Cougars roaming WNY's Southern Tier

Sparky

Sparky

New member
I received an email from a friend of a friend of friend ect.... Anyway, (from the email):
"This is NO joke. I personally know the person who took these photos.
{name deleted}was at the hunting camp in Hornell NY the weekend of Jan 24, the weekend we had the big snowstorm. She has cats and noticed something had been cleaning out all the food on the deck and in the storage shed.
That sunday a rep from the DEC confirmed it was a Cougar. He said there is at least10 cougars living between Hornell, Corning NY to Wellsboro PA."

Can anyone confirm any other sightings or the DEC comments?
Just curious....

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I have a confirmation on that. I called one in on Feb.3 in Dansville, N.Y. I posted pics of the tracks on another site but didn't want to say cougar.("There aren't mt. lions in N.Y.") The distance between bounds avgd. 14-18 ft with one leap @ 21+ ft.It cleared a 35 acre field in about 5.2 seconds with 10" of snow on the ground..(WAY too fast to get a shot off. LOL) .Some locals said the DEC released 2 in the State Lands(real hush-hush) and there are 5 known to be in that general area. Quite the adrenaline rush when you're expecting a fox!
 
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I saw John I's pics. They were the real deal. No bobcat making those tracks. Also, had track confirmations and sightings here in Fulton County. They are definitely around.....
 
I'll be up in that neck of the woods, at our camp, next weekend. I'll be thinking of that cat while I'm on the way to the outhouse. Geez that gives me the creeps.
 
Free trip to jail or not (dont know the regs up there) but if I saw a cat like that on my porch it wouldnt be long for him to be on my wall. Without a doubt I would be defending my life because I would probably be near having a heart attack!
 
It's not a NY story guys, but I have a friend who took similar pics, only videos, of a Cougar eating catfood out of a dish on his back porch in the Blue Ridge mtns, near Roanoke, Va. Also a landowner shot one about 4 miles from my place in Bath County, Va last March, it had been killing his sheep.
Evidently, intentionally or not, they're getting a foothold up and down the Appalachians.
 
Those are some great pics! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grinning-smiley-003.gif I heard as well , that DEC has released some of them here in NY...I would love to see one in the wild.
 
It's very important that the NYS DEC get these pictures. Last Saturday I was at a Rural Landowner Conference and Dan Dougherty a biologist who deals with Bears in region 9 (WNY) from the DEC did a presentation on Bears. The question was asked again about cougars and once again, there is no offical dec release or stocking program whatsoever. This biologist said that the DEC MUST have several public hearings throughout the state before they can introduce a species. They are either ranging through from other areas or they are escaped pets. I hope the local game warden was notified.
 
Great pics.

Back in 2000, there was one killed right over the TN state line in GA( about 30 minutes from my house). It weighed over 150#, it was all over the news and in the papers.

Also with talking to some of the oled timers that used to hunt these MTNs over here, say that they have always been there, and there is a pretty good population of them.
Yet I have never seen one, Can't wait till I do though.
 
I personally know 2 different guys who have seen them in WV.
Yet WV DNR says no way! But then when coyotes first started appearing WV DNR said no way! LOL

Both of the guys I know who saw them are well known to me and are not liers.
My dad told me just yesterday a guy he knows ran into 2 wimmin that said they just saw one! Said the wimmins eyes were as big as saucers and they were all excited.
I tend to think yes there may be some in WV.
My dad added he has NEVER even seen a bobcat yet we have quite a few around here my dads 81 years old.
So that proves just because someone hasn't seen something doesn't mean theres not any around.We live on a farm and my dads still active and "out and about" everyday.
 
Don't be blaming your DNR in any state for dumping these things. We can thank the bunny huggers and folks who think they can handle these things as pets.Even sorry sapsuckers that call themselves responsible hunters are releasing animals to help spread the good hunting around /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif. The JACKASSES releasing hogs around this state are doing irrepairable harm whether they know it or not and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Diseases such as brucelosis could destroy the deer herd as well as the elk herd we are trying to establish. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

And no , none of us can shoot a big cat unless your are in iminant danger. They are protected by the endangered species act because they don't know for absolute certain that these cats aren't all easterrn cougar. They have known of a few resident populations or suspected them for a long time but with the sizes of territories they can't confirm this. So help protect them unless they cause a problem to the public.

I intend to check out a reliable source of info on this very subject right here in western Ky. I have known several members of this farming family for a long time and believe the rumor to be true. I intend to find out for myself since the drainage they are on is connected to the area I live in.If it is true they are living in a series of wildlife sanctuaries, just the kind of place these pet owners are releasing them into. Places where hunting is limited or not allowed. Jimmie
 
Sparky,you say these photos were taking the weekend of Jan. 24th of this year? I swear i have seen these same photos on the internet well over a year ago. I think they may even have been posted on this site before also. At one time i think they were claimed to be photos taken in PA.

Maybe someone else remembers seeing them also,and can chime in.

Anyway,i do beleive they are running around NY AND PA. I have a place not far from Wellsboro PA. The big question though is: Are they just escaped or released pets? Or is there an actual wild breeding population of them now here in the Mid Atlantic,North East area of the United States?

*PaCoyotenut*
 
I believe if they will come up to a house like the pics show it would have to be a pet. A wild couger is not that stupid in my opinion.
 
Has to be a released or escaped pet. No way a wild cougar would stand on the porch and eat dry cat foot. If there are cougars in the northeast then they are most likely escaped pets.
 
Great pictures! I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia (not to far from Roanoke), and I know several people who have seen cougars but I have never been lucky enough see one. Those pictures kinda make you glance at your deck every time you go to the kitchen.
 
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