Lions Confirmed

PA Mountain LionYou read it here first: Mountain lions still exist in Pennsylvania:

Just prior to the start of Pennsylvania’s two-week firearms deer season, the volunteers at the Eastern Puma Research Network put out a call to hunters. They wanted to hear from anyone who saw a mountain lion or signs of one, like tracks or scats.

Lion sightings they got. Hard evidence that wild, free-ranging mountain lions are living in the state they did not.

“It’s so hard to pin anything down,” said John Lutz, the West Virginia man who heads the network, a non-scientific affiliation of mountain lion seekers across the eastern United States. “A cougar or puma is like a UFO with four feet.”

That doesn’t stop some from believing mountain lions do exist in the East. Lutz and several other volunteers are planning to travel to Bedford County within a few days of the next snowfall, in fact, to look for cougar sign because several sightings have been reported there in recent months.

Remember this post from February 28, 2005″

An Amish farmer along 944 in Cumberland County complained to the PGC a mountain lion was killing his sheep. They came out and investigated. Their conclusion: “Sir, you don’t have a mountain lion.” A week later the farmer shot the mountain lion. The very sad news: there was a PGC ear tag on it.

Or this one from Valentine’s Day last:

One solution [to the loss of ginseng] that [this complete “nut” ] believes will ensure the herb’s survival is to reintroduce mountain lions, wolves or other natural predators to the Appalachians.

Meow!

UPDATE:  Check out this photo!

UPDATE: An alert reader took this photo late September, 2008, from his trail camera near Plummer, PA.

UPDATE: An alert reader sent this photo of a mountain lion taken about three weeks ago (September 2009) near Farmington, Pa, in Fayette County. It had recently killed a buck and was dragging it across the road.
lionfayetteco
UPDATE: Well, you can’t believe everything you read on the internet…turns out this was not in PA:
http://www.buckmanager.com/2009/04/17/deer-management-and-some-thoughts-on-predator-control/

119 Comments on “Lions Confirmed

  1. Seriously, no mountain lions in Pa? Ok, so they may have been extinct for some time, but if people are sighting them, has anyone considered migration? It has been well known that cariabou have migrated from Canada, so why not the mountain lion?

    It is a known fact that when an area is overpopulated, wild animals will migrate out of an area and into a new area that is less populated. Eventually they will reach areas where they never lived, or once lived,and will repopulate that area.

    If you need to confirm this info, just take a look at National Geographic’s wild life section on animals thought to be extinct altogether, or extinct from an area.

  2. I saw a Mountain Lion chasing a fox in Perryopolis Pa. Passed 10 feet in front of us. Sounded like a giant animal was sprinting down the mountain right before we saw it. We heard the fox screaming multiple times before we saw it. Must of been chasing it for quite some time. Was the craziest thing I have ever heard or seen in the woods of pa.

  3. I saw a mountain lion crossing a state highway,the Oklahoma-Salem FRoad near DuBois PA about 4:30 pm. It wa an buff colored animal about two feet tall and maybe three feet long with a very long very thick tail. Was about 30 feet down the road when it crossed in front of me. I am not a drinker and don’t di drugs. Am 74 years old, of very sound mind usually pretty skeptical, but i saw this animal and after much consideration have concluded it could only be a mountain lion or cougar. Looked just like the Nittany Lion except it was alive and running!

  4. I had a mountain lion in the field across from my house a couple years ago. My neighbor had one (maybe the same one) in her backyard. I called the game commission and they told me there have been no mountain lions reported in PA. I told her there had now. She tried to tell me it was a Maine Coon Cat. I told her I knew what a Maine Coon cat looked like and this was BIG, had short hair and LONG tail. Then another friend told me his daughter who lives in Clymer PA saw a Game Commission truck go into the woods with a large cage in the back with a mountain lion in the cage. When it came back without the lion, she stopped them and asked why they had let a mountain lion out in the woods. They denied there was a mountain lion in their truck. The Game Commission is hiding this information from the public – either that or they don’t know what a mountain lion looks like.

  5. I also saw a mountain lion recently crossing road next to creek in Canadensis PA. It was not a fleeting glance, I had to stop my car to let it slowly cross the road in front of me. It stopped and looked directly at me. I’m an avid mature person with a biology degree. I have seen Bobcats. There is no doubt this was a mountain lion.

