Caribou remains, dated by radiocarbon in excess of 10,000 B.C. The Game Commission concluded they were coyotes. Murray said Rocky was emaciated and chained when she found him at a private zoo. 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. Oregon has a large, stable breeding population of mountain lions. Check out the tails of the two! Asa Packer Mansion Jim Thorpe. He wrote that not being a roving animal, the mountain lion was much sooner destroyed than the wolf, and he said that if there were any left, it would have to be in the most desolate places in the county. Are there Mountain Lions (Pumas, Cougars) in Pennsylvania and the Mid-Atlantic States? Contact the AZ Animals editorial team. Mountain lion killed in Connecticut was on the opposite side of Pennsylvania a year ago, Is it real? There also were camels, sloth and hyena, which migrated elsewhere. The coat can be spotted or solid and varies in color from light browns, reddish and silvery grey. 10 Stunning Mountains In Pennsylvania - AZ Animals 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. Here are the 15 US States That Have Mountain Lions. Mountain lions thrive there due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. 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. I regularly ask hunters and outdoors people if they've ever seen a mountain lion, or know of anyone that has. The last documented sighting of an eastern cougar was one killed in Maine in 1938. With healthy populations and strong conservation programs, however, they seem to be pushing back east. This ideal habitat allows for a large population of 2,000 mountain lions to thrive. 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. Features Writer Micaela Hood is signing off with the Pocono Record after five years of covering arts, culture, entertainment and sports in northeastern . Let me explain this. It's 90-something degrees, but Rocky's stare feels like ice down your pants. Perhaps one or more of these Pocono sightings represent early pioneers reclaiming their former territories. There's a saying that "things aren't always what they appear to be." Although in captivity, they can live much longer. Mountain lions have killed humans in the wild, though sightings and encounters are rare even in the American West and Canada. On the other hand, there are probably thousands of game cameras covering water holes and game trails throughout Pennsylvania, and to my knowledge no one has yet recorded a puma. The last native mountain lion known to be killed in Pennsylvania is on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. "If my son would have been on a pedal bike, without a helmet on, that thing would have nailed him," said Walters, 44. The 'look' is from my In the forests of Kenya, however, they do occur. September 21st, 2008, 08:14 PM #74. RelatedBigfoot, mountain lions, and other mythical creatures: PA officials discuss what they know. Does the mountain lion roam Pa? - Pocono Record Over the last few years I've done several Questions of the Month regarding Mountain Lions, or Pumas as they should properly be called, in the Mid-Atlantic States and in Pennsylvania. 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. It is almost safe to say that the panther has in these parts become extinct, Goodrich wrote. This animal was undoubtedly a bobcat. 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? They mostly live in the far western Trans-Pecos region of the state, where they can freely roam 50,000 to 80,000 acres of land. However, my friend and I discussed this, and agreed, we saw what we saw, and had it been 40 years ago or four months ago, we knew we saw a coyote. ? You know, the Penn State Nittany Lions.". Confirmed cougar sightings have increased in the Midwest and Great Lakes states in recent years.". 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. Most, quite honestly, don't know or can't believe or accept what they saw, they really can't believe their eyes. Mountain Lion Habitat in Tennessee - ArcGIS StoryMaps After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. Florida is the only state on the east coast with a breeding population of mountain lions. Albinos are often very light sensitive, and they certainly are conspicuous, and most do not live very long. 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. As the latest hoaxed photo of a mountain lion supposedly killed in Pennsylvania died a slow death on Facebook yesterday, the head of an organization tracking the eastern movements of the big cats was preparing a presentation for a Pennsylvania audience tonight. Fish and Wildlife Service officially declared the Eastern subspecies of the mountain lion extinct, which would seem to bolster the skeptics. If you're interested in this, please pass on this link, and if you see a cat, please let me know! Find cabins in the Poconos, PA near places like Bushkill Falls, Camelback Mountain Resort, and more. Fish and Wildlife Service. When he isn't distracted by his backyard birdfeeder, you can find him camping, exploring, and telling everyone around him about what he's recently learned. I've seen hoaxes, of pumas carrying deer shot with game cameras, but these were of western cats. It's sort of like big foot, some people say they've seen him.". 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. Pocono Mountains - Wikipedia In the wild, adult mountain lions can weigh anywhere from 65 to 220 pounds. Those special two were across a river just outside Glacier National Park in Montana, and consisted of a mother and two cubs (Mary saw both cubs, I only saw one, and we did so separately, as we were driving two vehicles). "From three really reliable sources who are always around the woods from Monroe County to Bradford, there is no doubt that there are mountain lions in Pennsylvania," East Stroudsburg University football team offensive coordinator and avid hunter Mike Terwilliger said. The bounty for adult wolves and cougars was raised on March 16, 1819 to $12. Where reports dating that far back from escapees? I am hoping that more and more people will learn of my own interest in this, and will pass on this information and that I'll receive more reports and, hopefully, sometime, a game camera photo that is definitive. Joseph Pugliese 2.2K views 7 years ago Beautiful Bobcat in our yard as our. I'd suspect it would still be considered very rare, after all, it was thought to be extinct. This will be one of your best identification marks, along with size. Granted, the image is not great, and I used some Photoshop adjustment layers to enhance the image, making it a bit easier to see. 