Mountain lions live in rescue centers like Murray's, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission said a dozen or so people are permitted to possess them. A recent rumor of a cougar killed by a vehicle on Interstate 80 attracted some attention at Penn State. In August, Amy Walters said her 12-year-old son was spooked by a mountain lion in Forest County in northwest Pennsylvania while riding his dirt bike. Their bodies are mainly covered in tawny-beige fur, except for the whitish-gray belly and chest. Denise Kunzig, who lives in Orchard Valley on. They were extirpated from Indiana by the late 1800s. 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.". Florida panther population estimate updated. They helped to keep prey populations in balance, which created a more diverse and better functioning ecosystem that could respond to disturbances. declared the Eastern subspecies of the mountain lion extinct, California residents do not sell my data request. Friends in the area reported having a large long tailed mountain lion run across a road just in front of their truck. Over 1,100 people follow her page. They usually go after rabbits and small game but can kill animals as large as deer, according to pennlive.com. DNA tests have offered conclusive proof of cougars in other eastern states. What you. An escapee is also possible. Of course, bees are crucial to our existence. Mountain lions are 7-9 feet, while bobcats are 3 feet long. Recently he was given a plaster cast of what was suspected to be a cougar track from Wayne County, made after a "large cat-like creature" was seen locally. The team has investigated hundreds of reports, but most turned out to be bobcats. Symptoms include nausea, chills, slight fever, rise in blood pressure, fatigue, motor disturbances, breathing difficulty, constipation, and muscle aches, particularly in the abdomen. Are dangerous creatures lurking outside your tent flap or in the woods beyond your backyard if you live in Pennsylvania? "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. Adult males may be more than 8 feet long (from the tip of the nose to the tip of the tail), and can weigh between 130 and 150 pounds. I received a report from a woman who drove last Sunday (August 28) from her home in the Philadelphia area to her vacation home in Avalon. For a limited time, you can get full access to breaking news, all original Outdoor News stories and updates from the entire Great Lakes Region and beyond, the most up-to-date fishing & hunting reports, lake maps, photo & video galleries, the latest gear, wild game cooking tips and recipes, fishing & hunting tips from pros and experts, bonus web content and much, much more, all on your smartphone, tablet or desktop For just a buck per month! And, if. In January, the U.S. Other sightings have been reported in Forks Township. Then there is Rocky. I am not a confirmed believer that they do travel Penns woods, however I would NOT rule it out either. Although mountain lions were part of Nebraska's native fauna, they were extirpated by the end of the 19th century. While juvenile males do make long journeys when they are young, they rarely make it to the Lake States (Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin). More than half of California is mountain lion habitat and mountain lions generally exist wherever deer are found. The only cats still hunting in Pennsylvania are bobcats, according to the state game commission. Mitochondrial genomes of the regionally extinct Nittany Lion (Puma concolor from Pennsylvania). Passed 10 feet in front of us. But many others believe the big cats, also known as cougars and pumas, are traveling into Pennsylvania from western states, leading to persistent alleged sightings. . 2023 WWB Holdings, LLC. In January, the U.S. Hawley, J.E., Rego, P.W., Wydeven, A.P., Schwartz, M.K., Viner, T.C., Kays R., Pilgrim, K.L., and Jenks, J.A. adroll_currency = "USD"; US Fish and Wildlife Service. http://cougarrewilding.org/CougarNews/?p=938, have seen mountain lion in armstrong co.Pa, neibore has seen 2. Paws 'N' Claws Animal Park in the Poconos has two. There have been two mountain lion sightings this week in western Montana. You know, the Penn State Nittany Lions.". She feeds and cares for them with donations and grants. Black widows are native to the state. Are the mountain lion sightings in Monterey for real? Their conclusion: Sir, you dont have a mountain lion. A week later the farmer shot the mountain lion. I had a mountain lion in the field across from my house a couple years ago. But after consultations with biologists inside and outside the university, he determined it was an unusual bear track showing just four toes and no claws. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Biologists traced it back to the Black Hills of South Dakota, from where it ventured nearly 2,000 miles looking for a new mate. On a recent stifling morning in Adams County, the 290-pound mountain lion with perfect bone structure is ignoring the raw chicken breast and pork chops a handler tossed into his pen. They said it took up most of the dirt road. They can be easily differentiated by the size of their size (large house cats only weigh 30lb and raccoons 20lbs) and their tails (cougar tails are much longer and wiry). The abundance of wildlife that thrives in Pennsylvania makes sightings of interesting animals fairly commonplacebears, foxes, coywolves and elk are all within the realm of expectations. Skip to the beginning of the images gallery, FISH: Pennsylvania Frog and Toad Breeding Phenology, Questions and Answers about Centipedes, Ladybirds and