Posted on 10/27/2011 2:19:58 PM PDT by Third Person
East Haddam – Town Animal Control Officer Michael Olzacki says he knows what he saw Tuesday morning: a mountain lion crossing the road near the intersection of Route 148 and Creek Row Road.
“It was the most beautiful animal I’ve seen in a long time,” Olzacki said today. “I’ve been hunting all my life. Bobcats I’ve seen plenty of times. This wasn’t a bobcat.”
He called the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection to report the sighting, which sent one of its environmental conservation officers to the area to look for evidence of the animal. According to DEEP, there is no resident population of mountain lions in the state. Connecticut’s last native mountain lion died around 1900, Dwayne Gardner, DEEP spokesman, said. Last spring, however, mountain lion sightings were reported in Greenwich, and in June, a mountain lion was struck and killed by an SUV on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in Milford. DEEP concluded after testing that the animal had traveled into the state from South Dakota.
Gardner said paw prints found in the area where Olzacki reported seeing the mountain lion were incomplete. Olzacki also was not able to provide a photograph. Scat, complete paw prints or a photograph would be needed to positively identify the animal Olzacki saw, Gardner said.
“But we didn’t dismiss the report,” he said.
Olzacki said the area where he spotted the animal is near open land around power lines and forests. Throughout town, there are hundreds of acres of undeveloped land preserved by the East Haddam Land Trust, the Nature Conservancy and the state, in Devil’s Hopyard and Gillette Castle state parks. That and an ample deer population would make the town a welcoming habitat for mountain lions, Olzacki said. He said he knew the animal he saw was a mountain lion from its light brown color, long, black-tipped tail, large shoulders and distinctive walk. Mountain lions can weight 100 to 140 pounds, and be six to eight feet in length.
In March, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife serve declared the Eastern mountain lion, also called a cougar or puma, to be extinct. There is a population of mountain lions in western parts of the country.
First Selectman Mark Walter said he wasn’t surprised to hear the report, despite the official state position that there are no resident mountain lions in Connecticut. “They’re out there,” he said, noting that he has heard several unconfirmed reports of sightings over the years. “Just like any predator, people should treat them with respect.”
He advised residents not to go into the woods alone or, if they do, to carry pepper spray. If they do spot a mountain lion, “leave it alone.”
“Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “People just need to educate themselves.”
The biggest threat from a mountain lion, he said, would be to farm animals such as chickens, lambs, calves and goats. He advised livestock owners to keep their animals locked up at night.
Gardner said anyone who believes they have seen a mountain lion should call their town animal control officer and DEEP’s 24-hour hotline at (860) 424-3333.
Post from earlier this week: “Cougar Rewilding (in CT)”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2797486/posts
I have no experience with dangerous, wild animals like a Mountain Lion. That being said, I truly doubt carrying some sort of spray is going to help you out at all.
Keep the Swat AH’s away
One needs a rampant pony to deal with a wild cat.
I never did make it to the *Wilding* meeting last night. Dang!
We good little serfs in CT need to keep reminding ourselves of the official state position. Remember that when a big cat is chewing off your face. Olzacki didn't say if the cat had on a radio collar.
We keep having mountain lions showing up in and around the Tulsa area.
You’re welcome.
What’ll happen when a North Cove Outfitters liberal customer gets attacked? Have a meeting on how to defend yourself against a cougar attack? Or maybe a suggestion... “May we direct you to our firearms department?”
I’m not looking forward to my first cougar sighting as I hike or mtb here in the lower CT River valley. The coyotes are big enough... now mountain lions?
I carry when I hike, but not when I ride in the woods. I guess that’ll have to change.
She could have been leaving my place.
“I make love to mountain lions,
Sleep on red-hot branding irons”
no worries.
Lemmy.
Norm [NC owner] is prolly stocking up on pepper spray and bear bells as we speak. I really have to talk to Norm...he’s a great hunter/outdoorsman...what the heck is he thinking. He should know better. Giving these re-wilders a forum, seems so out of character for him.
My Pop told me a story how my Great Grandfather had a job in his youth, where he worked on a train that would travel near the Housatonic River in CT. His job was to shoot at the mountain lions that would jump onto the tops of the train cars. Not sure how much that paid in those days, and a job like that sure as hell wouldn’t exist today!
East Haddam? WTH, izat in this country?
East Haddam, Connecticut, new home of the mountain lion.
Heard a noise, looked up, and there was the cougar, not 5 feet above my head reclining on a horizontal tree branch. Rifle was 3 steps away.
Stood up very slowly. Took a step very slowly. Took the next 2 steps very slowly, retrieved my rifle in slow motion. Walked backward 1/4 mile same fashion.
Nothing like coming to the realization that you are not necessarily at the top of the food chain at the age of 43.
Had he, she or it taken an interest in me, I would be decomposed cougar excrement.
Those things can be 7' nose to tail, weigh 200 lbs. or more and kill you before you see them.
“Walked backward 1/4 mile same fashion”.
Your sentence should have read, “Walked backward 1/4 mile same fashion leaving a trail of tinkle along the way”. There... fixed it for you. LOL!
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