Is That a Mountain Lion I See Wandering New Jersey?

I have received inquiries over the years of writing this blog about sightings in New Jersey of moose, elk, reindeer, and wolves. None of them inhabit our state. But the most common sighting of a species that, according to state wildlife officials, does not exist in NJ is the mountain lion. 

This post has been updated multiple times and remains one of the most popular and the most commented-on post on the site. 

There have been several articles online about "sightings" of a "large cat." One in Camden County, near the Winslow Hammonton border by Route 73 was reported to be a mountain lion. In Morris County, a family in Montville Township claimed to have seen a mountain lion twice in their backyard. The witness described the animal as large, tan, with a long tail and muscular build. Although he reported the sighting to the police, there's no concrete evidence to support the claim.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the state's Fish and Wildlife Division have not confirmed any mountain lion sightings. They suggest that reports are often due to mistaken identity, with bobcats or coyotes being mistaken for mountain lions. Wildlife experts believe that while it's possible for a mountain lion to wander into New Jersey from other states, it's extremely rare. The nearest known mountain lion population is hundreds of miles away, making it unlikely for them to be present in the state.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Division of Fish and Wildlife sometimes receives evidence and investigates, and their verdict has always been that these big cats are NOT mountain lions.

New Jersey's largest cat is officially the bobcat, but these reports to animal control officers are saying this is not a bobcat but a mountain lion (AKA cougar or puma). There is a significant difference between a domestic cat, a bobcat, and a mountain lion, and they really shouldn't be confused. The evidence so far is just some grainy video and a fuzzy photograph taken with a hunter's game camera.

Bobcat - Photo: Public Domain, via commons.wikimedia.org

Bobcats live in New Jersey and are considered endangered by the NJDEP. A bobcat is a medium-sized cat, about two feet tall. Though they are larger than a house cat, they are much smaller than a mountain lion. Adult bobcat females in NJ generally weigh between 18 and 25 lbs., and adult males can weigh as much as 35 lbs.

A camera trap image of a cougar in Saguaro National Park - Flickr, CC BY 2.0, Link

Although cougars somewhat resemble the domestic cat, they are much larger - about the same size as an adult human. Their size and their long, smooth tail are the obvious identifiers.

Did mountain lions ever live in our state? According to mountainlion.org, "Before European settlement, mountain lions once occurred throughout New Jersey and moved between New Jersey and neighboring states. Ideal habitat would have occurred in the forests, hills, and along the timbered streams, but mountain lions could have persisted anywhere there was ample prey. Direct persecution, conversion of wildlands to agriculture and human development, roads and highways, and other forms of habitat loss all contributed to the decline and ultimate extirpation of mountain lions in New Jersey."

In other words - No Mountain Lions in NJ. And yet, reports keep coming in. There was a report of one in Ewing Township back in 2018 that inspired the original version of this post.  Check the comments on this post below, and you'll see that since it was originally posted, regular sightings continue to come in. 

Mountain lions, which once lived in this area, are believed to have been extirpated long ago. The Eastern cougar or eastern puma (Puma concolor couguar) is the name given to the extirpated cougars that once lived in northeastern North America. They were part of the subspecies of the North American cougar that is considered gone from the east coast by a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) evaluation in 2011.

We are still waiting for good video footage, physical evidence, and confirmation from NJ Fish & Wildlife. For now, the cougar's status in New Jersey is still just a notch above the existence of the Jersey Devil.

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Press Coverage in NJ of Sightings
pressofatlanticcity.com
nj.com/camden

About Reported Cougar Sightings in the East
wsj.com/articles/eastern-mountain-lions-may-be-extinct-but-locals-still-see-them
nationalgeographic.com/
blueridgeoutdoors.com/go-outside/eastern-mountain-lion-mystery/

Big Cat Sighting in Pennsylvania

For all my readers who have been reporting and speculating on there being mountain lions in New Jersey, comes this news item from nearby PA.

A mysterious big cat has been documented in eastern Pennsylvania’s Lehigh County, leading some to speculate a species long believed locally extinct has returned. Pennsylvania State Police say photos of the creature were taken Sunday, Oct. 15, in Lower Macungie Township (near Allentown).