Butterflies, The Effect of Coyotes on Pennsylvanias Deer Herd, Protected Species in Pennsylvania: The Bog Turtle, Protected Species in Pennsylvania: Northern Flying Squirrel. Males territories are generally twice the size of a females territory (50-350 square miles), and they overlap the territory of several females. "Likewise, I'm not aware of any escapes from captive facilities in my time here. When they are in these new areas, the young males are almost constantly moving looking for an area with females. (The fear of cougars is unfounded. "When I started telling people, most of them didn't believe me, but I will never forget that huge face staring right at me," said a Montgomery County woman who says she saw a lion last summer in Limerick Township while walking her dog. Of course, the New Jersey Wildlife people will flat out tell you there are no mountain lions anywhere in New Jersey. It had recently killed a buck and was dragging it across the road. "If my son would have been on a pedal bike, without a helmet on, that thing would have nailed him," said Walters, 44. Mountain Lion. Courtesy photo. 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. Union and Huntingdon , Pa. .. One doesn't think about big cats being in this eastern part of the . Bear attacks are thankfully rare. From 2015 through 2017, at least 100 pumas were spotted in the county, according to Tribune data gathered in 2018. This was hit by a truck on Mill Creek Road . "People think they can get them declawed and that they're safe, but they still have teeth.". Am 74 years old, of very sound mind usually pretty skeptical, but i saw this animal and after much consideration have concluded it could only be a mountain lion or cougar. Lion sightings they got. Bears feed for 20 hours a day during late summer and early fall as they fatten up to hibernate. 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." Thousands of deer. Across . "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. Here, they've not been," Lau said in an e-mail. It has the color of a mountain lion, but the long tail appears to be missing. Traveling Route 248 in Northampton County just 1 mile east of Pennsville. An Amish farmer along 944 in Cumberland County complained to the PGC a mountain lion was killing his sheep. In many places, the habitat hasn't changed much in hundreds of years. Always interesting to see the pompous asses state unequivocally that hundreds of their citizens are blind, on drugs, or lying because they have not seen one! "But we believe that the likely source is an illegally released animal.". If you see any of these four wild animals in Pennsylvania, definitely keep a safe distance. The cougar is much larger and needs at least four trees to be covered. adroll_current_page = "other"; 4 . She also houses a bobcat named Nia she took in from a couple who couldn't handle her. Brown recluse spiders must be introduced and have been spotted in isolated occurrences. Conservation agents searched for the animal last night and resumed looking this morning. Reports of a mountain lion have come from several residents of Hemlock Farms who were hiking on. 82 Confirmed Reports Since 1994 "I know they're native to this area. Sep 16, 2018 at 12:00 am. adroll_adv_id = "T6XR4YM2C5FGXNZIDZPFXI"; A few captive cougars have escaped over the years, but these cats have been quickly recaptured. The abundance of wildlife that thrives in Pennsylvania makes sightings of interesting animals fairly commonplacebears, foxes, coywolves and elk are all within the realm of expectations. Because this cat is rarely seen, it is commonly confused with cougars, but there are some key differences between bobcats and cougars (Figure 2). Required fields are marked *. The size was then confirmed to me, had a long tail also, had no markings but appeared dark grey in the sun. Big cats still roam parts of Pennsylvania. Breeding cougars are almost entirely west of the Mississippi in states like South Dakota, Texas, and California (Figure 1). "He doesn't like men too much," said Suzanne Murray, owner of East Coast Exotic Animal Rescue in this south-central Pennsylvania town. 'Nothing to see here folks, move along'". The diseaseproduces fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes within three to 30 days. They came out and investigated. I also saw a mountain lion recently crossing road next to creek in Canadensis PA. PA game commission are nothing but liers they lie to the people all the time we need to do away with them turn it over to the government I do not trust our government but the game commission lies more, what appears to be very large lion tracks the PGC says photos were of a large dog I disagree I have a deer feeder and I think that is why they are all around my house, it seems every time my cousin mason and his buddies go camping they encounter oro see a mountian lion he says he swares the the cougar stalks them when they start walking through the woodsthey live in the northern part of pa in an little mountian town of treemont in schuylkill county we know there is mountian lions up there. The red face of a mountain lion came out of the top of the mountain then dropped down. Cougars are often by hit carsin 2020, at least one-tenth of all Florida panthers (20 out of a maximum population of 200 animals) were hit by cars. To download a high-resolution image, go to http://aginfo.psu.edu/news/august01/lion.tif. "It's so hard to pin anything down," said John Lutz, the West Virginia man who heads the network, a non-scientific affiliation of mountain lion seekers across the eastern United States. Michael Tanenbaum Cougar tracks