  6. I have seen three mountain lions in pa. One full grown in Erie county in 1998 and two kittens (yes I am sure they were mountain lions, not bobcats) in McKean county in 2001.

  7. Saw some huge cat prints on the mountain in NEPA near white haven. Was running and had very long stride, at least 6 foot.

  8. My cousin and his girlfriend swear they saw a mountain lion Davis hill Rd off of county route 249 in tioga county. This was yesterday around 5pm 11/6/19. 2 houses up from my house. They said it was the size of their German Shepard and there’s nothing else it could’ve possibly been.

  9. PA game commission are nothing but liers they lie to the people all the time we need to do away with them turn it over to the government I do not trust our government but the game commission lies more

  10. what appears to be very large lion tracks the PGC says photos were of a large dog I disagree I have a deer feeder and I think that is why they are all around my house

  11. it seems every time my cousin mason and his buddies go camping they encounter oro see a mountian lion he says he swares the the cougar stalks them when they start walking through the woodsthey live in the northern part of pa in an little mountian town of treemont in schuylkill county we know there is mountian lions up there

  12. I just wanted to post that not only have we been hearing what we thought was a mountain lion, we spotted it the night before last. No wonder I have not seen that many rabbits or squirrels lately. I also seen deer in my yard, a coyote, a mink, a wood turtle and a bear earlier this year as well. I live in Cumberland County about a half a mile from the 944/Enola exit. So, if you live close to here please keep this in mind while you are hiking or walking along the wooded areas. Stay Alert!

  13. I saw a large black cat about the size of a mediym sized dog walking towards my car in pike county
    I stopped while i was driving, and as i approached it SLOWLY as not to scare it, it glared at my truck walked towards it,then sat. The size was then confirmed to me, had a long tail also, had no markings but appeared dark grey in the sun. On another occasion my sons best friend saw a fawn colored mt. Lion take a fawn in a swamp 1 mile from my home in the same county.

  14. There are more squirrels in Pa than Mountain Lions, but not by a lot. Always interesting to see the pompous asses state unequivocally that hundreds of their citizens are blind, on drugs, or lying because they have not seen one!

  15. I was driving to work just before sun rise, Late September 2019.
    Traveling Route 248 in Northampton County just 1 mile east of Pennsville. Big Cat, long tail, Mountain Lion past directly in front of my car. My speed was 40mph, I got a good look at it.
    I’m 62 and hunted most of my life here in PA

  16. Don’t EVER expect to get the truth from anyone with Game departments in any U.S. state. While living in Potter County, Pennsylvania and riding my horses. My horse was spooked twice & I heard a guttural growling but never seen any animal. Friends in the area reported having a large long tailed “mountain lion” run across a road just in front of their truck. They said it took up most of the dirt road.
    I am not a confirmed believer that they do travel “Penns woods”, however I would NOT rule it out either.

  17. i have seen a mountain lion in Hawks Mountain where persons watch hawk migration about 7 to 10 years ago. The red face of a mountain lion came out of the top of the mountain then dropped down. I went to the rocky site and did not find the cat. About the year 1967 I drove my corvair in a meadow and two red cats about a year old came across the road behind me south of Hancock PA. Yes I believe their are mountain lion ghost cats in PA. PA mountain areas are remote and it is impossible to kill all of the cats who are quite secretive.

  18. I have seen a large cat on several occasions driving home at night from work. When I say large, I mean way bigger than a house cat, about the size of a 60lb dog. This cat had brown fur with a white underbelly, and a black, brown and white face. This definitely wasn’t a bobcat. I work near Hazleton, Pa. I know I am not the only one who spotted this cat around the wood’s right outside town .

  19. What is the fascination in Pennsylvania that they always want to kill a mountain line if they find one they’re indigenous they belong there just leave the damn things alone. I live in Harrisburg, in the 70s and by Central Dauphin high school there was a creek called Beaver Creek so one day ask someone what are they called Beaver Creek and said there used to be a beaver there till about seven or eight years ago and the last one was killed by some person they named and he was actually bragging up that he killed the last beaver in Beaver Creek. You know I love hunting when I was younger in Pennsylvania but trying to kill the very last animal shows a sign of being inbred.

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