Report Sick and Dead Deer

The NJ DEP asks for your help in reporting sick or dead deer sightings. You can do it online using the Deer Disease Sighting form. Videos and/or photos are encouraged.

Your input is critical for NJDEP Fish & Wildlife's quick response to potential disease outbreaks in New Jersey’s deer population. The valuable information you provide will add to decades of data on deer health and mortality in the state.

For example, let's keep NJ free from Chronic Wasting Disease, a progressive and fatal neurologic disease affecting members of the Cervid family such as deer, elk, moose, and reindeer.  

Information from the sighting form is useful to investigate potential disease outbreaks and to assist staff in sampling efforts. To the best of your ability, each of your sighting entries should be of new sightings. Please do not submit the same deer you see every day as a separate survey entry. If you observed sick deer that then died, please submit under the 'Dead Deer Observations' section

For example, if the same deer visits your backyard every day, this would be one entry for the entire period of the study. If you see new or additional deer, please submit a new form. Each time data is submitted, via the submit button at the bottom of this screen, it is counted as a single record. Deer reported are case-by-case assessed for sampling viability. 

NJDEP Fish and Wildlife does not remove dead deer.

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

Report Wildlife Sightings in NJ With New App

The NJ Wildlife Tracker can be used to report rare wildlife species sightings and observations of wildlife (of any kind) on roadways.  

The rare species sightings help keep New Jersey’s Natural Heritage/Biotics inventory robust and current. These data contribute to critical habitat mapping and help monitor habitat occupancy and population trends over time. Ultimately, this helps manage the recovery of rare wildlife species across the state. 

Observations of wildlife on roadways inform our Connecting Habitat Across New Jersey (CHANJ) project, which aims to make our landscape easier for wildlife to move through.

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 probably the most commented on posts.

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. 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, bobcat and 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.

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. 

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 a few notches below the Jersey Devil.

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

Bobcats are known to live in New Jersey and are considered endangered by the NJDEP. A bobcat is considered 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.

Mountain lions, which once did live 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.

---

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/

The Fisher Has Returned. Or is it a Mink?

Nicole sent us a video from her home night vision camera that is two blocks from Shark River Park in Neptune Township. She believes it captured fishers in her yard. She saw at least 3 of them - 2 near her landscaping bed (seen in the screen grabs here) and at least one near the street.

Nicole says they look a bit like minks but are larger than any minks she has seen in the area. It's a tough identification - especially from the video - as the two look very similar.

We get several of these identification reports or questions each month and it is difficult to say for sure without the opportunity to examine the specimen up close (teeth, paws, etc.) Earlier someone commented with a link to a photo of a vulture with what appeared to be a small fisher.

Yes, you can and should report sightings of rare wildlife.

The mink is not threatened in NJ and has a trapping season. The fisher (Martes pennanti) was extirpated almost 100 years ago. That doesn't mean the fisher is extinct. That is when there is the complete disappearance of a species. Extirpation, also called local extinction, is the disappearance of a species only from a given area.

It is sometimes called a "fisher cat" or Appalachian black cat. It does look like a blend of a fluffy cat and a fox. But it's a lot meaner - closer to a wolverine.

Oddly enough, it is not a feline and it does not catch fish. It is in The fisher is a member of the Mustelidae family, which includes otters, badgers, martens, ferrets, minks, and wolverines.

Can you tell the difference between these two specimens?  One is a mink, one is a fisher.

Fisher or mink?               images via wikipedia commons

Fisher or Mink?

Through no efforts by the state's wildlife agencies, the fisher is again present in at least Sussex and Warren counties based on trappings by state officials. There are not many and they probably arrived because of re-introduction by New York and Pennsylvania in the last decade.

The fisher is a top predator but it disappeared from our state due to trapping for its pelt and because excessive logging practices during the 19th and 20th centuries caused populations beyond NJ and across its entire range.

This website has received reports on sightings, photos caught by trail cameras and anecdotal stories and questions from homeowners.

Did Nicole capture images of fishers?  It's possible. 

Want to know the answer to the identification of the two photos above? Take a look here and here.

Have You Sighted a NJ Endangered Species?

You can help the Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP) maintain updated records of rare species within the state. I was reminded of this recently when a commenter on a post here about bobcats mentioned that "local animal control" didn't seem interested in his sighting. That might often be true, but ENSP is interested.

You should check the list of New Jersey's endangered and threatened wildlife species maintained by the Division of Fish and Wildlife's Endangered and Nongame Species Program (ENSP).

If you have information on the location of a rare animal and would like to help build the Natural Heritage inventory, you can submit a report. This data will help develop critical habitat mapping and look at habitat and population trends, and ultimately help develop conservation strategies for endangered and threatened species.

You can fill out the sighting report form available at state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/rprtform.htm (There is also one online for marine wildlife.)

