Mountain lions are the talk of the town in eastern
Connecticut since residents in one town have reported several sightings
of a big cat.
North Stonington residents have been reporting a big cat, 5' long, weighing 100 pounds, with a long tail.
Community leaders believe there have been at least 15 credible sightings of the big cats in North Stonington alone.
Conservation Commission Chairman Bill Ricker has been tracking the sightings."They're
not after people's dogs and cats, they're not after children. If you're
hiking through the woods in our state they'll go in the opposite
direction and I dare you say you'll never see them if they see you,"
Ricker said.
The Connecticut DEEP isn't so sure the big cats are
actually here. Spokesman Dennis Schain said the DEEP has not seen what
they consider credible photographs, footprints or scat to confirm the
cats' presence.
According to naturalist Steven Sarnoski, anything is possible. "There
could be one in the state, maybe it's another traveler or maybe it's
more commonly the bobcat, which is our most found and distributed
wildcat in Connecticut," Sarnoski said.
If you see a large cat,
take a picture of it. State and local experts said they need to see
evidence of a paw print or fur to prove that mountain lions are in the
state.
***************************************************************************** By Lauren Seaver
Mountain lions caught on video in Boulder Creek
Cameras catch animals walking down street
Published Jan 23, 2015
BOULDER CREEK, Calif. —Word was spreading Friday night of a mountain lion sighting in Boulder Creek.
Boulder Creek resident Rob Fulton captured video of the
mountain lions outside his home Wednesday night. Fulton has lived in his
home on Lilac Avenue and Brookdale Street for 14 years. He set up the
cameras a few months ago and captured two mountain lions walking down
the street on consecutive nights.
The first video, recorded
Wednesday morning at 12:50 a.m., shows one of the big cats walking in
front of Fulton's car. Later that night, at 9:22 p.m., the second cat
made its appearance. "It's kind of unnerving, but it's nice to
watch such graceful cats walking,” Fulton said. “I think they've been
here a long time and nobody's really seen them. Nobody's had any issues
with them. We hear them off in the distance sometimes. You kind of hope
they stay where they are and don't bother you.”
Fulton said he
checked with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which said
the second cat, the one wearing a collar, is part of the University of
California, Santa Cruz’s Puma Project, where mountain lions are tracked
and observed to gather information about their physiology, behavior and
ecology.
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