Those cats for which DNA evidence was recovered had come east from South Dakota, part of the known, modern-day, U.S. mountain lion range. One of these days, though, I'll get one that won't be, and I hope that will be soon. Well, right behind our property lies a mountain ridge, one of several that makes a continuous forest that extends, with little interruption, for scores of miles in three directions. Martinelli said that if there were mountain lions in Pennsylvania, there would be more sightings of them. YouTubes privacy policy is available here and YouTubes terms of service is available here. Mountain Lions do remain in the western states and there is evidence that in 2011, a mountain lion migrated about 1,500 miles from South Dakota to Connecticut where it was killed by a. (570) 325-3229. But the point of this article isn't whether or not mountain lions exist in Pennsylvania or the Poconos. They're common in the rural areas of the Lehigh Valley but are moving into more populated areas as evidenced by a 600-pound specimen (pictured) that was tranquilized in March after neighbors in. No evidence has ever been produced to support those charges. I have not spoken with a Game Commission officer personally, so I don't know whether anyone killing a puma in Pennsylvania could do so without legal repercussions. These creatures lurking in Pa.'s woods can hurt or kill you Mountain lions' canines are 3 to 4 inches long. Several populations of Gray Squirrels scattered around the country are black, and recently I heard of a neighborhood of black Eastern Chipmunks. "From three really reliable sources who are always around the woods from Monroe County to Bradford, there is no doubt that there are mountain lions in Pennsylvania," East Stroudsburg University football team offensive coordinator and avid hunter Mike Terwilliger said. Now, if there were any escapes, and if any of these bred with a possible minuscule number of eastern pumas, a relic native population, wouldn't the gene pool be corrupted? Biologists who investigate these reports claim that several may, indeed, be mountain lions, but most likely they're animals that have escaped from captivity or have been released by their owners. I regularly ask hunters and outdoors people if they've ever seen a mountain lion, or know of anyone that has. September 21st, 2008, 08:14 PM #74. With that hope in mind, I have, for years, asked outdoors people if they ever heard of a mountain lion, or puma, in their area -- with my questioning limited to people in my home state of Pennsylvania. Most nature magazines state whether the photos were taken "under controlled conditions" rather than in the wild.). Over the last few years I've done several Questions of the Month regarding Mountain Lions, or Pumas as they should properly be called, in the Mid-Atlantic States and in Pennsylvania. But this one was black, and he knows mountain lions are some variant of brown. The reintroduction of mountain lions into South Dakota is one of the great wins of modern conservation. On some investigations, Foster has teamed up with Stacey Griffiths, who started the Central PA Mountain Lion Sightings page earlier this year. Each year, over tha past five, I've spoken with at least one person who swears they personally saw a puma in this state. While the chances that I'll ever see a puma in Pennsylvania myself are virtually zero, I'm always on the alert -- for the bobcat I've never seen in Pa., for a fisher, bear, deer, red salamander, toad, or snake, and yes, I'm always hoping that I too will become one of those who saw something that officially cannot exist within the state, a puma I know I saw but, of course, could not have! Would these ridges be declared off-limits for hunting? One of the important things for any animal is a place to call home. I was heading up the road and I saw an animal with a long tail.". Apparently, this picture was really making the rounds. And yet today the debate continues: Are there mountain lions in Pennsylvania? Where they always here as a relic population? It's sort of like big foot, some people say they've seen him.". Let me know if you have seen one! All of the above are Mountain Lions, or Pumas, or Cougars. Caribou remains, dated by radiocarbon in excess of 10,000 B.C. The mountains and isolated forests of the state allow these large cats to live their lives without encountering humans very often. Some have even reported seeing a "black panther," a near-impossibility because of the rarity of that recessive gene. In Michigan, there has been multiple sightings of 'black panthers,' animals that were thought to be mountain lions, or pumas, except that they were black. Phineas Teeple of Manchester Township is thought to have killed the last wolf in Wayne County. Every year we receive a few similar reports from hikers, hunters or other outdoor enthusiasts. He said he'd never forget the sighting, but it was only when he saw another, a few months ago, in daylight, from his cabin, that he decided it was time to tell someone. The last native mountain lion known to be killed in Pennsylvania is on display in the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg. (What is meant by "heads" is not clear.). Colorado and California have the highest estimated populations of mountain lions in the United States. Please keep scrolling - ALL the Puma posts are included. There is also a small population of cougars in Florida. Fish and Wildlife Service. On the other hand, there are probably thousands of game cameras covering water holes and game