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| Mountain lion print found near Red House, Allegheny State Park, NY
during November 2017. Picture by the
Author |
The truth and the cats are out there…Do you believe?
I grew up hearing stories about mountain lions in
western New York: when I was little, I remember my Father telling me a story
that took place when he was a young boy, shortly after World War II. Some cousins of my Father’s foster family,
who lived outside of Forestville, New York, told him about a panther that had
been heard, at night, in the hills, south of the village, and the hunt that
took place looking for it. Of course,
they didn’t find an eastern mountain lion, because as everyone knows, cougars,
catamounts, painters, panthers, or just plain mountain lions, which are all
names for the same animal, and had been extinct since the early years of the 20th
century on the east coast of North America.
Fast forward to 2008, it was a warm early fall day and
we had decided to take a trip to the “Hanging Bog”, which is a large beaver
pond, in the hills, near Rushford, New York.
We thought it would be a good day to do some canoeing and exploring and
my youngest son, who was four at the time, had never been in a canoe before. We canoed to shore on the far side of the
lake and as I stepped out, I saw “it”.
“It” was a large paw print, the size of a baseball, without any claw
marks, that was just starting to fill with water. Someone had watched us bring the canoe to the
shore and that someone was a cougar. I
quickly scanned the trees around the landing, to see if there was a large cat
above me in the branches. I loosened the
small axe that I always carry when I wander in the woods, which was under my
belt, in the small of my back. I didn’t
see the cougar, just a lonely paw print rapidly filling up with water, at the
edge of swampy lake. Oh, and of course,
just as these things always go, I didn’t have a camera with me.
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| Mountain lion print found near Red House, Allegheny State Park, NY
during November 2017. Picture by the
Author |
It was a sunny, early November day in 2017, and we had
decided to take a hike near Red House, in Allegheny State Park, in southwestern
New York State. We were hiking along the
top of a ridge that separated two narrow, steep-walled valleys with small
streams down their centers. It had
snowed the night before, only about a quarter of an inch, and it was still
below freezing, although the sky was clear and the sun was bright, when I saw
“it” again. Again, “it” was a single,
large paw print without any claw marks, boldly stamped in the snow, as if a
large cat had stepped over the path.
This time I had a camera, and I took a picture, thankfully, just before
a woman with a small herd of yappy dogs came around the bend of the trail and
trampled all of the evidence.
In 2008, no one believed that I saw, what I had seen,
because of course, there are no cougars left on the east coast of North
America, except in the very south of Florida, which is a long way away from
rural western New York. However, I knew
what I had seen.
In 2011, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that
there are no native populations of mountain lions east of the Mississippi, except
in Florida, and any that are seen, are escaped or released pets. The native eastern mountain lions, as a
subspecies (puma concolor couguar), was considered to have gone extinct in the
early years of the 20th century.
Shortly after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services
announcement regarding the extinction of the native eastern mountain lions, came
the news in 2011, that a young male cougar that had been hit by a car on Wilbur
Cross Parkway, in Milford, Connecticut, only 70 miles from New York City. Scientists, using DNA tests, determined that
this cougar was from South Dakota, and he had travelled more than 1,800 miles,
through Michigan, into Canada, crossing back into New York State near the
western edge of the Adirondacks, before travelling southeast to his fateful encounter
with an SUV, on the parkway.
After, the South Dakota mountain lion was killed on
the parkway in Connecticut, in 2011; migratory western mountain lions were
added to the mix. Officially, there is
not a breeding population of mountain lions east of the Mississippi and today,
if you see a mountain lion in the woods, you have seen a migratory western lion
or an escaped or released pet.
Tracks
and Scat
Most likely, you will never see a mountain lion in the
woods; however, you might see evidence of its passing, either tracks or scat. So how can you tell if those tracks you have
found belong to a mountain lion? The
first clue is whether there are claw marks or not. Canine tracks usually display claw marks,
while cat tracks do not; also canine tracks tend to be oval and are longer from
heel to toe than they are wide. Additionally,
cat tracks often display a leading toe, which is a toe that sticks out further
than the rest, while with dog tracks the two front toes are side by side. The second thing to look for is the size of
the track and the size of plantar or heel pad; mountain lion tracks are quite
large, up to five inches in diameter, although on average they are closer to
three inches in diameter. The average
male mountain lion will leave tracks that are four inches wide, while the
average female mountain lion will leave tracks that are up to three and a half
inches wide. In addition, you might be
able to determine the sex of the mountain lion by the size of its plantar pad; the
average adult female mountain lions have a plantar pad that is less than two
inches wide, while the average male mountain lion will have a plantar pad that
is greater than two inches in width. The
heel pads of cats are larger than the small, two lobed, triangular pads of dogs
and the three lobed pad looks like an “M”. And, the last clue is whether an “X” drawn between the first and fourth
toe pad, crosses through the heel pad or not.
If the “X”, when drawn, does
not cross over the rear pad then it is a dog track, while if it does cut
through the rear pad, it is a cat track.
