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A couple of sightings involved captive mountain lions that escaped from licensed facilities in New York State. Another sighting involved a wild cougar that traveled through New York as it trekked nearly 1,800 miles east from its native population in South Dakota. More details on their natural history and distribution are available on the ...
New York Status: Extirpated Federal Status: Extinct. Description. The cougar is known by many common names, including puma, mountain lion, catamount, and panther. Next to the jaguar, it is the largest North American cat. Weights range from 80-225 pounds (36-103 kg), averaging 140 (64 kg).
Mountain lions, or Eastern cougars, have been absent from this state since the late 1800s, according to the DEC, There have been isolated sightings, however they are often either escaped...
Scientists estimate a recolonization of the Eastern United States by cougars could reduce deer-vehicle collisions by 22 percent over 30 years, averting 21,400 human injuries, 155 human...
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service declares the eastern cougar extinct and removes it from the list of endangered and threatened species. Wildlife conservationists say the cats should be reintroduced to the Adirondacks and other parts of the East.
If there is a population of eastern cougars in the Adirondacks, then it is likely a very small one. Most cougar sightings are isolated instances, and the New York's Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) notes that they usually involve cougars not native to the state.
State biologists say cougars vanished from New York State in the late 1800s as a result of predation by humans and the destruction of habitat, but many people insist that the big cats continue to live or at least pass through the Adirondack Park.
Cougar Watch is a project to record public sightings of cougars (Puma concolor) in and around the Adirondack Park. There are regular reports of cougar sightings throughout the Adirondacks, but there has not been a publicly available repository to record these sightings.
The eight eastern states with the biggest areas of viable cougar habitat, as analysed in the study, were: New Hampshire and West Virginia (both 75%), Vermont and Maine (both 65%), Massachusetts (33%), Connecticut (32%), New York (31%), and Pennsylvania (29%).
The Fish and Wildlife Service says most sightings in the East are cases of mistaken identity, while some are outright hoaxes. Any genuine sightings were of escaped or released pets or of western cougars dispersing eastward. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation agrees.