What the Lenape Indians never did, the European colonists and their descendants did swiftly eradicate the wolf and cougars viewed as a menace to their families and livestock. The mountain lion is a large, slender cat, with a long rope-like tail. The head of the puma is small in comparision to a house cat when compared to the entire body. What is the Kiboko backpack? In only one report had an official from the Pennsylvania Game Commision, a local warden, actually agree with the person reporting the sighting. Mountain lions typically eat about one deer per week, along with other smaller prey as the opportunity arises. It's sort of like big foot, some people say they've seen him.". Several populations of Gray Squirrels scattered around the country are black, and recently I heard of a neighborhood of black Eastern Chipmunks. With the Great Lakes in its way, the cat moved either north or south of the water, and the latter route would have seen it pass through at least some of Pennsylvania. The other three images are from my file, selected to most closely approximate the pose of the cat from the game camera. He's sitting in a plastic doghouse, paws crossed, amber eyes locked on the two men ticking him off by their mere presence out beyond the fence. Good luck, and let me know! Two other reports went, in detail, on what they saw, the size, the length of tail, etc. Luxury Cabin Rentals: Pocono Mountain Getaways | Glamping Hub Unless I am only dealing with a lot of delusional people with little judgment, something is out there. I receive about one email or phone call a month, on average, from people that I do not know who are contacting me because their sighting compelled them to do a Google search on puma sightings, and they found my site and previously posted questions. I've read a lot about this, and the usual explanation is the very human desire to see something, to see what someone wants to see, and thus these people are seeing bobcats or brown cats or dogs or foxes and, because they 'want' to see a puma, they do. "The day will come," he said, "when someone will pull the trigger on a mountain lion.". The Poconos is a mountain area in northeastern Pennsylvania.It is 2,400 square miles of wooded mountains and valleys full of beautiful lakes, rivers, forests and wildlife. A dark brown puma, backlighted by a strong sun, could appear all black, or very dark, and he accepted that. I spend a lot of time outdoors, and I've seen about 10 black bears in Pennsylvania, and all within ten miles of my home. Although there was no evidence that the 2011 mountain lion ever set foot in Pennsylvania, DNA evidence confirmed that it had been both west and east of the state. Like Arizona, New Mexico is the perfect home for mountain lions. Erosion from glacial melt and violence glaciers did to the land left a. The 'look' is from my The northeastern U.S. population is thought to have disappeared in the 1930s. The states beautiful wilderness and mountainous terrain are prime mountain lion habitats. Perhaps my Fed Ex driver was simply recalling a rural legend, but he said it was an employee that he knew, and it was a story he heard first-hand. At the end of the last Ice Age, many animals in Pennsylvania died out. If we continue to be bombarded with manipulated photos and untrue claims in most cases by people who just want to get attention then we may be very resistant to accepting the "real McCoy" if or when) one finally arrives. On some investigations, Foster has teamed up with Stacey Griffiths, who started the Central PA Mountain Lion Sightings page earlier this year. I'm a photographer, yet I've never had a chance to snap a photograph of one of these bears. A phantom creature has been sighted in the vast Delaware State Forest region of Pike County. They often would catch sheep in broad daylight. And how many would let them go, or provide an opportunity for escaping? What does a Mountain Lion look like on a game camera? Caribou remains, dated by radiocarbon in excess of 10,000 B.C. Mountain lions have a lifespan of about 8 to 13 years old in the wild. Is there a correct position for the upright on a Wimberley actionhead. This happens usually around the 18-month mark. Activities Milford Things To Do Hotels Map Of Activities Delaware Water Gap Hotels Bushkill Lake Harmony Hawley Skytop Tannersville Pocono Mountains Counties About the Poconos Pocono Mountains History Weather Area Services . Known as the Niagara Falls of Pennsylvania, there are four trails that lead to the cascades from the Bushkill Falls trailhead, each ranging in . Many of the reports I receive are extremely credible. Although a large proportion of the Lenape Nation was dispersed far from their ancestral homelands in the 18th century, colonial settlers and their descendants struggled to live in this region with wolves and cougars inhabiting the forests. It has long been popular with honeymooners, but today the Poconos are a popular destination for families, skiers, adventure seekers, NASCAR fans, and those from urban areas around New England, New York City, Philadelphia . An animal's coat can stray far from the norm. They are there to help us. The cat is known to live in the western U.S. and Florida, South America and Canada. Mountain lions' canines are 3 to 4 inches long. There had been 17 other mastodon finds in Pennsylvania up to 1968, but all were fragmentary. The mountain lion, which is also called a cougar, puma or panther, weighs on average between 75-120 pounds, has long whiskers and a distinctive swooping tail. That solution: Shoot, Shovel, and Shut Up. Furthermore, a different set of photos showed a "mountain lion" dragging a deer into the woods in Bradford County. He wrote that not being a roving animal, the mountain lion was much sooner destroyed than the wolf, and he said that if there were any left, it would have to be in the most desolate places in the county. Martinelli said that if there were mountain lions in Pennsylvania, there would be more sightings of them. That's significant because, in states where mountain lions live, they're often struck by vehicles or otherwise found dead. Sadly, the hunting guidelines for cougars in Idaho are lax, with 400-600 cats being killed each year. 