“Upon further investigation it was determined that the image captured a large feline, possibly a mountain lion, in the fields behind Hanover Drive. If seen, do not approach. The Pennsylvania Game Commission has been alerted," police said.

Lower Macungie Township is about 30 miles west of Frenchtown, NJ.

Mountain lions, also known as cougars, panthers and pumas, are considered extinct in Pennsylvania, as well as in New Jersey.

Endangered NJ has inquired with psp.pa.gov about the photos that were taken.

via Twitter

Troopers responded to @LowerMacungie and confirmed a large feline was seen in the fields behind Hanover Dr. If seen, do not approach, contact PSP Fogelsville or @PAGameComm. @69News @mcall @lehighvalley @LVNewsdotcom pic.twitter.com/6QAZuJu0Z0

— Trooper Branosky @PSPTroopMPIO October 15, 2023

USFWS file photo - not taken in Pennsylvania

Cougar Sightings Still All Unconfirmed by NJDEP

As we are in autumn and hunters are taking to the fields and forests and hikers are walking our state's rural trails, the mountain lion reports continue to come to me here and although I haven't seen any hard evidence or confirmation from the NJDEP, I like reading about them. Apparently, so do others, because they are consistently the top posts here and certainly the most commented posts.

Let me start by saying that despite many reported sightings, the cougar facts are that the Eastern cougar is still considered extinct not only in New Jersey but in most of the East.

This cougar photographed in a zoo shows the relatively small
head-to-body ratio and the distinctive long, fat tail. via publicdomainpictures.net

Sightings of mountain lions (which seems to be the preferred name here in NJ, though cougar is more correct) seem to occur in batches. Such is the case with a series of reports in 2012 of mountain lions in several towns in Bergen County. Ho-Ho-Kus police investigated a sighting near the Hillsdale border, and the Westwood Mayor told The Record newspaper that borough police had received a number of calls about mountain lion sightings near Pascack Brook County Park.

A report in Mahwah back in 2004 even made it into The New York Times though ultimately that animal was described as ''a very large stray tabby cat" orange and brown with a striped tail. Maybe it was a bobcat? 

A 2013 report of a cougar in Princeton never turned up any evidence. 

A recent email to me referenced a 2012 "sighting" and that there have sightings of a mountain lion on Anndrean Dr. in Annandale, NJ and by residents in Clinton Township. The writer said that they "are known to prey on sheep in Hunterdon County." 

That 2012 report was based on a photo from a wildlife camera that was thought to perhaps show a cougar attacking a deer in Clinton Township. The report got Mick Valent, principal zoologist for the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, to investigate. He said “I get calls all year long from all parts of the state from people claiming to see cougars. There are even reports of black panthers. I scratch my head a lot of times.”

Investigating a cougar sighting is very difficult because by the time a report is given to police or state Fish and Wildlife officials, whatever animal had been seen will be long gone. 

Valent added that there have been a couple of verified cougar sightings, but they turned out to be illegal pets. “We know people keep them illegally,” he said, citing a case in Bergen County from around 2001. So, is it possible that one kept as a pet is now in the wild?

Valent said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service had recently done an extensive assessment and determined there are no wild cougars in the entire Eastern U.S. But in June 2011, a story that got wide coverage in the northeast was about a cougar killed on a Connecticut highway that put doubt into people about the federal findings. DNA tests indicated that the cougar was probably related to cougars in South Dakota and it was believed he came east from there.

But if there is one cougar, might there be others?

If you ever encounter a cougar anywhere or think it is a cougar, you should never run from it but rather make your presence known by raising or slowly waving your arms and maintaining eye contact with the animal. As much as we would love to see photos or video, recording the event should not be your first concern when encountering any wild animal, including bears, bobcats, and coyotes. DEfinitely report the animal to the police and determine the specific place where the encounter occurred for further investigation.

Check out all our mountain lion posts

Cougar Facts

 

This Dept. of the Interior photo of a cougar straddling a deer
 in California gives a good sense of the size of the animal.

North American cougars - also known as pumas, catamounts and mountain lions - are actually the same species. The Eastern cougar (Puma concolor couguar) is the currently recognized subspecies that was historically found in the northeast U.S. 

