Search the Community

Has any one had a personal encounter with a mountain lion in NY State ?

I posted this in another thread on this site but not sure anyone will see it so I am repeating it here: I have posted this before on other sites but will repeat it here. I will first let you know that I am not a flake. I am a well educated researcher who lacks the imagination to conjure up stories. I am also not a big nature person. I don't go out of my way to spot wildlife. I did not know a thing about mountain lions or any other large cats-nor did I know there was any controversy about them- a year ago. I am writing this to let people know about it but won't defend my observations to those who challenge the veracity of my report. There is no point to doing so. In November I was heading south on 81. Soon after the Whitney Point exit I saw something in the distance on the left shoulder of the road that I could not make sense of. I thought it could be some large stuffed animal/toy but very large. I made no sense to me. As i got closer I still could not understand what it was because it did not coincide with anything I'd ever seen before. It was lying on its side with its 4 legs facing the road and the spine facing the opposing traffic. In color it was similar to a red cat (which is really orangish tan in color). It had a long rope like tail that did not taper (all domestic cats I've had had tails that tapered towards the end). The tail was long and it extended around the legs, in a semicircle) toward mid torso. I think the legs were drawn up a bit-rather than fully extended. It had what I processed as a very heavy looking round head with some dark marking that reminded me of raccoon markings-as if they were written onto the face. I later realized what probably gave the appearance of heaviness was the density of the fur. It was a very pretty/sweet face. The face was round with an almost double chin look to it-not oblong like the mountain lion pictures I have seen. It was also about 3-4 times the size of a domestic cat. I was on my way to work and would have been in trouble had I stopped. But, I did call the police to report it once I left the highway. I later called to talk with the dispatcher who said she was so curious about it she went back during her lunch hour but it was gone. She speculated someone picked it up. In retrospect that made no sense either because I would have assumed she would have dispatched a crew to pick it up when I called-in which case it would obviously be gone when she got there. I asked her what she thought it was and wrote down all the animals she named. Red/tan thick but not long fur long tail. Then I started to read about them. The match was clearly a mountain lion-except that the face was round not oblong. But, young mountain lions apparently have round faces. Since then I have been trying to figure it out. I've posted about the sighting to see if anyone else saw it. I even called taxedermy places to see if anyone brought a mountain lion in to be stuffed. I asked around to see if anyone had seen one. The only lead I got was when I googled mountain lion and Whitney Point. I found that a year earlier someone else had posted about a mountain lion sighting from 81 at Whitney point-up on the rocks. Except for all this controversy, based on the previous sighting and what I saw, the most reasonable scenario is that there was an adult mountain lion in the Whitney Point area a year earlier and the one I saw dead on the road was probably an adolescent one-maybe related. Anyway, if I were more adventurous I'd go exploring those rocks between castle creek and Whitney point but I am chicken. I have, incidentally, talked with many people involved with the controversy about mountain lions. Twice I have stopped in at the Whitney Point rest area and asked workers there if they had seen anything. It is a very odd thing because prior to the sighting I could not have cared less about what is roaming around out there. Now I want to know the story behind what I saw. Quote MultiQuote Edit

I posted this in another thread on this site but not sure anyone will see it so I am repeating it here: I have posted this before on other sites but will repeat it here. I will first let you know that I am not a flake. I am a well educated researcher who lacks the imagination to conjure up stories. I am also not a big nature person. I don't go out of my way to spot wildlife. I did not know a thing about mountain lions or any other large cats-nor did I know there was any controversy about them- a year ago. I am writing this to let people know about it but won't defend my observations to those who challenge the veracity of my report. There is no point to doing so. In November I was heading south on 81. Soon after the Whitney Point exit I saw something in the distance on the left shoulder of the road that I could not make sense of. I thought it could be some large stuffed animal/toy but very large. I made no sense to me. As i got closer I still could not understand what it was because it did not coincide with anything I'd ever seen before. It was lying on its side with its 4 legs facing the road and the spine facing the opposing traffic. In color it was similar to a red cat (which is really orangish tan in color). It had a long rope like tail that did not taper (all domestic cats I've had had tails that tapered towards the end). The tail was long and it extended around the legs, in a semicircle) toward mid torso. I think the legs were drawn up a bit-rather than fully extended. It had what I processed as a very heavy looking round head with some dark marking that reminded me of raccoon markings-as if they were written onto the face. I later realized what probably gave the appearance of heaviness was the density of the fur. It was a very pretty/sweet face. The face was round with an almost double chin look to it-not oblong like the mountain lion pictures I have seen. It was also about 3-4 times the size of a domestic cat. I was on my way to work and would have been in trouble had I stopped. But, I did call the police to report it once I left the highway. I later called to talk with the dispatcher who said she was so curious about it she went back during her lunch hour but it was gone. She speculated someone picked it up. In retrospect that made no sense either because I would have assumed she would have dispatched a crew to pick it up when I called-in which case it would obviously be gone when she got there. I asked her what she thought it was and wrote down all the animals she named. Red/tan thick but not long fur long tail. Then I started to read about them. The match was clearly a mountain lion-except that the face was round not oblong. But, young mountain lions apparently have round faces. Since then I have been trying to figure it out. I've posted about the sighting to see if anyone else saw it. I even called taxedermy places to see if anyone brought a mountain lion in to be stuffed. I asked around to see if anyone had seen one. The only lead I got was when I googled mountain lion and Whitney Point. I found that a year earlier someone else had posted about a mountain lion sighting from 81 at Whitney point-up on the rocks. Except for all this controversy, based on the previous sighting and what I saw, the most reasonable scenario is that there was an adult mountain lion in the Whitney Point area a year earlier and the one I saw dead on the road was probably an adolescent one-maybe related. Anyway, if I were more adventurous I'd go exploring those rocks between castle creek and Whitney point but I am chicken. I have, incidentally, talked with many people involved with the controversy about mountain lions. Twice I have stopped in at the Whitney Point rest area and asked workers there if they had seen anything. It is a very odd thing because prior to the sighting I could not have cared less about what is roaming around out there. Now I want to know the story behind what I saw. Quote MultiQuote Edit