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. The next day, the photo disappeared from the site. Foster said mountain lions and bobcats could not breed. You know, the Penn State Nittany Lions.". He saw a big cat. Erosion from glacial melt and violence glaciers did to the land left a great litter of boulders, rocks, clay and lakes covering today's landscape. Hunting is legal in the state, but it is heavily controlled and restricted. I regularly ask hunters and outdoors people if they've ever seen a mountain lion, or know of anyone that has. The last documented sighting of an eastern cougar was one killed in Maine in 1938. According to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, there are no wild, breeding cougar populations in this state anymore. I could fill pages recounting the eye-witness reports I've heard, and for every report critics could certainly say 'but there's no physical evidence!' That summer, a team from the State Museum of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg excavated the nearly complete skeleton of the ancient elephant, the first of its kind found in the Commonwealth. "They're getting a lot of that out west. Some outdoor enthusiasts insist they have seen the big cats here and believe them to be naturally occurring, native animals. I have received about two dozen reports during that time, including one. Did they migrate south from Canada? Do elk live in Pennsylvania? The last known mountain lion in Pennsylvania was killed in Berks County in 1874. The State Museum of Pennsylvania, in Harrisburg, displays a taxidermy mount of a mountain lion in glass case, with the notation, "This lion, found near Hawk Mountain in Berks County around 1871, is the last native mountain lion known to have been shot in Pennsylvania.". Most, quite honestly, don't know or can't believe or accept what they saw, they really can't believe their eyes. In August, Amy Walters said her 12-year-old son was spooked by a mountain lion in Forest County in northwest Pennsylvania while riding his dirt bike. Although size can be difficult to determine in the field, a puma will be three or four times larger than a bobcat. Mountain Lions - Rocky Mountain National Park (U.S. National Park Service) There's a saying that "things aren't always what they appear to be." Additionally, California banned the hunting of cougars back in 1972, encouraging population growth. Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. What would account for the long tails? The bones were found perfectly preserved. Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania - Hoot Hollow Are there pumas, or mountain lions, in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic States? The photographer had no reason to stage the shot -- indeed, the composition and background was terrible, and not what you'd expect for something staged, but the shot wasn't perfectly clear. Most of the native mountain lions live in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Park, but humans rarely ever see them due to their secretive nature. The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Advance Local. After a gestation period of 90 days, female mountain lions will give birth to litters of about one to six cubs. But more and more people in Pennsylvania, from the Alleghenies to the Poconos to rolling farmlands in York County, claim they are seeing the big cats here, even though the state's "last" native lion, also known as a cougar or puma, was shot and killed in Berks County in 1871 and the feds have declared the Eastern subspecies extinct. Mountain Lion Habitat in Tennessee - ArcGIS StoryMaps Leap transferred ownership rights to the state. If there were wild cougars in our midst, the Game Commission also pointed out, eventually there would be solid evidence such as a carcass, scat and paw prints that could be verified. Have all of those who have seen a puma really seen a bobcat? In captivity mountain, lions can live to be about 20 years old. More conclusive evidence is needed: Keep your cameras handy. Is there a Puma conspiracy? 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. Are they all the product of the off-spring of pumas that escaped their owners or were released? DCNR gave the following as examples: the saber-tooth cat; a small, three-toed horse; the Pleistocene beaver, and the mastodon. Most nature magazines state whether the photos were taken "under controlled conditions" rather than in the wild.). 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. It is almost safe to say that the panther has in these parts become extinct, Goodrich wrote. Many have a desire to see some clear-cut evidence. It had been captured in Florida, and was to be released. Bushkill Falls Trail. Certainly it is a romantic notion, but I've always held out the hope that pumas still roamed the east. However, it is clearly a mountain lion, and I'm presenting this poor image as a baseline reference for anyone recording a mountain lion on a game camera, or seeing one. But many others believe wild mountain lions are traveling from Western states, where as many as 30,000 could exist, and across the Midwest to Pennsylvania seeking new territory. None of these sightings has been authenticated, and many of them, including a recent, alleged mountain lion picked up on a surveillance camera in Lackawanna County, turned out to be bobcats. It will happen eventually. With healthy populations and strong conservation programs, however, they seem to be pushing back east. And this genetic mix has been recognized, and the Florida puma is still protected. Angel, her African lioness who snarls at strangers, is a big girl. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. Mountain lions thrive there due to the high elk population, dense forests, and isolated mountain ranges. Hoax photo doesn't help believability of mountain lions in Poconos An escapee is also possible. As the latest hoaxed photo of a mountain lion supposedly killed in Pennsylvania died a slow death on Facebook yesterday, the head of an organization tracking the eastern movements of the big cats was preparing a presentation for a Pennsylvania audience tonight. Unfortunately, their web site no longer seems active, and has been taken over by some wacky drug product. "I kind of doubt they saw a cougar, but I'm not God.". Are there Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania and the mid-Atlantic States? Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. Mountain lions that are looking for new breeding areas are known as transient and are almost always males. The Pocono Mountains are . 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! And when our officers go out to investigate reports of mountain lions, or when our staff reviews photos that are sent to us, often we're able to verify some other animal mistakenly was reported as a mountain lion.". Illinois can also now be added to this list a mountain lion was found on the outskirts of Chicago. Over the last two years I have occasionally posted a Question of the Month soliciting sightings from people who believed that they have seen a mountain lion in Pennsylvania or in other areas in the mid-Atlantic states. Mountain lions are well-established in 14 western states and have also recently been confirmed in 10 Midwestern states: Nebraska, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Michigan and Wisconsin.
