The last confirmed records of the Eastern cougar’s existence were in 1938 in Maine. Though the government states the species is extinct, hundreds of sightings are still reported on a daily basis, particularly after the 2011 sighting of a mountain lion in Greenwich, Conn. The cougar had voyaged nearly 1,500 miles from his home in the Black Hills of South Dakota, an incredible feat no doubt, but one that exemplifies the big cat’s dispersal instincts. Although the lone wanderer met a tragic fate on the Wilbur Cross Parkway, his legacy spurred a phenomenon of conspiracy theories. Determined big cat activists have been trying to deceive state Fish and Wildlife Service agencies with false sightings and photographs from the Internet.
“We’re really vulnerable to these hoaxes,” says biologist Tom French of the Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife Service. “The people behind these deliberate scams claim that the state government has been keeping mountain lions a secret. We’re not that good. There’s no way in hell we could have kept that quiet.”
Whether the “sightings” are hoaxes or genuine inquiries is irrelevant. If the Eastern mountain lion is extinct, what are these people seeing?
“We get a lot of photographs from trail cameras that are actually domestic cats,” says Asheville-based Fish and Wildlife biologist Mark Cantrell.
Others have confused lions with coyotes, bobcats, or even deer. Misidentification is typically caused by poor lighting conditions at the time of the sighting.
