5{e've had big-cat sightings... tracks... in Beckett, MA. It's even more hospitable cougar territory than northwestern CT. Yet with all the hoopla... no solid evidence has ever been brought forth.
I find an NJ sighting as somewhat... absurd.
Northwest NJ, which is almost identical terrain to western MA and CT, has had cougar sightings for years. 14 years ago I saw a mother and one young myself on the "Tennessee pipeline" in NW most NJ. People have been speculating the cats are travelling the pipeline corridor south.