Eastern cougars typically have a little smaller heads than those found in the West, but are very similar to cougars in the western U.S.  

The cougar has the largest range of any wild land animal in the Americas. They span from the Yukon Territory in Canada to the southern Andes in Chile. Officially, this species was extirpated from eastern North America, aside from Florida. But fish and wildlife officials have said that they may be recolonizing their former range in the northeast. Isolated populations have been documented east of their contemporary ranges in both the US and Canada

The cougar is a hypercarnivore that prefers large mammals such as mule deer, white-tailed deer, elk, moose, mountain goat and bighorn sheep, but they opportunistically take smaller prey such as rodents, rabbits and hares, smaller carnivores, birds and even domestic animals including pets.

Cougar front paw track in snow

Mark Dowling, co-founder of the Eastern Cougar Network, had at one time said that Eastern cougar sightings in the northeast were not real, but the situation has changed since that time. Eastern Cougar Network collects and disseminates data on the shifting mountain lion population. In an article provocatively titled "Mountain Lions Headed for Atlantic City?" Dowling said in 2003 that sightings in the eastern half of the nation were "almost certainly" escaped captives, but he added that the notion that (western) cougars "will eventually reach New Jersey" is a reasonable prediction, in part due to increased populations of white-tailed deer.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in nearby New York states that "Eastern cougars (mountain lions) do not have a native, self-sustaining population in New York State. They have been absent from this state since the late 1800s." 

However, they do say that there have been a few isolated sightings, but each sighting involved cougars that are not native to New York. A couple of sightings involved captive mountain lions that escaped from licensed facilities in the state, and another sighting involved a wild cougar that traveled through New York as it made its way nearly 1,800 miles east from its native population in South Dakota. 

As with other states, the DEC gets many reports that are misidentification so their staff will only investigate reports where physical evidence of tracks, scat, or hair exist; or when a captive animal has been reported to have escaped. Most of the reports are cases of mistaken identity of other animals. Cougars are commonly mistaken for bobcats, fishers and coyotes, as well as domestic housecats and dogs.

In 2011, the USFWS opened an extensive review into the status of the eastern cougar and four years later they determined the eastern cougar no longer warranted protection under the Endangered Species Act. In January 2018 the de-listing became final and they were officially declared extinct.

According to the Center for Biological Diversity, "The eastern cougar was extinct well before it was protected under the Endangered Species Act, as was the case with eight of the other ten species that have been de-listed for extinction."

So, the chances of you encountering a cougar in the wild here in New Jersey seem to be extremely rare. if not impossible. But you might encounter one in another state, particularly in the western U.S.  This warning sign is from California. It reads very much like the advice we have in NJ for encountering a bear. Hopefully, you would have the presence of mind to "be large, shout and fight back."

click images to enlarge

Persistent Reports of Cougars in Sussex County New Jersey

One mountain lion we can confirm living in New Jersey
is at the Bergen County Zoo.

Despite the fact that the state has never confirmed the presence of a mountain lion (cougar, puma) in New Jersey, those sightings continue to be the most frequent comments and emails to me at this website. 

Unfortunately, the frequent comment reports are never accompanied by clear photos or video of the cat, tracks, fur, or even scat, all of which biologists would use to confirm (probably via DNA) that it is a cougar.

But I continue to receive reports and find articles and I report them here. maybe one day we will get confirmation.

Here is an article from 2006 on a report in Vernon, NJ. (click the images to enlarge)

And here is a letter to that same newspaper.

Parker Space, who owns Space Farms in Wantage, is familiar with just about every species of animal out there. “I have lived here my whole life and spent many hours hiking and hunting in Stokes and High Point... a bobcat track in the snow that melts out and doubles in size, then people think it’s a mountain lion track. We have no mountain lions here.”

That hasn't stopped people in the wilds of Sussex County from looking for mountain lions - or even Bigfoot.

Looking for cougars in New Jersey is not cryptozoology, but so far no hard evidence. Going for a walk in the woods of Northern NJ? make sure you have that iPhone video ready to go.

South Mountain Reservation - and Cougars?

