ARE THERE MOUNTAIN LIONS IN PA?

[arjohnson]

I like Jacks Links !!!

Next time I'm up the mountains I'm getting some and messing with sqautch. I'll post a video.

[hog45]

In 2011 a Mountain Lion was killed by a motorist in Connecticut. It was the first documented lion in Connecticut in 100 years.

It was found to be a legitimate wild lion, not a pet. DNA tests showed that this lion had travelled all the way from Minnesota and Wisconsin to its death in Connecticut.

This occurred not long after sightings were reported in Pike County, PA, which is relatively close to Connecticut as far as Pennsylvania goes.

Obviously none of us will ever know how in the world the cat got from Wisconsin to Connecticut, but chances are it went through PA, unless it went the long way through Canada, or maybe after travelling through Ohio it studied up on the PGC statements about no lions in PA, so it swam around Lake Erie to avoid PA and then hiked across NY.

My guess is the cat went through PA, was noticed by various people at various times, then wound up on a road in Connecticut where it died.

I think the sightings can be legitimate, and the PGC can also be right. Between random wandering cats and escaped pets, it is quite reasonable that there is a lion somewhere in this state every now and then, and it is noticed by various people. But they are not native, and are not supporting populations. I think we can have it both ways.

http://blog.pennlive.com/pa-sportsma..._year_ago.html

[wanneroo]

It is possible we could have a young male lion end up out here in PA but we are years from a sustainable population.

I captured a bobcat on my trail cam the other day. I could easy see how people could mistake it for a cougar seeing it from a distance.

[Chief Brody]

12 years or so while driving on a road off 507 highway in lower Wayne Co I saw a mother and cub run from one side of the road to the other ... A few hours later my friend saw them re-crossing the road in the same spot..

[gummy jones]

it would blow my mind if there werent

[Grizzlytrap]

"Mountain lions had roamed on nearby Mount Nittany until the 1880s.[3] The origin of the name "Mount Nittany" is obscure, the most commonly accepted explanation being that it is derived of Native American words (loosely pronounced as "neet-a-nee") named after the cougars that roamed the mountain or "single mountain" - a protective barrier against the elements.[citation needed]. The "original" nittany lion can be seen in the Paterno Library as the only known mounted eastern mountain lion. It was killed in Susquehanna County by Samuel Brush in 1856.[4] According to a July 1992 article in National Geographic by Maurice Hornocker titled "Learning to Live with Mountain Lions", "Courthouse records from Centre County, Pennsylvania, show that one local hunter killed 64 lions between 1820 and 1845. During those 25 years an estimated 600 cats were killed in that county alone."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nittany_Lion

So they were here at one point.

[Emptymag]

"Mountain lions had roamed on nearby Mount Nittany until the 1880s.[3] The origin of the name "Mount Nittany" is obscure, the most commonly accepted explanation being that it is derived of Native American words (loosely pronounced as "neet-a-nee") named after the cougars that roamed the mountain or "single mountain" - a protective barrier against the elements.[citation needed]. The "original" nittany lion can be seen in the Paterno Library as the only known mounted eastern mountain lion. It was killed in Susquehanna County by Samuel Brush in 1856.[4] According to a July 1992 article in National Geographic by Maurice Hornocker titled "Learning to Live with Mountain Lions", "Courthouse records from Centre County, Pennsylvania, show that one local hunter killed 64 lions between 1820 and 1845. During those 25 years an estimated 600 cats were killed in that county alone."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nittany_Lion

So they were here at one point.

As were dinosaurs.

[JDA58]

As were dinosaurs.

Do you have proof of that ???

[bortle]

The game commission say's there aren't any, so I'm sure there are. There's still some remote wild places left in Pa.

[PAMedic=F|A=]

"Mountain lions had roamed on nearby Mount Nittany until the 1880s.[3] The origin of the name "Mount Nittany" is obscure, the most commonly accepted explanation being that it is derived of Native American words (loosely pronounced as "neet-a-nee") named after the cougars that roamed the mountain or "single mountain" - a protective barrier against the elements.[citation needed]. The "original" nittany lion can be seen in the Paterno Library as the only known mounted eastern mountain lion. It was killed in Susquehanna County by Samuel Brush in 1856.[4] According to a July 1992 article in National Geographic by Maurice Hornocker titled "Learning to Live with Mountain Lions", "Courthouse records from Centre County, Pennsylvania, show that one local hunter killed 64 lions between 1820 and 1845. During those 25 years an estimated 600 cats were killed in that county alone."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nittany_Lion

So they were here at one point.

Yep, and like wolves we eradicated them for good reason.