Kentucky is not home to mountain lions. I would assume that a large black cat would be that type. The company has 2 principals on record. The girls were young and weren’t sure what they’d seen. This is not the same picture withe the cat dragging the buck. She got quite close to them while on Jake but as soon as she began to dismount they scattered. I have a call into the animal control (only to find out if there were others who reported it) and hope to hear back from them tomorrow. If they escape, who is to say that they will not do what is natural and find a mate? I believe that area was once habitat for the red wolf. Fear and misinformation were the main forces … I’m not suggesting this a farm animal. – – – – – 150 yards in front of us travelling east. If it hadn’t been the last day of our trip, I would have gone back to look for tracks to possibly photograph! Length (nose to tail tip): Males 7.9 ft, Females 6.7 ft. FYI: for those who dont know… HOW A COUGAR CRY AND BOB CAT CRY DIFFER: Even thou the cougar is a much bigger ,more powerful fearsom cat than the bobcat , the cries differ this way: COUGAR: the scream is more of a stronger “from the bottom pit of the stomach frantic yell”(like a 14 yr old thats been tramatized) and it repeats itself over and over and moves rather quickly from one place to the next. I walked w/n 40 yards and took one more photo. Mountain lion trapping became a hot-button issue in the 1990s, when the Sierra Club, the oldest nonprofit environmental organization in the United States, petitioned to register the mountain lion as a game species, only to be killed outside of a hunting season in the event of livestock depredation. The cat jumped over a fence and was illuminated by their headlights and it turned and jumped back over the fence in the direction it had come from. It seems common knowledge of all the cats that roam the mountains along the Potomac River in West Virginia. Get real. I’ve seen plenty of foxes in the woods around here and I thought maybe it was a fox in pain. These are truly beautiful creatures, so powerful but graceful. We guessed it could have been but have no proof. People believe that Bigfoot and Nessie exist, which I am not saying they don’t. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'wildlifeinformer_com-box-4','ezslot_7',109,'0','0']));Mountain lions have been extirpated (considered extinct) from the eastern U.S. states for almost 100 years, however roaming cougars from western states often travel east searching for territory. We had a secluded cabin off of cedar key road, private property (no hunting/trespassing) that ran for acres and acres, as well as a private and protected cove, as bass spawn there, no wake, no loud noises, no people. A neighbor’s cat was outside and I could see that she was visibly frightened and crouching under a car. She stated that she had previously spotted one on I 40 while crossing the Cumberland Mtns. I know mom & dad said they saw it & I do believe them… but why, if they are, people denying them being here? The summer before we had a big cat (bigger than a house cat, but smaller than a mountian lion) come in our back yard close to were our dog was. It was misty, and had rained the night before. We can’t even find criminals when we know where to look, let alone a cougar who;s very existence depends on it’s ability to remain hidden. There were a handful of sightings in 2002 that drummed up attention, but no big cat was ever found. My e-mail address is gardrserv@yahoo.com & would be more than willing to give anyone any info as to what & where I saw. Everyone knows that the panthers that are seen in the East are former pets released. Good Cat food. From a Biologist’s point of view, of COURSE cougars inhabit the Eastern United States..with all the sightings over the last 20 years, that’s a given. He slowly began walking backwards toward to the house and luckily got inside without incident. It almost took the tail of the cat as long to pass from my view and did the body. It was very frustrating. As the population of humans in these areas, especially western Washington, increases, encounters may become more common. There are an estimated 3,000 – 7,000 Mountain lions in Colorado. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'wildlifeinformer_com-leader-2','ezslot_16',113,'0','0']));To learn more about “lion country” in Colorado check here. As of 2020 the state does not estimate population numbers, but rather looks at overall trends, and feels the population has been fairly stable. The graceful animal was golden brown in color. I would think by the time you get your phone/camera on, & ready, the cougars gone. I would estimate that it must have been at least 60 pounds if not more. Everyone in the car was amazed at what we saw, and have since gone back hoping to see it again. