EnCon Police Moderator
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 3899
Dear Santa Claus....forget about my asking for my two front teeth for Christmas...what I really want is for this thread to GO AWAY. If people would read what I posted...I think I made it clear....I realize I'm just a dumb state employee that covers up everything, but I think I managed to put a couple of words together into sentence form that made sense.
Apparently not.
Bottom line for all you experts out there that know more than me - GET ME A PICTURE OR SOME OTHER REAL EVIDENCE OF A MOUNTAIN LION IN CT (this means that if your cousin's sister's girlfriend's uncle saw something run across the road - I don't want to hear about it.) Until then - NO ONE HAS SUPPLIED US WITH PROOF OR EVIDENCE OF MOUNTAIN LIONS IN CT. I am NOT denying the possibility of them....(pay attention here, this may be on a test later)what I am saying is WE HAVE NO EVIDENCE OR PROOF OF MOUNTAIN LIONS IN CT - so either show me some evidence or, go fishing and catch something... anything...and put up a post about your fishing trip.
Interesting story in the New Britain Herald this morning. Mangled deer carcus in homeowners back yard. DEP has been called to come and observe the remains and to see the footprints in the area. After waiting for more tan a week, Paul Rego, wildlife biologist said that they would try to send someone out there in a day or two. No hurry, the evidence of the attacker may still be there all winter, perhaps into the summer.
EnCon Police Moderator
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 3899
It's re-run season on TV, so I may as well do the same thing....From Page 2 of this thread... (saves me a lot of typing this way)
Quote:
posted October 31, 2005 09:29 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just so I am not accused of any more complicity, coverups or non-disclosure by "Sun" I ran all the mountain lion sighting reports on our computer system when I got to work this morning.
Since 1/1/1998 (when we instituted a computer aided dispatch system) we have had a total of 69 "mountain lion" sightings. This includes the period of 1/1/05 through 10/31/05 when we had a total of 20 reported "mountain lion" sightings. Of all of these sightings (1/1/98 - 10/31/05) none were confirmed with any photographs, identifiable paw prints or any other evidence to establish that the animal seen was in fact a mountain lion and in fact in Connecticut.
One record was for a caller reported seeing a mountain lion that was 5 feet tall and weighed 150 lbs. (Let's see, deer are about 5 ft tall, weight about 150lbs and have medium brown fur??) Another reported a mountain lion with a bushy brown tail. One report was for a deer killed by a mountain lion. When it was investigated it was determined that the deer had been killed by coyotes - based on the evidence at the kill site.
We had a videotaped sighting reported in 2003. The caller said it was a mountain lion and had a long tail. When our officer viewed the tape it showed a bobcat, not a mountain lion.
Another caller in 2003 reported a medium brown cat with a long tail about the size of a small german shepard. (See my link to the Caracal - about the size of a small german shepard)
In 2004 the following was received, Animal sounded like a cougar, was approximately 2-3 ft tall and 3-4 ft long. Animal was face to face with a bobcat, then ran from the scene when complainant went outside to investigate. Have any of you ever seen a mountain lion and bobcat stand face to face? Fight maybe, the bobcat run away probably, but face to face?
Complainant saw mountain lion in back yard. Animal went back into woods towards wildlife sanctuary. Complainant stated the cat had stubby tail and weighed approximately 200 lbs.
We also had a "confirmed" sighting earlier this year where the complainant produced a photograph of the mountain lion he saw. He later admitted that he downloaded the photo from the internet to show his girlfriend what a mountain lion looked like.
The vast majority of the sightings were people seeing an animal walking through their yard, across the road or in the woods with the only description being "mountain lion". No proof, no photographs, no pawprints, no scat, no hair. How many members of the general public who do not fish do you think could tell the difference between a striped bass, largemouth bass and trout? To them it's a fish. A dogfish to them is a shark - so if they see a small dogfish at the beach then you get a rash of shark sightings reported. Is a dogfish a shark? kind of sort of, same general shape, it's gray and has teeth....is a large yellow tabby or bobcat a mountain lion?
Finally, according to our records, we (EnCon Police/DEP Emergency Dispatch)have not received any complaints or calls regarding cattle being killed by a mountain lion or any other animal in Woodstock. The closest was on 5/20/03 in Mansfield where a farmer's cattle were being chased by COYOTES.
As I have stated earlier in this thread and in many others - is it possible that there are mountain lions in CT - yes - but no one has been able to provide any proof to date. When someone produces evidence then I will be able to say that we have a confirmed mountain lion in CT.
Until then it is "a rumor", "my friend said", "I heard", "I know"....
Let's see....a dead deer.....mangled....has to be a mountain lion! Coyotes, bobcats, crows and turkey vultures never feed on dead animals..right? If Paul Rego was concerned that there was a mountain lion in the area he would have been there right away. He's a lot smarter than me, that's why he's the departments furbearer biologist...if he's not worried about mountain lions, then I'm not going to be too concerned either,I trust his judgement.
EnCon Police Moderator
Registered: 03/01/04
Posts: 3899
Oh by the way...if you want to take a cheap shot at Paul Rego, at least have the common courtesy to post what he said to the paper too... From the New Britain Herald: "Paul Rego, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the predator was most likely a coyote.
"A coyote would be the biggest suspect," he said. "This is a situation that we get reported on and off. It's not surprising at all. It's not very likely the predator was a bear since most are in their winter dens at this point. But it's not impossible.
"We've had a few reports of bears still out but not in that vicinity. Plus, bears tend to not do much predation. Another possibility would be a bobcat, but it's not very common for bobcats to tackle something as large as a deer."
We still love you Skip, even if you and your cronies are whitewashing us Part of me wants this thread to die from being beaten to death, but the bigger part of me cant stop laughing !
Stick a fork in this!!
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