trails throughout Pennsylvania, and to my knowledge no one has yet recorded a puma. Here's more about mountain lions in Pennsylvania: If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. Like Arizona, New Mexico is the perfect home for mountain lions. Eastern mountain lion officially declared extinct - pennlive.com So, couldn't that same argument apply to pumas in the Northeast? More conclusive evidence is needed: Keep your cameras handy. "The day will come," he said, "when someone will pull the trigger on a mountain lion.". Of course, the writer's comments were hearsay, but it does make sense. Perhaps one or more of these Pocono sightings represent early pioneers reclaiming their former territories. On that, I've had emails sent with game trail photo attachments, or killed pumas, supposedly shot in Pennsylvania, but these were hoaxes. A Mountain Lion Cover Up He's a hunter, a woodsman, and he's seen a lot of game, so I can believe he saw a back-lighted puma. Is there a Mountain Lion Conspiracy? I believe that the folks that are reporting, in detail, their sightings are faced with a similar situation. Here in central Pennsylvania we live on the outskirts of what one puma-tracking website has as almost the high point of sightings, extending from north-central Pennsylvania in a southwestern diagonal that extends into the mountains of West Virginia. I asked our Game officials about evidence, and they cite no road kills. Send it to me at mkuhns@poconorecord.com. Just take your pick of all these incredible Pocono lake house rentals or just a Pocono cabin for rent, in luxury of course! Check out our online field guide to read more in this series. Discover the Little-Known U.S. River Gorge That's, The 9 Best Books About National Parks for Travelers, mountain lions seem to be making a comeback. Mountain lions are 7-9 feet, while bobcats are 3 feet long. If mountain lions are discovered in PA anytime soon they'll either be big foot's pets or genetically engineered and released by the DCNR to cull the orangu-bear population. About half of the state of Montana is ideal for mountain lions, primarily in her western and central regions. Mary saw the photo, too, and she immediately agreed, it was a puma. They mostly live in the far western Trans-Pecos region of the state, where they can freely roam 50,000 to 80,000 acres of land. Although size can be difficult to determine in the field, a puma will be three or four times larger than a bobcat. While there have been no confirmed occurrences of mountain lions in Pennsylvania since the late 1800s, dozens . Caribou meat apparently was part of their diet. RelatedBigfoot, mountain lions, and other mythical creatures: PA officials discuss what they know. I've looked in the PGC game laws booklet and saw nothing on this, which I guess you could conclude means a puma would not be legal to shoot. These cubs are born blind and helpless. "While it seems unlikely, it's not impossible that these animals are showing up in PA," said David Foster, a biology professor at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg. It is almost safe to say that the panther has in these parts become extinct, Goodrich wrote. They are there to help us. The large tracts of untouched rocky land and bighorn sheep populations make for pristine mountain lion habitat. "I kind of doubt they saw a cougar, but I'm not God.". Can so many people be wrong? Remember, this one was photographed in Arizona in good puma country, although this was the first one I've recorded there. If you can figure out how to travel far back in time for even a day, get lots of wildlife photos, as the rest of us might never believe your story. One came to her as the result of an owner's divorce. Wishful thinking? There is no known estimate of the number of mountain lions inhabiting Texas. The coat can be spotted or solid. That solution: Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up. I'm wondering, then, if the complete dismissal of sightings of Eastern pumas (other than the acknowledgement of released or escaped pets) isn't motivated by economics. "People think they can get them declawed and that they're safe, but they still have teeth.". An animal's coat can stray far from the norm. They know what they saw, regardless of what the facts say, and they know they saw a puma. "If there was mountain lions in Pennsylvania), I think we'd be getting reports from farmers and people with pets that there were attacks on their animals," Martinelli said. I've seen about 20 mountain lions, or pumas, in the field, but all but 2 were in Chile. "It was in Worthington State Forest just across the Delaware River from Smithfield Beach). Would a puma then qualify as a native species? Mountain Lion Habitat in Tennessee - ArcGIS StoryMaps I have three observations here: 1. In 2011, a confirmed mountain lion was killed by a vehicle in Connecticut and which had been determined that it had wandered east from the Mid-West. Asa Packer Mansion Jim Thorpe. On that note, I was speaking with a Fed Ex driver recently who told me that one of his colleagues had seen what he swore was a dead mountain lion on the side of a road. The Pocono Mountains, commonly referred to as the Poconos / p o k n o z /, are a geographical, geological, and cultural region in Northeastern Pennsylvania.They overlook the Delaware River and Delaware Water Gap to the east, Lake Wallenpaupack to the north, Wyoming Valley and the Coal Region to the west, and the Lehigh Valley to the south.
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