmountain lions native to North America. That solution: Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up. redo these pages to match the new web site But that's not Are there Mountain Lions (Pumas, Cougars) in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic States? 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. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. 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. The mountain lion population in Nevada is essential to the control of deer and rodent populations in the mountainous regions of the state. You've got a mountain lion story or photo? In personal contacts, that monthly average might even be higher. In 2011, a confirmed mountain lion was killed by a vehicle in Connecticut and which had been determined that it had wandered east from the Mid-West. Biologists traced it. That's significant because, in states where mountain lions live, they're often struck by vehicles or otherwise found dead. a high priority. When he told me this, he commented on how an experience like the one he and his friends had just is not forgotten. 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. How do I deal with shaving weight for carrying my gear? 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. And a bit of an unpleasant one at that, as they now faced ridicule or doubt whenever they discussed their sightings. 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. Two other reports went, in detail, on what they saw, the size, the length of tail, etc. Joseph Pugliese 2.2K views 7 years ago Beautiful Bobcat in our yard as our. Mountain lions thrive there due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. 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. Unless I am only dealing with a lot of delusional people with little judgment, something is out there. A second image of the same cat, in a different light, reveals the trademark spots of a bobcat. It's sort of like big foot, some people say they've seen him.".