Posted on 08/17/2006 5:02:01 AM PDT by Marius3188
UPPER TOWNSHIP — The Township Committee is trying to determine whether mountain-lion sightings in the area are fact or phantom.
Mayor Richard Palombo this week publicly urged residents who have seen a large cat — maybe a mountain lion or a big bobcat — to notify the township's animal-control officer.
“At this point, we're making everyone alert about it. The animal-control officer is looking at it if anyone sees an animal,” the mayor said.
Liam Hughes, who handles animal control in parts of Atlantic and Cape May counties, said there are no confirmed lion sightings. Nor could anyone find scat or tracks, called pug marks.
But the lion stories persist.
“There are reports of it. Nothing positive,” Hughes said. “Did you see this? Did you hear this? There are credible people who believe they saw something.”
State Police in Woodbine and the Cape May County Park & Zoo are aware of the rumored sightings. The zoo is home to the county's one and only known mountain lion.
Hughes said a cougar could make a tidy living in Upper Township, home to the Great Cedar Swamp and its countless muskrats, rabbits, turkey and deer — all cougar favorites.
But could a large cat remain undetected in a suburban township such as Upper?
“Mountain lions are reclusive animals in general. They won't come out in daylight. They generally will stay away from people,” Hughes said.
The state Department of Environmental Protection fielded unsubstantiated reports of a mountain lion roaming Monmouth County this year, spokeswoman Darlene Youhas said. But there have been no confirmed sightings in New Jersey in more than a century, she said.
The big cats are known by many names, including panther, catamount, puma and cougar.
A state biologist who looked at photos of Woodbine horses that suffered scratches said the marks likely were made by a post, tree or other inanimate object, not a set of panther claws.
Hughes has handled his share of wildlife calls as Upper Township's animal-control officer. Most complaints concern thieving raccoons or skunks. But he has chased a peacock down Route 9 and secured a herd of peripatetic cows.
The idea of a large cat wandering northern Cape May County seems to have fired people's imaginations, Hughes said.
“There is an element of mystery to the animal. People are enthralled by large cats. There's definitely one part mystery, one part fear,” he said.
See a lion?
Upper Township's animal control officer can be reached at 609-399-0199.
To e-mail Michael Miller at The Press:
MMiller@pressofac.com
Lots of people think of New Jersey as nothing but refineries, but the Pine Barrens are a huge wilderness area (I always loved that episode of The Sopranos in which Chris and Paulie get lost in there...) Anyway, I don't think it's too far-getchged that cougers could have taken up habitat in the Pine Barrens....?
whoops: far-fetched.
I used to live in Litchfield Co., CT on 15 wooded acres. One winter morning, just after dawn, I saw a large cat-lookin' creature plodding though through about 1' of new snow about 30 or 40 yds from the back of my house. It was difficult to see 'cuz it was just into the tree line, but it was definitely a cat and was at least the size of a medium-sized dog. I still kick myself for not goin' out to look at its tracks.
Well...that cat will be dead soon.
The terrain in the Pine Barrens isn't 'cougar-country'... big cats need rocks... high rocks.
Could be. I bet the Pine Barrens has more hunting clubs per ten square miles than any other place in the country.
Who would have thought there is an "Upper NJ" in lower NJ. Not only that, but the highest point in southern NJ is Arney's Mount which is every bit of 100' above sea level. Most of southern NJ is flat as a pancake. Severely flat.
Not exactly true, they do tend to adapt to most terrains. Look at Florida, we have Panthers and such.
Back around 1960 I had a wild pheasant wander into my yard, much to my dog's delight. If I'd been looking the other way I'd have seen the Empire State Building quite clearly.
Nowadays you'd be hard put to find a tree that wasn't approved by a code officer over there.
However, Cape May county is another matter entirely. I see nothing at all odd about a big cat sneaking around down there, even in 2006. Only if he's letting folks see him I do question his judgment and maturity.
Having seen and heard one "painter" in the mountains of north Georgia, I might tend to agree ... but the Florida Panther evidently didn't get the message.
Funny, though, I can believe that there are cougars in NJ. Not counting the 'women' cougars of course.
What makes you think so? They're in suburban Northern Virginia. (Big cats, not rocks.) One was seen on the security video of the parking lot at AOL headquarters in highly-suburban Reston, Virginia several years ago.
Hey, whatever happened to those Russians anyway? They had terrible interior decorating.
Really!?!? Not at all surprised, given what I saw that one time.
Black Panthers are native to south FL... if you find them in NJ... they're working for Hillary. ;)
LOL!
I find an NJ sighting as somewhat... absurd.
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