Reporting includes marking the location of the sighting on a map to help biologists determine if suitable habitat is present at the location.

There is also information on submitting your report by mail or email.

Each record will be reviewed by an ENSP biologist.

Reporting Rare Wildlife Sightings in NJ

I get emails and comments at this blog fairly regularly when people sight what they believe is an endangered, threatened or rare species. Some of those contacts have led to posts, but this is not an official blog, so I can't always get the information to the people at the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife or the Endangered and Nongame Species Program.

Fisher - via wikipedia commons

Just this week, a commenter reported sighting a fisher. The state agencies are understaffed and really need accurate information, so that conservation action can be focused on NJ's most important natural areas. If you have information on the location of an endangered, threatened or rare animal or plant and would like to help, you can report the sighting. This data will helps develop critical habitat mapping and look at habitat and population trends, and ultimately helps to develop conservation strategies for endangered and threatened species.

TO REPORT A SIGHTING

• Look at the information at www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ensp/rprtform.htm 
• Complete a sighting report form OR, for marine wildlife, please use the Marine Wildlife Sighting Report Form Complete this form in its entirety - anonymous submissions cannot be incorporated into the database.
• These reports are for first hand field observations only. DO NOT COMPLETE THIS FORM if the source of your information is a report, news item, email, conversation, or other document. If that is the case, send the documentation instead.
• Only report one species at each location per form and map.
• Mark the location of the sighting on a map. When submitting a report, a map is necessary to help our biologists determine if suitable habitat is present at the location. Once the suitability of the area is determined the map provided aids in the delineation of land to be protected.

Mail completed surveys to:
Endangered and Nongame Species Program
NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife
P.O. Box 400
Trenton, NJ 08625-0400
or send it as an e-mail attachment to: Gretchen.Fowles@dep.state.nj.us

In order to maintain the validity and integrity of the database, each record will be reviewed by an ENSP biologist. NOT ALL SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED.

Click these links for a listing of the current New Jersey Endangered and Threatened Species List or Special Species of Concern.

If you have any questions please contact ENSP at 609-292-9400.

Coyote New Jersey

I suspect that residents of New Jersey are less surprised these days to see reports in the news of coyotes in the state.

Hearin that rather eerie night howl in NJ still sounds a bit out of place to me. But coyote ingenuity and resilience to adapt to the conditions of its range are legendary.

American Indian mythology includes many stories of this animal as both a deceptive trickster and as a sly genius. It even entered popular culture as the cartoon enemy of Road Runner.

Ranching and herding in the West, led to campaigns to destroy the coyote using not only hunting and bounties, but poisons, gases, helicopter hunts, and engineered epidemics. But they have survive and thrived. Their range is from Alaska to our East Coast, including New York’s Central Park.

I came across a recent book called Coyote America which is both an environmental and a natural history of the coyote. It traces the five-million-year-long biological story of an animal that has become the “wolf” in our backyards. With the appearance of "coywolves," that is even more so the situation.

In writing here about coyotes the past few years, I have reported on a range of topics, from the increased sightings in our state, to the hunting season in NJ for coyotes.

As coyotes and coywolves become "New Jersey's apex predator" and more media stories about coyotes in the state appear because of an increasing number of sightings and encounters, we can expect that it will become a situation like that of bears. One side will argue for protection, wise management and diversity, and the other will want the numbers drasticaly reduced or even eliminated.

Coyotes can be quite aggressive and pets and people have been threatened, attacked and bitten by coyotes in NJ.  Officials shot and killed a coyote suspected of attacking a Bergen County resident near a wooded area in Norwood and a nearby K-8 school canceled outdoor athletic practices and indoor recess after two coyote dens were found near school grounds.

This is not "new news" considering that the first sighting of a coyote in New Jersey was in 1939. The current figures are that they exist across all 21 of the state’s counties, with a population estimated at 3,000.

Sightings in NJ usually increase in the spring as they bear their litters during April and May.

Eastern coyotes are larger than Western coyotes. Past interbreeding between gray wolves and coyotes may be responsible for the larger size and color variations in NJ coyotes. To the untrained eye, coyotes resemble German shepherd dogs. They can be seen in coats of blond, red and black.

The coyote is a wild member of the dog family and is not a threatened or endangered species in NJ. Eastern coyotes can be up to 60 pounds, but average about 40 pounds.

The NJ Department of Environmental Protection recommends, much like for bears, that residents
put garbage in tightly closed containers that cannot be tipped over to prevent bear and coyote foraging. You can also reduce the protective cover for coyotes by clearing brush and dense weeds from around homes, and be more cautious about children and pets being on their own even in their backyards.

If you do encounter a coyote, do not run because that initiates the "prey instinct" in the animal and the coyote will go into pursuit mode. Rather, act aggressively - "yelling, waving your arms, stamping your feet, or throwing stones” until it leaves.

