Do cougars live in New Jersey?

Answer 1

It depends on WHO you ask! If you ask people who have seen them,people that have seen tracks or that have heard them then yes there are mountain lions back in New York. If you ask the great NYDEC they are not around NY. I have a relitive that lives in Addison NY that has photos of one on their back deck looking in their screen door. There was a farmer in Newfield NY that had one that was bothering his cows so he shot it and the DEC still denies that this has ever taken place. So like i said it depends on who you ask.

My wife and i were walking on some railroad tracks on 8-19-08 and seen the front and rear paw prints. After we got home and looked them up we found that they were indeed mountain lion tracks.If we were to see one and reported it we would be told that it was not a mountain lion,it was probably a bobcat.

I think the official position of the NY DEC is that they have no verifyable proof mountain lions are here. They stop short of saying they are not here but would probably add something to the effect "if one is here it is unlikely to be naturally here on it's own".

Where I live in the Catskills is a perfect area for them and although I have never seen one I have friends who I honestly believe have. Black bears are making an amazing come back and I see them daily. There is no reason the lions could not return other than human interference. The deer heard is declining but Coyote's are howling outside my window now while a very large bear just walked through my yard.

In 2004 I was driving south on I-684 between exits 4 and 3 (Town of Bedford, NY) and a mountain lion darted across the highway about 50 feet in front of the car. There is no doubt in my mind that this was a mountain lion, and not a bobcat. For one, the long tail, for another, it was about twice as long, and much lower to the ground than any bobcat I'd ever seen. I have not heard of any other sightings that far south.

--------

--- I think the above statement of the DEC position is pretty accurate. There is no evidence of sustainable mountain lion populations in NYS, but there have been escaped 'pets'. The animal described in the above sighting is probably a fisher. Fishers are essentially giant weasels, and their population in NYS has been increasing over the last 30 years. Specifically I think this is a fisher because it is:

1) LOWER to the ground than a bobcat - correct for fisher, incorrect for mountain lion.

2) the long tail. Fishers have beautiful long fluffy tails. Adult males are much larger than the females.

Many reported sightings in NYS are 'black cougar' or 'Black Panther'. Cougar are not black. Fishers, however, are very dark in color, and are not familiar to most people. People sometimes describe the animals as having a 'beautiful flowing motion' -- fishers also have a striking flowing gait, as you would see with an otter or mink. In areas with cougar populations, living cougars are almost never sighted. Generally it's dead ones, their kill, their feces, or tracks in the snow. This type of evidence hasn't turned up in NY.

-----

There is in fact a breeding population of mountain lions in New York. I have personally seen a mother with pups in Putnam County. I did not report the sighting to DEC. DEC will simply continue to say that there are none of these magnificent creatures in New York. The sad fact is that people are misinformed and afraid of these animals. Especially in the southern part of the state. There is even a rumor that DEC has intentionally introduced mountain lions in New York, but there is no evidence to support that.

New York is diverse and it's wildlife is no exception. Even in New York City the beaver is making a comeback. We have seen Bears in White Plains, Coyotes in Van Cortland Park, Whale at Orchard Beach, seals in NY Harbor, Moose all over Westchester. Why is it so far fetched to have Mountain Lions?

Eventually a pregnant female will be struck by a vehicle and that will be enough evidence for DEC to put them on the New York State Checklist. This is precisely what happened in 2001 in Indiana. The incident was the first confirmed sighting in over 500 years in the state.
Yes i have been hunting since i was 5 years old and for the last 4 or 5 years i have seen a mountain lion track on the trail i hunt on, but if you go to the DEC they will tell you we don't have any and if you see one its just traveling and it is very unlikely that it will stay in the area and they screwed themselves last year because they released three in the Catskill mountains and as far as i know one was shot the next day, but you have to know what they look like cause there are fishers who have long tails like the mountain lion and then bobcats are close to the same height.

I have a friend that saw one about 2 years ago. She still wont look under a deck because she was out sitting on her deck when she heard a noise. When she looked under there was a mountain lion about 10 feet from her.

Answer 2

There have been numerous reported sightings, but the official explanation from the New York State DEC is that they haven't existed in NYS in over 100 years. Many people claim that is BS and that there is a fairly large population of them in the Adirondack mountains. I have heard several people claim to have seen them near Batavia, Rochester, and in the southern tier of WNY.

Although many claim there are none, I am not sure why it is so hard to believe. First, this was natural territory for the mountain lion as little as 100 years ago. Ontario, Canada has verified that there are roughly 550-600 mountain lions living within its borders. This is verified by the Ontario wildlife association, a government agency, not some local wildlife people. Is it really that hard to believe that mountain lions would cross into New York State from Ontario? There is plenty of shared border for them to cross, and its not like they know they are crossing from one country to another or that they shouldn't be here.

I would be very surprised if verifiable proof of mountain lions in NYS is not found within a few years. The most common area is in the Adirondack Mountain region, and they have been all but verified by numerous wildlife biologists, hunters, and people living in the area, but not according to the NYS DEC.

Just remember they are the same people who claim there are no Brown Recluse Spiders in NYS either, yet multiple people have seen and been bitten by them in WNY alone, including myself sighting 2 today, one in my house.

Answer 3

No cougars do not live in new jersy they like where there are mountins