can also be differentiated from animals by the space between tracks (stride), they are generally 40 inches apart. So glad to post. Pennsylvania is too inhabited to support a population of cougars, unless there are major changes in cougar biology, cougar behavior, and public opinion. Mountain lions still exist in Pennsylvania, http://cougarrewilding.org/CougarNews/?p=938. But a mix of bounty hunting and heavy foresting killed or pushed out the population. and Wilmers, C.C. Mountain lions also were reportedly sighted in Cape St . Turkey vultures return to Ohio a sure harbinger of the coming spring? As an apex predator, their extirpationlocalized extinctionhas caused incalculable harm to the ecosystems of Pennsylvania. Biologists traced it back to the Black Hills of South Dakota, from where it ventured nearly 2,000 miles looking for a new mate. That's not to say that there is not a mountain lion in the wild," he explains. Young cougars (one- to two-years old) leave their mothers to establish a new territory. You read it here first: Mountain lions still exist in Pennsylvania: Just prior to the start of Pennsylvania's two-week firearms deer season, the volunteers at the Eastern Puma Research Network put out a call to hunters. By Heather Bellow, The Berkshire Eagle Dec 15, 2018 1 of 2 Mountain lions are believed not to exist in Massachusetts, but that only means they don't live or breed here. These indentations on their cheeks help them sense heat and find prey. Mountain lions live in rescue centers like Murray's, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission said a dozen or so people are permitted to possess them. "A cougar or puma is like a UFO with four feet." Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. "I'm proud to know her," Murray said of the tiger, "but I wish I didn't.". An instinct coiled way down in the human brain knows the difference between a bobcat and a mountain lion. Mountain lion, cougar, puma, panther, painter, and catamount are all different names for the same animal ( Puma concolor ). I have seen a large cat on several occasions driving home at night from work. A bobcat gives you a warm, that-kind-of-looks-like-my-cat-but-slightly-bigger feeling. It's 90-something degrees, but Rocky's stare feels like ice down your pants. All rights reserved (About Us). Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. Smith, J.A., Suraci, J.P., Clinchy, M., Crawford, A., Roberts, D., Zanette, L.Y. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. Factors governing risk of cougar attacks on humans. (Preferably while videotaping it) There is a $4000 bounty for a mountain lion carcass in PA. For those not following the debate, the PGC's official position is that there has not been a mountain lion in PA in more than 50 years. They can grow as large as 200 pounds and have long tails. Also on the extirpated list are wolves, lynx, moose and wolverines. Mountain lions are large, tan cats. The one pictured is in a New York zoo. "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. One came to her as the result of an owner's divorce. They wanted to hear from anyone who saw a mountain lion or signs of one, like tracks or scats. Was about 30 feet down the road when it crossed in front of me. I went to the rocky site and did not find the cat. Angel, her African lioness who snarls at strangers, is a big girl. Lion take a fawn in a swamp 1 mile from my home in the same county. 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? 3 Last 10 Years. Pennsylvania and New Jersey residents have periodically reported big cat sightings to local police, prompting minor scares that can last a few days. The claim of mountain lions on the move was bolstered in 2009 when one was killed by a car in Greenwich, Conn. 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. This content is restricted to subscribers of OutdoorNews.com. But an image captured by one family's security camera last weekend certainly shows what looks to be a mountain lion. Some may also be kept illicitly as pets, which would quickly become a problem as the cat matures. 2 Last 5 Years. On another occasion my sons best friend saw a fawn colored mt. I live in Harrisburg, in the 70s and by Central Dauphin high school there was a creek called Beaver Creek so one day ask someone what are they called Beaver Creek and said there used to be a beaver there till about seven or eight years ago and the last one was killed by some person they named and he was actually bragging up that he killed the last beaver in Beaver Creek. This population is greatly threatened by human develop on all sides. Records show that more than 600 cougars were killed in Centre County alone during the 1800s. Please enter your email address below to create account. http://www.buckmanager.com/2009/04/17/deer-management-and-some-thoughts-on-predator-control/, Just posted if looked like this size House cats tails and fur are also another excellent way to tell them from cougars. Fear of the human super predator reduces feeding time in large carnivores. at least 1 mountain lion hanging out near a relatively fresh, mostly eaten deer . Mountain Lions do remain in the western states and there is evidence that in 2011, a . For the best experience on our site, be sure to turn on Javascript in your browser. Cookie Settings/Do Not Sell My Personal Information. Some of the regional tribes include the Tonkawa, Kiowa and Apache. The bite usually results in a blister-like sore that can take six to eight weeks to heal. I saw a Mountain Lion chasing a fox in Perryopolis Pa. 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