A new friend of the blog(we will call "W") sent me this accounting of what he thinks was a juvenile Puma hit by a car off of hwy 181 near Whitney Point NY(between Syracuse and Binghamton)............And lo and behold he then came across another persons sighting of an alleged Puma that was very much alive in that same area in December..........Mirages or P.concolor??????

:Rick

Hello. Thanks for your blog and your reply. I think it is notable that there were 2 sightings in exactly the same place-by Whitney point, NY.  I 'd love to hear from hunters from Whitney Point but then I would hate for them to find one. Thanks again, cheers

On Jan 15, 2012, at 9:58 PM, Rick Meril wrote:

..thanks fior checking in..........You know that a South Dakota Puma(Mountain lion,cougar Puma all the same animal) took a 3 year journey and ended up being hit on the highway this Fall in Connecticut.............All kinds of Puma sightings in the northeast over the years..............at this point, no one can confirm a breeding population..............could folks who keep PUmas as pets release them periodically?..........Pumas and Wolves along with black bears were the trophic predators occupying all of Eastern North America at the time of colonization,,,,,,,,,,,,,we wiped the pumas and wolves out by the early 1900's.............a few bears hung on................coyotes took advantage of wolves being absent(wolves will kill coyotes as they do out west in yellowstone) and now occupy all of the usa...........I hope what you saw was a puma and that a remnant population exists........keep me posted and enjoy the blog..........

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Rick
Hello. I got your email address from a blog. I am trying to interest people to explore what I saw between Whitney Point and Castle Creek-off I81 in NY. I have posted this places hoping to hear from others who saw what I did.

1 huge red fox, moutain lion or lynx on I-81 (S) near Castle Creek

Nov 9, 2011

Did any see a dead huge cat like animal on the southbound side of I-81 about a mile closer to Syracuse then the exit for Castle Creek. It was on the left lying an its side, obviously dead and huge. If you did see it, or heard someone else talking about it, what was it? It looked like it had a body like a mountain lion, a long tail with long fur-not bushy and a face that was rounder like a lynx.Its color was pretty uniformly red-not mixed or strips or anything like that. I was moving too fast and, once I had processed what I saw, I had gone too far to see it. Apparently someone picked it up, probably for its fur, because it was gone soon thereafter. I saw it at around 10:40am Tuesday morning. If you did not see it but are familiar with the wild life around there, any ideas? Any information would be appreciated. 

In November I was driving from Syracuse to Binghamton. It was around 10:30 am. Soon after I passed the Whitney Point exit, but well before Castle Creek, I saw a dead cat on the left shoulder of the road. This was a huge red cat. It was obviously dead but its face and body were  intact. The face was rounded-a cross between a raccoon kind of face and a domestic cat.-sweet and round.  It had a very long tail that had fur that was straight (not fuzzy or curly) and the tail was rope-like. The legs were long. The color was very close to the red you would see on a domestic red cat-solid color not spotted and not merely tan with redish tint-clearly orange red. I would say its back would have been about 2-3 feet off the ground had it been standing. It was thin and the fur on it was not fuzzy but short. I was traveling at 65mph and by the time I had processed what I saw it was too late to easily pull over. I was late too. I called the police (I think Castle Creek but can't recall-maybe Broome county sheriff- not sure.) and the dispatcher showed interest. She said she would have someone check it out. I called her later that day. She said she was so curious about it that she went herself during her lunch hour but by then it was gone. She said someone probably took it for the fur. Then she started listing the kind of animal it could have been.

Now, I know nothing about wild animals but was surprised by the animals she listed because they were the sort of animal I assumed existed only in places like africa (I've got the suburban NY-view of the world) or the zoo. I began to google the various animals she suggested to compare to what I saw.  What I saw was clearly most similar to a mountain lion. But, the face was round and did not have the long muzzle that the pictures show. So, I think it was probably young-although the pictures of the young mountain lions suggest that they are not solid in color. Maybe there is an adolescent period when the body becomes solid color and the face is still round?

It was only after I looked at pictures of all kinds of animals that I started to read about Mountain lions in NY. I had no idea there was any controversy about whether they exist or not.  (I add this because I have no vested interested in proving that they do or do not exist) I did not know they ever existed in NY. In fact, I would have been quite surprised to hear that they existed in this country at all..anywhere. So, when the dispatcher mentioned things like mountain lions and panthers I was very surprised. I posted a description of what I had seen on Topix in the hope someone else had seen it and could let me know what it was. All I got was a few snide comments. Then I started to google more seriously because it began to bother me that I could not figure this out.  At that point I found this post 

"05-05-2011, 06:48 PM   #1

Crokit

crokit

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Join Date: Dec 2010

Posts: 158

Mountain lion sighting

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First, let me state that I have all my faculties, excellent eye sight, and am not given to exaggerations.

Today, while traveling south on Interstate 81, between Syracuse and Binghamton, I saw a Mountain Lion / Cougar/Panther, pick your noun. !! 100% positive, absolutely no doubt. There is ZERO chance that it was anything else. The only other thing it could have possibly been { other than a live mountain lion/cougar/panther } is a full body mount of a mountain lion/cougar/panther and someone pulling a prank. It was less than 100yds off the West side of the road, sitting on top of a section of rock/cliff that the highway had been cut through. It was sitting on it's haunches, leaning forward, ears forward, looking down onto/across the highway. It was about 30-40 feet above the highway. Just before the " Castle creek 1 mile " highway sign.
When I screamed " holy F%^K, a mountain lion, scaring the S#$T out my buddy who was driving almost lost control at 75 mph.

An absolutely beautiful animal, well muscled, excellent specimen. Up until now, when ever I've seen reports of sightings, I've taken them with a grain of salt. No more!

Anyone know of any other recent reported sightings in that area?

Wldnerness: Can you put me in touch with any of the state Dec/Rangers/etc from that area?"

And my post on Topix was as follows:

Justwondering

East Syracuse, NY

What do you think? These two sightings are at identical places. I do not believe that they are both mirages. Also, if the one I saw was young(I'dsay it was the size of a great dane-maybe a little shorter but thin like a dane rather than like a , say, St. Bernard) , it would not have been as visible to a driver on I-81 6 months earlier. The one I saw was not so big that it would have been very visible to drivers if it were on the top of a hill. That means that the one I saw could have been the adolescent offspring of the one seen by the earlier poster. If so, maybe there is a den nearby. I know exactly where I saw the dead animal so a wildlife person or ranger could easily investigate. If the other poster saw the parent in May and I saw a dead adolescent one in November I bet that there is one that has set up a resident in the area. I would love to hear back from you. Thanks