The state wildlife agencies never seem to want to admit certain animals are present.
There have been mountain lion sightings in Ohio for years and they still won’t admit it here. One ran across the road in front of my car in the early 90’s in Indian Hill - a wooded Cincinnati suburb. Some friends in Blanchester, OH outside of Cincinnati have a pair that wanders around their property every so often and seen by many people in the county. I’ve read and heard of many other sightings.
They’d rather say each sighting is an “escaped exotic animal” than admit that they are here.
There are enough rural and wooded areas in Ohio for cougars to exist and rarely or never be seen. 30 years ago coyotes and black bears were unheard of and now coyotes are everywhere and black bear sightings are on the rise. As the cougar population increases I’m sure they will have eventually admit they exist here.
What I understand is IF they admit that these cats exist, then FISH & Game have to commit a portion of their budget to monitor, count, etc. them. That was the story someone from state government here in NH told me.
A male mountain lion was killed on the Merritt Parkway in Greenwich, CT a few years back. That is about 25 miles east of Manhattan Island NYC. They traced its DNA back to the Black Hills of SD. It was a young male on the prowl for a new territory.