Another Mountain Lion Sighting...

[fishinbub]

...this time in NC.
http://www.wsoctv.com/news/27548441/detail.html

"The police department said there have been eight to 12 sightings, including two by police officers using thermal imaging cameras late at night. Officers said the animal cat weighs between 80 and 100 pounds and has a tail that’s 3 feet long"

I've never seen a bobcat with a 3ft tail, and that would be one HUGE house cat!

[Marty adams]

There's lions in them thar hills. Lol don't let anyone tell you any different either . I actually sAw my first lion when was about 10 looked huge back then but it probably weighed 60 to 80 pounds some friends of my grand father hadkilled it in their barn while it wastrying to get some piglets. Now this was way back in the seventies. Fast forward to 1986 I was in edisto beach in sc and saw a black one the wife was with me it was awsome in theheadlights of that old oldsmobile. Then in 1990 I was deer hunting in wilkes county and watched a huge lion maybe 140 pounds walking or rather belly crawling behind a group of does. I thought it was weird sincethe cat was actually in only short grass for cover but I don't think I would have even noticed it fron 40 yards if I hadn't seen it's tail in the air dark spot onthetip twitching and swaying. Biologists can say whatever they want to but there's big cats all overthe south maybe not many but they are out there. Marty

[fishinbub]

There was one killed in Ga a while back. They determined it was a FL panther, although I'm not sure how. All the reading I've done suggests that eastern, western, and Florida panthers are all genetically the same...

[KnotSlippin']

There was one killed in Ga a while back. They determined it was a FL panther, although I'm not sure how. All the reading I've done suggests that eastern, western, and Florida panthers are all genetically the same...

"Florida panthers" have some very specific identifiable genetic mutations that differentiate them from other lion populations. "Florida Panthers" have kinked tails and a cowlick on their sides that other populations of mountain lions do not. These mutations have arisen as a result of many, many years of inbreeding (i.e., the founder effect). While "Florida panthers" can breed successfully with other mountain lion populations around North America (because, as you mentioned they are all the same species), the "Florida panther" would lose these identifiable characteristics, thus causing the identifiable "Florida panther" to disappear.

Steven

[JOHNKIES]

What has been reported is the sighting of a large cat, not a mountain lion as such. The local law enforcement and wildlife personnel are using some deer carcasses in an attempt to lure the cat back and get a positive identification as what type of cat this is. Couple things I can tell you from personal experience. Once you hear the cry of a real mountain lion you will never confuse it with anything else and you will never forget that sound. Also, you would be amazed at the size feral cat can achieve after a few generations. Years ago in high school I was hunting a river bottom near our town in northern Ohio when I got that creepy "somebody's looking at me" sensation. Turned just in to go briefly eye to eye with a very large black cat - roughly the size of a black lab. The cat departed as soon as I turned and I was glad to see him go!

[KnotSlippin']

Once you hear the cry of a real mountain lion you will never confuse it with anything else and you will never forget that sound.

Roger that. Last summer, there was a tom lion hanging around our neighborhood. Over 30 sheep were lost and my wife and I were spooked on several occasions when that call woke us up in the middle of the night. There was more than one instance when my lab and I were out for a walk in the morning and decided to turn back because we felt like we were being watched.

It's a creepy experience to feel like you're being stalked in your own neighborhood by a non-human predator.

Steven

[fishinbub]

Would an inbred cat that has roamed hundreds of miles from home be so healthy that it's initially mistaken (by biologists) for a pet? If a FL panther can be identified by it's kinked tail and cowlick, would it be mistaken (by biologists) for a western panther? I don't know the answer (not exactly a wildlife biologist), but it's food for thought...


What has been reported is the sighting of a large cat, not a mountain lion as such.

Fluffy's been eatin' real good, then.

[lewdogg]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/US/06/11/connecticut.mountain.lion/index.html?iref=obnetwork

June 13, 2011 1:12 p.m. EDT

A mountain lion was killed in a car accident in Milford, Connecticut, on Saturday and authorities say the cat may have been the same one spotted this week in nearby Greenwich.

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection says it responded to a State Police call about 1 a.m. Saturday morning reporting a collision between a 2006 Hyundai Tucson SUV and a mountain lion in the area of Exit 55 of Route 15 in Milford. The mountain lion died of injuries in the crash, but the SUV driver was uninjured.

Connecticut DEP says it's possible and even likely that the mountain lion killed early Saturday morning is the same cat that's been roaming around Greenwich this month. The animal was last seen Sunday on the campus of a college prep school.

The 140-pound male cat is at a DEP facility where his body, along with paw prints and other specimens are being analyzed and tested to determine if it is the same cat seen in Greenwich.

There is no native population of mountain lions in Connecticut, the DEP says, and the eastern mountain lion has been declared extinct by federal authorities. They are able to roam long distances, according to the DEP. Milford is about 40 miles north of Greenwich, which DEP says would have easily been within the cat's roaming range.

[Stinkbait]

Just saw this. Biologists think the mountain lion hit by a car in Connecticut traveled over 1500 miles from the Black Hills http://www.middletownpress.com/articles/2011/07/26/news/doc4e2f1341de52f489437623.txt?viewmode=fullstory If it only had turned south in Ohio, it could be living happily in Smithgall Woods.