Mountain lion (not photographed in New Jersey!)

Though none of these animals inhabit our state, I regularly get comments and emails here about sightings of a moose, elk, reindeer, or wolf. I chalk them up to misidentification but the most persistent rumored animal is the mountain lion (also known as cougar or puma). State biologists will tell you our biggest cat is the bobcat, but that hasn't stopped people from reporting a cougar. 

You can find an occasional news article about "sightings of a large cat." One of those sightings was on the Winslow Hammonton border by Route 73 (Camden County) which was reported to be a mountain lion. A panther was once reported in Vineland. The NJDEP's Division of Fish and Wildlife receives these reports and often investigates but there is usually no video, photos, or physical evidence (like tracks or fur samples). There are no officially confirmed cats bigger than a bobcat in the state.

Look at the photo above. That cat is very different from abob cat or domestic cat. The tail alone should be distinctive enough for identification. Cougars are 5 to 6 feet in length including their long tails and average about 135 pounds and can weigh up to 180 pounds. Bobcats are mid-sized cats measuring 2 to 3.5 feet long and weighing up to 40 pounds. They are about twice the size of a domestic cat.

The state's denial of the existence of any cats larger than a bobcat hasn't stopped readers of this blog from making almost 60 comments (as of today) on my post about the idea of a mountain lion in New Jersey

Blackrock Falls

Hemlock Falls

I will add to this idea by saying that there were mountain lions here historically.

South Mountain Reservation, which is now a very suburban area near South Orange and Millburn, was a childhood playground for me and my friends. WE wander to Washington Rock, fed the deer in the fenced-in paddock, climbed Hemlock and Blackrock Falls, walked and biked trails, and fished at Campbell's Pond and Diamond Mill.

The Reservation covers 2,110 acres between the first and second ridges of the Watchung Mountains. Going back to 1896, John Durand, who grew up in Maplewood, described the mountain that includes South Mountain Reservation as:

“a wilderness, as it probably existed at the time of Hendrick Hudson, a primitive forest abounding with deer and other wild animals, and traversed by streams alive with trout. Game was plentiful – partridges, quail, woodcock, rabbits, squirrels of every species, raccoons and foxes; while occasionally a hungry bear that had trespassed on the farmyards in the vicinity would be tracked to its den and shot.”

In 1680, wolves, bears, and cougars were observed in the area, and there was a bounty on them. 

The Lenape Indians gave us the name for the Watchung ridges of New Jersey, the first and second of which form the Reservation’s eastern and western boundaries. “Watchung” meant “high hills.” 

In colonial times, sawmills existed on the Rahway River and there was a logging industry. During 1779-80, the eastern ridge protected the Continental Army’s encampment at Morristown and gave the Army a clear observation to tNew York to the east. The place is known now as Washington Rock Lookout but it was  Beacon Signal Station 9 of the 23 beacons built by General Washington to observe the movement of British troops quartered on Staten Island and Manhattan.

On June 23, 1780, the Essex County and Newark Militia were warned by those beacons that the British were moving west had launched an attack westward. In a pincer movement designed to gain access to Hobart Gap, Hessian troops fought bitterly along Vaux Hall Road while the British advanced along Galloping Hill Road before being repelled, the Hessians at the base of the mountain and the British in Millburn (then Millville). 

Washington Rock served again as a lookout for the Army when reactivated during the War of 1812.

After the war, Samuel Campbell dammed the Rahway River to establish a paper mill. Campbell’s Pond at the southern end of the Reservation bears his name. By the 1820’s, the Diamond Paper Mill Company had dammed the river to sluice water to their mill site. Today that site is the Paper Mill Playhouse.

The reservation was built from land purchases starting at the close of the 19th century. Famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted visited the newly acquired reservation and regarded it as some of the most beautiful and promising terrain he had ever seen anywhere. He turned the design commission over to his stepson and the Olmsted Brothers firm. Later construction work, including trails, footbridges, and shelters, came with the Federal government's Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s.

It is still a wonderful parcel of preserved land in a densely populated area of the state. Much of the wildlife that Durand reported still exists there - but no evidence of any mountain lions.

More info on the area at South Mountain Conservancy