Hype or is it possible that there has been a 2nd Cougar spotted in Connecticut?..........."As one who laments the loss of all that was once truly wild and awe-inspiring in New England and the Mid-Atlantic, I'd marvel at their return. They'd add more than a scratch of excitement to our great outdoors"

Another Mountain Lion Sighting in Greenwich

By P.J. DeCordova-Boyd

|  A day after one mountain lion was struck and killed in Milford, new mountain lion sightings were reported in Greenwich on Sunday.

The Department of Environmental Protection received a report at 8:30 a.m. from an anonymous caller who said there was a large cat in the area of exit 31 on the Merritt Parkway in Greenwich. A Greenwich family called police around 11:30 a.m. to report a large tan cat in the backyard of their John Street home. The family described the cat as a mountain lion.

DEP officials said they have no official proof of the sightings and believed the mountain lion originally spotted in Greenwich is the same one that was killed in Milford on Saturday, however they take the reports seriously. The original lion spotted was likely held in captivity and then escaped or was released, DEP officials said. The DEP is working with Greenwich officials to further investigate this incident. 

As officials investigate the sightings, someone created a "Mountain Lion of Greenwich" Facebook page and there us also a Conn Mountain Lion Twitter account.

___________________________________________________________________________

Every year, mountain lion sightings are reported in New England. Professional biologists, having heard countless unsubstantiated claims before, remain skeptical.
Mark Blazis


Are people reporting lions lying, or just plain mistaken? Stoking the controversy Saturday was the irrefutable killing of a cougar in Milton, Conn., a mere 70 miles from New York. But what does this road kill really prove?

The last confirmed mountain lion in Massachusetts was in 1858, when black-powder shooters achieved the final solution to this stock-raiding, deer-killing predator. Until this past weekend, there's been a mountain of questionable sightings, most convincingly refuted by bear and coon hounds, whose noses know best.

Eastern houndsmen make thousands of forays into suitable wild habitat every year. New Hampshire's Andy Savage asserts that if mountain lions really were here, hounds would have scented, trailed and treed several of them long ago, especially in the corridors connecting their present range. Whether in Maine, the White Mountains or the Appalachians, confirming prints, photos or additional road kills are tellingly absent.


Thousands of deer hunters' trail cameras, meanwhile, have produced no irrefutable evidence. Local farmers have never shot one protecting their livestock. Cows, sheep and goats surely would have irresistibly lured them in if they were present.


Should the many regional mountain lion reports then all be put in the same dubious-sightings categories as ghosts and space aliens — or even willful prevarications?

Today, even photo reports don't necessarily have credibility. Some provocative liars have been exposed using computers to fabricate Bigfoot-caliber evidence.


Many ask how so many reporters can be wrong. Amateurs frequently make misidentifications. Some years back, an Auburn woman was convinced that a submarine was in the pond behind her house. A water department representative answered her complaint and from her kitchen window saw the "periscope" — which turned out to be the head and neck of a cormorant, its body typically submerged.

Sometimes reporters just don't know their species. People spot rare "cranes" here every year. In most cases, they turn out to be common, great blue herons. But periodically, a real sandhill crane does show up. Not long ago, a crocodile was also reported in Auburn. The report was initially ignored by skeptical authorities who, only after repeated calls, actually found an American alligator that someone had released behind McDonald's. There's a human tendency to want to believe in the impossible and suspend our disbelief, and the occasional occurrence of a rarity promotes our willingness to never say never.

Not counting the June 11 highway kill in Connecticut, the closest confirmed mountain lion sightings up to now have come from Michigan in the North and Florida and Louisiana in the South. The big western cat is undeniably spreading thinly east, as an expanding national deer population of 25-30 million is setting the table for their nutritional needs. Confirmed reports have come from Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin — basically states west of the Mississippi.

But one other non-confirmed local cougar report does have substantial credibility. Retired state wildlife photographer Jack Swedberg recently confided how he and a Quabbin forester independently observed a mountain lion about 30 years ago on Prescott Peninsula. Swedberg couldn't get his camera out fast enough then to confirm his sighting. But even if he did, what would that have proven? What do the occurrences in Connecticut and Prescott Peninsula mean?

As much as I'd like to believe otherwise, both lions were most likely previously captive and either escaped or were released. Sadly, almost any animal in the world — even a lion or tiger — can be and is being illegally acquired today for someone's collection via the Internet, even very rare or dangerous species. A sighting doesn't necessarily mean they're wild and breeding in the bush.

Could secretive mountain lions make their way to Massachusetts? With upward of 80,000 deer and a growing moose population, there's certainly enough food for them here. They've demonstrated their adaptability to live in close proximity to humans in Colorado and California. Competitive deer hunters would resent them, though, as would many non-hunters, fearing attacks. They'd surely be reviled by those intolerant of relatively benign fishers and coyotes.


As one who laments the loss of all that was once truly wild and awe-inspiring in Massachusetts, I'd marvel at their return. They'd add more than a scratch of excitement to our great outdoors.