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| (L) Coyote track, actual size, Animal Tracks: Roger Tory Peterson
Field Guide, Figure 46, p. 95 and (R) Mountain lion track, scaled to actual size, Figure
52, p. 110. Note the lack of claw marks
on the Mountain lion track and how an X drawn between the first and fourth toe
pad, crosses through the heel pad. |
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| Mountain lion print found near Red House, Allegheny State Park, NY
during November 2017. Picture by the
Author |
So, I used these tests on the track that I found near
Red House in November 2017: unfortunately, because the leaf under the rear pad
makes it difficult to see the outline of the heel, this isn’t the best track to
analyze. However, the size, round shape
and the absence of any claw marks, makes me believe that this is not a dog’s footprint
and is most likely a mountain lion’s paw print.
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| Animal Tracks: Roger Tory Peterson Field Guide, Figure 57, a.
Tracks in mud; b, c, d., Walking or trotting gates; e. Mountain lion wallowing
in snow; f. Tracks in snow, showing foot drags; g. Leaping gait in snow,
showing tail marks; p. 118-119 |
Instead of tracks, you might find scat. If you do find scat, you will notice that it
is full of hair and bits of bone, however, since members of the cat family tend
to cover their dung, scat is not often found.
If found, the scats from large cats can be hard to distinguish from
those of dogs or coyotes. Cat scat is
more segmented, by constrictions, than those of dogs are, but the best clue
would be that scat is covered or that there are claw marks surrounding the dung
pile.
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| Animal Tracks: Roger Tory Peterson Field Guide, Figure 53, Mountain
lion scat, p. 111 |
Mountain
Lion Facts
· Mountain
lions have a wide range throughout the western United States and both their
population and range are increasing.
They can easily travel 20 to 30 miles a day, hunting an eating along the
way.
· A
mountain lions range depends on the amount of available food and can be from 10
square miles to 370 square miles.
· Mountain
lions weigh an average of 130 to 140 pounds, with male lions weighing an
average between 115 to 160 pounds and female lions weighing between 75 and 105
pounds.
· Mountain
lions live on average 12 years in the wild and in captivity have lived to 25
years.
· Mountain
lions are solitary animals and are seldom seen, they prefer remote, wooded
areas: searchers generally have to content themselves scat, tracks and the
remains of kills and food caches.
· Mountain
lions need eight to ten pounds of meat a day to survive and experts estimate
that a mountain lion kills one deer every nine to fourteen days. In general, mountain lions prefer deer, when
they are not eating deer; their diet includes elk, porcupine, small mammals,
livestock or pets.
· Most
mountain lions will avoid a confrontation, so keep your distance and make sure
it has an open escape route. If a
mountain lion is angry or anxious, it will crouch down and thrash its tail,
stare at you and keep its body low to the ground. Immediately before an attack, a mountain
lion’s ears will flatten down against its head and its rear legs will pump.
In the end, does it matter whether the lion you saw,
or whose tracks you found, was a migrating western mountain lion, an escaped or
released pet, or a relic of the original eastern mountain lion population? Do you know what to do if you have a close-range,
surprise encounter with one, who seems angry or anxious? Worse, do you know what to do if a mountain
lion appears to be following you at a distance and staring intently at you: in short,
it is stalking you?
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| A portion of the photo titled “seen mountain biking at Skeggs today”, by
Steve Jurvetson |
How
to Avoid an Encounter
· Since
mountain lions are nocturnal, be especially cautious when moving around at night.
· To
avoid an encounter with a mountain lion, make noise so that the mountain lion
knows that humans are in the area and hike in groups.
If
You Encounter a Mountain Lion
Most mountain lions will avoid a confrontation with
humans, so stay calm. If the lion is
angry or anxious, try to identify why it is upset. Are you between a female and her kits? Are you near its den or its kill?
· With
mountain lions, it is all about being seen as prey or being seen as a threat
· Always
and at all times maintain eye contact, while you slowly back away giving the
lion an avenue to escape. Do not bend
over, as you will lose eye contact and you will look like a four legged prey
animal.
· Never
turn your back and never EVER run away from a lion! If you do, you will trigger the cat’s
predatory instincts.
· Stand
tall, wave your arms or hold your coat open, yell and throw sticks and stones
at it. If you are in a group, stand side
by side so that you appear bigger. If
you have children, put them behind you or hold onto them.
If
You Are Attacked
· If
you have bear spray, use it. If someone
is being attacked and you have bear spray, spray both the lion and the person
being attacked if necessary.
· Do
not play dead, fight back! Playing dead
means that you will end up dead for real.
Fight back because 75% of those attacked by mountain lions survive. Mountain lions kill people by biting the back
of the neck and snapping the spine, by biting through the skull, or by biting
the throat and suffocating their victim.
If you are bitten, stick your finger into the lion’s eye.
· If
you are with a group, fight the mountain lion as a group.
If
You Are Being Stalked
· If
a mountain lion is following you at a distance and watching you intently, it is
probably trying to determine if you are or are not prey.
· Stand
tall, wave your arms or hold your coat open, yell and throw sticks and stones
at it. If you are in a group, stand side
by side so that you appear bigger. If
you have children, put them behind you or hold onto them.
· Make
sure that you have scared it away before, immediately leaving and reporting the
situation to the proper authorities.
Sources
Lancaster, Laura; “Fight or Flight?” [American
Survival Guide, December 2015, ] p 77-81
Murie, Olaus J., Animal Tracks: Roger Tory Peterson
Field Guide, [Easton Press, Norwalk, Connecticut, 1974] p.110-111, 118-121
