Confirmed: A Mountain Lion in Connecticut

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Kendal Black

Kendal Black

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Weird story but with good attribution: Mountain lion road killed in eastern U.S.

http://www.middletownpress.com/arti...4e2f1341de52f489437623.txt?viewmode=fullstory

One lion does not a summer make, but I am glad I said nothing when, over the years, Bubba or Johnny or Billybob swore up and down they had seen mountain lions in the East.

I asked questions: Ear tufts? No. Short coupled, bouncy gait? No. Maybe you been a-drinkin'? No, or not much.

For forty years or so I have heard tell of the eastern mountain lion, and I'm glad I wasn't so skeptical as I might have been.

Heck of a note, though: The cat walked all that way only to end up as road kill.
 
Ahh.. The strange thing the cat did in the night, Watson. What are young male panthers mainly interested in?

Besides fauns, I mean, and rabbits, which he didn't have to leave home for. :confused:
 
Well, we won't be missing him here in SD where he originated! We seem to have enough lions, thank you!
 
Yeah, that kitty heard about our assault weapon ban and headed here thinking he'd be safe....little did he know, more wildlife are killed by cars than by hunters in CT.

Mtn Lions are still mentioned in the CT DEP regs, otherwise i'd have been out hunting it hard....but the sightings did motivate me to bring along my .40 USP while walking the dog.

To me, the amazing part of this story is how he made it across the Hudson River and through such dense suburban terrain without detection; although the place he bought it on the Merritt Parkway is very close to another large river, and a bridge...so maybe he was using bridges. NY tolls the hell out of anyone crossing the Hudson, so you't think there would be some video footage of it if it crossed at a bridge....and theres pretty much always a traffic jam too.

/Still waiting for feral bacon to appear on my lawn.
 
A couple months ago I saw something, I knew it wasn't a bobcat or housecat but I couldn't say for sure it was a cougar. I was driving and it was kinda out of the corner of my eye, just a quick glimpse. Everyone around here told me I was nuts until about 2 weeks ago when a neighbors horse got attacked.

From what i've been told many were trapped and relocated around here 20-30 years ago and dumped in south texas. I guess they got homesick:)
 
I agree with DAV. They are a nuisance here and over populated in the Black Hills and have taken a toll on deer and elk whereever they are established. We've had a season on them for about 6 years now and the quota gets filled pretty quick. Once that male reaches maturity it has to find it's own territory. They reported that this cat had traveled thru Wisconsin maybe up thru Canada & New York before meeting his demise. 3 other Black Hills cats have been found in Oklahoma, Chicago & Regina, Sask, Canada.
 
desidog

If he crossed the Hudson further up - along the Vermont border, or really anywhere north of Albany, the river isn't too wide and there are plenty (or at least there used to be plenty) of non toll crossings.
 
VT Fish and Wildlife admitted there are catamounts (mountain lions) in Vermont a few years ago and we VTers knew it. And guess what there are wolves returning and one was hit in SW VT. And my Uncle Was given when some one thought it was a coyote and shot it.
 
But still not the elusive black panther so many claim to have seen. Drat ;).
 
Hey, aren't they supposed to be called catamounts on the East Coast?
 
VT Deer Hunter, when did they admit that there were catamounts back in Vermont (as a former Catamount brewing employee, that news gets me giddy with excitement)
 
4v50 Gary said:
Hey, aren't they supposed to be called catamounts on the East Coast?
Click to expand...

This goes into the "yes, but" department. The term went out of use as the cats cleared out a hundred years ago--some relocated voluntarily, some were forcibly retired. The term dropped out of everyday use, most places. The official line from the wildlife departments is the species is gone and has not been here for a century, but as I mentioned, people more or less credible and well up on ID-ing a species before they shoot it have sworn they saw one.

"Why didn't you shoot it for us and prove it once and for all?"

"I didn't have a tag."
 
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