Mysterious mountain lion killed in Connecticut

Yahoo ^ | 6-12-2011 | By Lauren Keiper

[Islander7]

BOSTON (Reuters) – A mountain lion was killed just 70 miles from New York City early on Saturday morning, and officials were trying to determine if it was the same big cat spotted a week ago roaming the posh suburb of Greenwich, Connecticut.

The 140-pound mountain lion was hit by a small SUV on a highway in Milford, Connecticut, early Saturday morning, and died from its injuries. The driver was unhurt, officials said.

With no native mountain lion population in the state, "it's possible and even likely" it is the same enormous cat with a long tail spotted last weekend in the New York City suburb some 30 miles away, said Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Dennis Schain.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

We have seen lots of bears and coyotes (actually a coyote wolf hybrid) and no one denies they exist. I have personally seen a bobcat and we are in its “officially” recognized range, although bobcat sightings hereabouts are rare. There was a report of a mountain lion sighting (by a couple of police responding to a complaint) about a mile from me in 2003, but I think it was actually a bobcat, which is scary enough. There is a lot of undeveloped conservation land around here and several square miles of what was once part of the Army Natick Lab that was contaminated during World War II and been closed to visitors ever since.

One thing I have never seen was cougar. There have been reports of mountain lion sightings in Western Massachusetts repeatedly over the years, but I tended to dismiss them. Now I am not so sure.

[Finny]

My other guess is that no wildlife official wants to declare a population of lions in their state, since it possibly might create a nightmare of endangered species regulations. Best not to attract the attention of those people.

Yep. Good point. The wildlife officials sound down-to-earth sensible to me. Lions? We don't have no steenking lions! Thumbs up to them. :^)

[Tijeras_Slim]

My buckshot preference is #1 in a 16 gauge. 12 .30 caliber balls as compared to 9 #00 (.33 caliber) in a 12 gauge. The 16 gauge charge actually weighs more, due to how the slightly smaller balls stack in the hull.

Plus, I’m a shotgun geek/snob.

[Finny]

I kind of think bobcats are the critters most responsible for getting domestic cats. Coyotes can't go where cats can go, but a bobcat can go pretty much anywhere.

They're all cats. The same attributes and instincts and even skull structure of Sylvester black-and-white American shorthair or a nice little tabby, exist in every other cat from bob to couger. Cats are natural stealth critters as well as being pretty smart, so there are probably a lot more bobcats and even cougars than folks suspect.

[DefeatCorruption]

Sad kitty ping

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Yes, indeed. Very sad.

[mad_as_he$$]

CRAP!! A lion attacked a small boy 6 miles from where I am sitting about 5 years ago. One was captured 1/2 mile from the Capitol Building in Carson City 10 years ago. I killed one in the middle of 5 acre ranchettes 11 years ago while it was dining on sheep.

[tanknetter]

The comments are priceless. People are reporting seeing cougars, bears, and coyotes all along eastern seaboard states despite 'officials' flatly denying they exist.

I'm from CT, a little closer in towards NYC than Milford but also a ways inland from the Sound. Years ago (like maybe 15 years) I *know* I saw a mountain lion cross behind my car as I was driving on Rt.136 from Westport to Monroe late one evening. I saw movement off in the woods to my front left, thinking it was a deer I slowed down as I passed the point of movement and saw what was obvious a big cat cross the road in my rearview mirror.

The once you get inland from the shoreline communities (so basically North of the Merritt Parkway East of Danbury) CT is very heavily wooded and undeveloped. There's no way that "the authorities" have any clue about what's lurking up there. Especially when it comes to animals that are known to have good-sized ranges and territories.

[woofer]

Recently local ranchers have lost livestock to wolves where the Fish and Wildlife Dept says there are no wolves. It happens.

Talk to any cattle or sheep rancher in Wyoming about wolves, cougar or coyotes and they hiss. Like this: SSS

Which could also mean "Shoot, Shovel and Shut up"

[avg_freeper]

The first time I saw that vid on AoS HQ I thought: now she would be a perfect match for double complete rainbow dude.

Seriously, somebody should get those two together.

[Fawn]

That is sad...was hoping they could find it and relocate...poor things...

[Fawn]

She’s an actress wannabee and has done other weird videos....

[mickey finn]

In Oregon the cougar population exploded after they voted to ban the use of dogs when hunting them. They are usually taken incidentally by hunters pursuing other game. It is not unusual for the cougar to be shot while they are sneaking up behind the hunters while they are calling in game. Several years ago a fisherman in Washington with a large salmon flung over his back was pounced by a hungry cat.

Recently Oregon Dept. of Fish and Wildlife announced that they wanted to reduce the population in the state by half (from about 5500 to 2500).

[puppypusher]

Wilson said mountain lions like to hunt in the shadows and it would be a very remote chance to encounter the cat.

Yea! it would be that remote chance that you would end up on the cats menu.

[patton]

One got stuck on an orax, out at WSMR.

[ottbmare]

I am in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. I can hear a cougar scream at night when I’m out with my horse. I have lived in the Rockies and know what a real mountain lion sounds like, and it’s not like anything else; there’s no mistaking it. The cat is in the Patuxent River State Park.

About ten years ago the security cameras at AOL headquarters in heavily built-up suburban Reston, VA, recorded a lion walking casually across the employee parking lot.

[conservaterian]

Cougars in my area seem to like young human males, 18-25 years old or so.

[pingman]

They don’t make ‘em the way they used to; thank goodness!

[DouglasKC]

The eastern mountain lion was officially declared extinct earlier this year, prompting authorities to suspect the animal spotted in the urban jungle of the New York City metropolitan area, had either escaped or was released from captivity..

lol..same thing in Michigan. People have shots of cougars from their deer cameras...yet the DNR says the same thing...escaped or released from captivity. Clearly they're multiplying because nothing is hunting them.

[PIF]

In Oregon the cougar population exploded

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The cougar population has exploded on match.com as well...

[patton]

hmmmm - I have one of those, Just got his first job. post-college.

Hope the cougers ignore him.