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. I've done this myself once, in Tanzania, when I saw a black house cat that I thought was a black leopard! Obviously, other pumas must be about, and the series of ridges extending north and east and west from my location could all be included as critical habitat as well. Bo Ottman is a landscaper in Connecticut who founded an . Would a puma then qualify as a native species? Unless I am only dealing with a lot of delusional people with little judgment, something is out there. Did they migrate south from Canada? I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one. The last of three glaciations covered 30% of Pennsylvania, including much of the Poconos, from around 20,000-10,000 B.C. 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. In this at this distant epoch, archaeologists attempt to clear some of the mists and mysteries of prehistoric times. "I'm proud to know her," Murray said of the tiger, "but I wish I didn't.". The other two clans were the Turtle and Turkey. 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. Mountain lions weigh 90-160 pounds, while bobcats weigh 20-30 pounds. 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. "I know they're native to this area. Foster said mountain lions and bobcats could not breed. I think it is possible that recognizing the existence of pumas in the East could jeopardize this industry and an entire economy. Something to consider, even though we all trust the government. 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. Pocono Mountains - Travel guide at Wikivoyage 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. "It was in Worthington State Forest just across the Delaware River from Smithfield Beach). The 6 best hikes in the Poconos Mountains - Lonely Planet "The cougars examined in the Northeast in the past 70 years are likely released or escaped captives. Mountain lion populations struggle to outpace the high hunting limits. Additionally, California banned the hunting of cougars back in 1972, encouraging population growth. Wishful thinking? I believe that the folks that are reporting, in detail, their sightings are faced with a similar situation. Reports generally go uninvestigated by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, which discounts them as mistaken identities, illegal pets escaped or released and outright fabrications. I'm wondering, then, if the complete dismissal of sightings of Eastern pumas (other than the acknowledgement of released or escaped pets) isn't motivated by economics. One man, in the southwestern part of Pennsylvania, had seen one, at night, about 25 years ago. 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. Pocono Mountains: Best Things To See And Do - TravelAwaits 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. a high priority. Is it the New Best Pack? 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. 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. Would these ridges be declared off-limits for hunting? It was recorded in Minnesota and Wisconsin in late 2009 and early 2010, and then died in Connecticut in 2011. Remember, this one was photographed in Arizona in good puma country, although this was the first one I've recorded there. For example, one man I interviewed said he saw a 'black' puma, and this should disqualify his sighting as a black puma has never been recorded. 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. No evidence has ever been produced to support those charges. At the end of the last Ice Age, many animals in Pennsylvania died out. 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. A dark brown puma, backlighted by a strong sun, could appear all black, or very dark, and he accepted that. Mt Lions in WV, NY, and PA - Hoot Hollow 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. "People think they can get them declawed and that they're safe, but they still have teeth.". Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. He said he'd never forget the sighting, but it was only when he saw another, a few months ago, in daylight, from his cabin, that he decided it was time to tell someone. I don't know if a Game Commission authority has actually said this or not, but people I've spoken to have reported this. Officially extinct, mountain lions still haunt the Adirondacks Let me know if you have seen one! Hopefully, we'll see the real thing. Interestingly, the US Fish and Wildllife Service has declared the Eastern Puma extinct, except for the Florida population known as the Florida panther. They once inhabited the entire United States, but were killed off and pushed west. Then there is Rocky. If it were, it would be listed. All rights reserved (About Us). The skeleton was reassembled at the State Museum, where it has been on display ever since. 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. In personal contacts, that monthly average might even be higher. redo these pages to match the new web site But that's not People can manipulate, enhance or combine photos and then create their own stories about the subject's origin, location and even identification. If there were wild cougars in our midst, the Game Commission also pointed out, eventually there would be solid evidence such as a carcass, scat and paw prints that could be verified. The Pennsylvania Game Commission is always open to review evidence, but to date only hoaxes have crossed the PGC. Although a large proportion of the Lenape Nation was dispersed far from their ancestral homelands in the 18th century, colonial settlers and their descendants struggled to live in this region with wolves and cougars inhabiting the forests. "They are very strong animals," she said. Scientists debate whether the large prehistoric mammals became extinct at the end of the Ice Age due to over-hunting, or rapid climate warming. 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.