If you think about it realistically, there is really nothing major stopping large cats from thriving in the eastern US. We have lots of wooded areas with deer, coyotes, foxes, groundhogs, etc… All good food sources for large cats. In addition, Bobcats (which range in size from 30-40 pounds on average) are a common animal in the Southeast. We have them here in the Raleigh area. Folks living in rural areas especially near wooded state park land will see them on their property somwhat regularly.
I know your friend probably doesn’t want to tango with a large cat, but collecting some footprint information and/or scat could help garnet some attention for the sighting.
It’s highly unlikely that cougars were purposely put into the ecosystem. Even the dumbest of people would realize how quickly that could wreck the ecosystem. If they are going to migrate in, it should be on their own accord. It’s more likely that some idiot was keeping it illegally at it’s house until it go too big and dangerous so he let it go, or it escaped from captivity. In that case, unless it finds a mate, a population will obviously not be able to grow. Same thing with the solitary roaming cats from other regions that have been confirmed. They die off without ever re-producing and nothing ever comes of it.
That is NOT a bobcat. Looks like a mountain lion based on color. It’s hard to tell from the picture how big it is though. That’s really what will determine the exact species of cougar.
yeah it’s synonymous or whatever. though, I thought i recalled that all eastern large cats were considered cougars and that mountain lion, puma, etc… was species of cougars. looks like that’s not correct though.
It looks more like a lynx to me, but that’s more than likely a bobcat. They reintroduced lynx back in the late 80’s in the NE Adirondack’s. Bobcat are pretty widespread in upstate NY. I saw one hiking when I was about 13.
I remember reading somewhere that actual/literal cougars do not exist in the USA but mountian lions do of course. I am not sure what the difference is.
Apparently there are idiots out there that want to repopulate the entire East Coast with these things because of the white tailed deer population problem. Fuck that noise… these things are way more dangerous than black bears.
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/6980.html
People who observe lynx or evidence of lynx in New York can help by observing carefully and contacting a DEC office or emailing us at fwwildlf@gw.dec.state.ny.us to report their observation. Reports are most helpful if they include details such as specific time, location, and features of the animal or track. Size, coloration, and behavior of the animal are important. For tracks, note the size, shape, length and width between individual footprints, and snow or soil conditions.