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Still no pictures though. Virginia Dept. It then stopped in the road and turned to look at me. When the game wardens in this area are called they often do not investigate b/c the sightings have become so frequent. eval(ez_write_tag([[300,250],'wildlifeinformer_com-leader-1','ezslot_11',112,'0','0']));With more than half of the state having prime habitat (foothills and mountains), California has a large population of Mountain Lions. Many people live their entire lives in mountain lion country, and never see or know the cats are around. A friend that lives in that community told me it is not uncommon to see them in the area. So yes, there are mountain lions in the Blue Ridge. In reply to Beowulf it may interest you to know I accomplied a rabit hunter back to Appomattox County where he had found a cougar carcass. Look at his PAWS!. This makes how much suitable land is available for them to roam one of the biggest limiting factors in their population. Plenty of squirrel and turkey too. Nobody even thinks anything of it because of it’s regularity. The cat was black with a tail nearly as long as it’s body. Rocky Mountain Lion (Rocky Mountain Serie 9) eBook: Fox, Virginia: Amazon.de: Kindle-Shop Wählen Sie Ihre Cookie-Einstellungen Wir verwenden Cookies und ähnliche Tools, um Ihr Einkaufserlebnis zu verbessern, um unsere Dienste anzubieten, um zu verstehen, wie die Kunden unsere Dienste nutzen, damit wir Verbesserungen vornehmen können, und um Werbung anzuzeigen. Mr. Lutz do you have internet picture of the Virginia cougar that you show arround? I should have said that I think I may have seen one myself. The web site has emails for officers and members to communicate with along with membership applications and links to a whole world of information on cougars. I did not know that there were Cougars in Virginia, but I did know that seeing them anywhere was rare. The whole encounter lasted about thirty seconds, certainly long enough to know what I saw in broad daylight. I have a house about 3 miles from Orlean, VA in Fauquier County. 100% sure? Note: We will use Cougar and Mountain Lion interchangeably throughout this article. I was also told of a large cat sighting just north of Eden, NC. I’m not sure if they really believed us but a few years ago the lady and her friend rode their horses off into the battlefield trails which begin in a field directly across from our front door. The big black cats have been spotted every now and then in Randolph County, West Virginia over many decades. Tracks found near Holy Cross Monestery in Clarke Co, Va have been identified as a cougar by a USDA zoologist. I had the windows open because it was a cool night. This animal was a good thirty inches at the shoulder and must have weighted 150 pounds. Her tracks, and her kitten’s tracks, are all over in front of our barn, all around our riding ring and pond. Virginia’s mountain lions, known as the Eastern puma, were once on the endangered species list. Most sightings occur in Shenandoah National Park and in Bedford, Amherst and Nelson County region. Arkansas has a huge feral hog population, and this abundant prey item might be one of the reasons mountain lions populations are slowly increasing. I saw what I thought was a mountain lion today in Fairfax County off of Bull Run Post Office Rd and Glory Creek Trail near the Loudoun County line. Kansas is another central U.S. state where there is no established breeding population, but a few mountain lions have been seen over the years. Between 1994 and early 2020, there have been 82 confirmed reports. FYI: I have reasearched wild animal sounds to the point now that I could be an expert. This picture seemed to have been at night. Mountain Lions in Pennsylvania, New York, or West Virginia - any truth? Forestry rangers say they have spotted several mountain lions in the area. I think I may have seen a fully jet black cougar around 2230 just by the cement plant north of Roanoke Va but I’m not sure. This was a night time sighting. Today is Sept. 29, 2008. Estimates seem to fluctuate but the most recent I could find approximates about 2,000 mountain lions. It was a juvenile mountain lion. I was like baby look at that big ole cat! As the summer progressed she got a couple glances at the animal but still no proof. Oregon has quite a healthy population of mountain lions, estimated to be over 6,000. We have for several years seen small ones around. I will have to go back, & look to see if it was an eight point deer, but I did see the rack. The Cougar Network is monitoring all reports of the expansion of cougars to the East. A little more certain, I took a kodak camera along and started taking pictures. I went on line and llistened to mountain lions and cougar screams and it sounded exactly like that. It is thought these sounds are made by the females to indicate they are in heat and ready to mate, while if the male screams it is to get the attention of females over other male rivals. A litter of bobcat kittens even started living in my friend’s open barn because they were obviously abandoned. I bearly got a glimpse, thought at first it was a deer. For those who don’t believe in the sightings or tales of the eastern cougar, it is a misjudgment to criticize others for their experiences. Found no prints, unfortunately. I just wonder if I have the same picture, & also if it is true. It was standing next to a large hill in the median and looked at my car as I passed. The state has begun to use more high tech methods for tracking the secretive lions, including motion-capture cameras, mathematical models and GPS collaring. But I got into the woods, kept my arms high in the air, and kept making loud noises until I came upon a group of kids hiking with two adults at about 2 am. ANY REPLY IS WELCOME, Don’t know if you have any cougar there, but it sure sounds like a good place for wolves. I also had NO idea they lived in that area, so close to my home :). Did hear some weird crying up