Coyotes play an important role in the ecosystem, helping to keep rodent populations under control.

The coyote was never introduced or stocked in New Jersey, but has firmly established itself in our area through its extremely adaptable nature.



Understanding Coyotes by Michael Huff

There's a Rattlesnake in the Neighborhood

A timber rattlesnake found in Manchester, NJ
(Credit: Manchester Police)

There is something about seeing certain species that automatically put the average citizen into panic mode. This is true with sharks, bats, some insects and snakes. For all of those examples, there are different species within our state of shoreline and some are potentially dangerous while others are not at all.

The danger for these species is that many people react in the same way to all of them - kill them.

The summer always brings media reports of sharks offshore and sometimes of snakes.

New Jersey has a good number of snake species (22), but only two are venomous - the timber rattlesnake and the copperhead. I have written often here about snakes, particularly because four are endangered or threatened.

One of the endangered snakes is the timber rattlesnake and this month a sighting in a New Jersey neighborhood made its way onto the NY TV news.

A CBS News report said that rattlesnakes have been spotted "slithering" around Manchester Township, in Ocean County.

The timber rattlesnake inhabits three areas of NJ – the Kittatinny Ridge and the northernmost portion of the Highlands as well as the sprawling Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey.

The copperhead is limited to hilly, forested regions in portions of northern New Jersey and a few isolated, hilly areas of Hunterdon and Somerset counties.

Everyone knows that the rattlesnake has its rattle to distinguish it from other snakes, but many other snakes mimic the rattlesnake by shaking their tails on leaves, twigs and other objects.

A rattlesnake has jagged and dark bands extending from side to side around the center and back end of the snake.

They are a rare sighting, but, yes, being bitten by one can cause death. Police in Manchester posted photos on Facebook, warning residents of confirmed sightings of a venomous snake of about five feet in length near Pershing Avenue in the Whiting section of the township.

Timber rattlesnakes like to bask in the sun when they come out of their dens in May, but are passive unless they are threatened or provoked - whether that is intentional or accidental. Now is the mating season, and male timber rattlesnakes are out seeking out females.

Of course, you should not approach or try to handle them or remain in the area. You should not try to kill them. In New Jersey, they are on the endangered species list and intentionally killing one is illegal.

If you see a timber rattlesnake, you should note the time and place and call the New Jersey Endangered and Non-Game Species Program at (609) 628-2103 for southern New Jersey, (908) 735-8975 or (908) 735-9281 for northern New Jersey, or (877) WARN-DEP on weeknights or weekends.

New Jersey's Wild Cat

Bobcat by Bill W Ca at en.wikipedia. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Commons.

Bobcats, Lynx rufus, are active all throughout the year, especially at night, and are New Jersey's only wild cat.

These medium size felines can weigh between 15-35 pounds and are identified by their small ear tufts, tan, black and white spots and stripes patterned fur. They get their common name from the short "bobbed" tail with black only at the tip.

The much larger adult mountain lions can weigh 80-200 pounds and have a long tail, no ear tufts and solid tawny fur. Don't worry, you won't encounter the mountain lion (AKA cougar, puma, panther, or catamount) on your New Jersey walks. The last ones in the state were killed in Atlantic, Cape May and Ocean counties around 1840.

Bobcats originally were more widespread throughout the state. Now, they appear to be limited to mainly Sussex, Warren, Morris, Passaic and Hunterdon counties, along with some sighting in the Pinelands.

They are listed as a State Endangered species. The NJDEP uses radio telemetry and camera studies and reports by citizen scientists and physical evidence (scat, tracks and road-kill recovery) to monotor the population. They appear to be widening their range, including moving to and from bordering Pennsylvania and New York.

Still, these rather secretive animals are a rare sighting for the casual woods walker. They live in a variety of habitat types, including woodland, wetland and agricultural settings in our state. My only sighting was on a walk in a rocky, forest area in Sussex County.

A Warren County reader of this blog posted a comment on an earlier post this year and asked if what his home security camera captured was a lynx or bobcat. I replied that no "lynx" exist in NJ, but the bobcat is "Lynx rufus" scientifically and it is NJ's only wild cat species.

Though he wasn't asking a question of semantics, the "lynx" is a member of the cat family found in temperate and colder areas of the Northern Hemisphere. There are four species of lynx: the Canada lynx (which is the one people are thinking of when they use that name), the Spanish lynx, the bobcat, and the caracal.

The difference of lynx versus bobcat is mostly one of size and habitat. The lynx is sadly valued for its warm, lightweight fur. Most lynxes are grayish-brown in color, often spotted or streaked with black. They have short bodies, stumpy tails, and tufted ears.

Here is the reader's video of the visitor passing by his home which he posted on YouTube.