in the hills yesterday though, kind of a cross between a calf and a human baby. You can also count Randolph, Upshur, and Webster countys in W.VA. My dad, his dad, and myself can vouch for those three. Because cougars are so adaptable to different types of habitat, they have a huge range. More than 300 cougar sightings have been reported in West Virginia since 1975, according to the Eastern Puma Research Network. There is a possibility a transient lion passes through the state from time to time, but this would be considered rare. Find out more about mountain lions sightings in Illinois here. Visit the Washington cougar page here. 29 and crossed the highway. It was just on the side of the road walking into the long grass, it didn’t even seem to be starlted by a loud car so close. It is possible numbers in Illinois could slowly increase if cougars in areas such as South Dakota and the Rocky Mountain states begin to disperse eastward. To see Indiana’s Department of Natural Resources pages on mountain lions, check here. (usualy a rabbit)… as it tapers off not to be heard again until “the next night”. Washington is home to approximately 1,500 mountain lions. As I slowed the cat took notice and turned. The population is considered zero with perhaps the occasional transient visitor. The IDNR does admit that because of the confirmed cases, it is possible there are a few “free ranging mountain lions” present in the state. I was hiking in Western North Carolina this weekend, north from Carvers Gap at Roan Mountain, on the Appalachian Trail. In 1971 they were classified as “game animals”, and hunting could therefore be controlled by the state. As a member of the Eastern cougar foundation, I am very interested in your sighting of the black cougar. Add my name to the list of people who have seen mountain lions in the wild. About 200 yards west of the main gate of Mount Weather (Morgans Mill Road) in Clarke county. The day after the wolf incident my wife called from her work and advised me not to go in the pasture as a mother bear and cub had been spotted berry gathering there. But I never saw one, or tracks, and I spent a lot of time in the woods. My dogs heard it and came running. It was a large cougar that had an eight point buck by the neck. He was a beauty! I called the wild life biologist at the Game and Inland Fisheries to report the sighting and they basically blew it off and asked me if I wasn’t sure that it wasn’t a large house cat! Mountain Lions are back, maybe. This lion was hit between Cherry Reservoir Road and High Knob area He saw the cougar on March 10, 2015 while working in the field near Vida, Oregon." This is beacause the scream is that of the prey that he has just killed. eval(ez_write_tag([[580,400],'wildlifeinformer_com-medrectangle-3','ezslot_1',104,'0','0']));There are 6 species of wild cats in North America, and 2 of those are what we consider “big cats”. Look forward to talking more. Is this thread for real? When I was young they killed a cougar at Stone Mountain. A few months later we saw another where route 740 (Sinkhole Road) intersects route 8 a few miles northwest of Stuart, VA. On both occasions it was mid-afternoon and we had a view (from a car) of the animals as they strolled 70 to 80 feet across open spaces. Several times they’d reported seeing strange animals crossing their path in the woods. By 2011, U.S. He said he had called the county animal control and they told him he must have seen a bob cat as no mountain lions were still in our area. I’m just waiting for ANY government agency to admit there are mountain lions in the state before someone shoots one and says Ooops – I didn’t know they were endagered. Bears on the other hand, are a dime a dozen and we see them every year. It was such a chilling sound at 1:30 in the morning. I live in Fairfax County, Northern Virginia and the area is pretty urban, although there are woods adjacent to my home and I have seen plenty of deer and fox. Perhaps some of thes animals came from the private sector and they were simply let loose by their owners…. Just reporting back. It saw my movement, froze and growled. How many people have actually saw a bobcat in the wild? You can read more about how to report a mountain lion sighting in New York here. I expect they will confirm puma presence. zdf. I believe it was 2006 or 2007. I just want to confirm that, yes, they’re back and I hope they stay around! I raise miniature horses and am quite concerned as we are surrounded by woods in Warrenton. Visit Oregons mountain lion page here. THAT GOT HIT BY A CAR AND,THE LADY WAS FAILING MENTALLY WITH ALZHEIMERS AND WOULD PUT FOOD OUT ON HER SCREEND IN BACK PORCH LIKE THE DOG WAS STILL THERE. Florida Fish & Wildlife has a nice page about the Florida Panthers here. I HAVE HEARD OF AN OLD WOMAN THAT HAD A DOBERMAN THAT STAYED ON HER BACK PORCH NEAR ROCKINGHAM CO NC. Until you have seen everything, it is naive to assume that your opinion is the correct answer. Hunting is legal, but closely regulated by the state. About a month ago I was visiting a local sheep farmer (more gentleman farmer than actual make-money-farming farmer). Motion-sensitive infrared cameras have been deployed near  Appalachian Trail to try to determine whether cougars are back. While much of North Dakota is open prairie habitat that will not support many mountain lions, they do reside in the more mountainous western parts of the state.