Up To 8-Foot Long, 160-Pound Mountain Lion On The Loose In Greenwich, Conn.
GREENWICH, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) – There has been a wild animal alert issued in the northern suburbs. A mountain lion, yes, a mountain lion, is on the loose, reports CBS 2’s Lou Young.It’s out there and conservation experts said the picture obtained by CBS 2 is definitely it.
There's a grainy picture of the cat in question. Dunno if I buy it's 8 feet long, but it is definitely big. Certainly not something I'd care to come across while walking with my kids, that's for certain. If I were in the area, I'd think long and hard about letting the kids out to play - at least without having the Savage or the Mossberg at the ready. I particularly liked this advice:
Greenwich Conservation director Denise Savageau said that if anyone happens upon a suspected mountain lion, they should, “Act large, stand up tall, wave your arms and make noises. Don’t freeze. You don’t want to act like a bunny.”I've got a better idea:
Big Cat Medicine
That is all.
19 comments:
Greenwich Conservation director Denise Savageau said "This lion is hungry. It has claws. To it, you are nothing more than easy meat to satisfy its hunger. Try pretending you are not meat. Perhaps the mountain lion will be in a fun mood and play along."
"And good luck"
*runs away*
I used to live not too far away from there. About a year ago, my next door neighbor came home to find a dead deer in the yard. The deer in question weighed a good 80 or 90 pounds, had been choked to death by an animal with large teeth, and dragged up on top of the swing set.
When I lived in Africa, I observed leopards behaving this way.
The authorities responded that Mountain Lions are not native to this part of CT.
"The authorities responded that Mountain Lions are not native to this part of CT."
Apparently neither is common sense.
If you've deer with fang marks in throat it's either a vampire or a cougar.
Thats Nothin... you should see all the cougars on Friday and Saturday nights at the local watering hole ;)
....
Sounds like you have an ABC or phantom cat. Send out some mainstream scientists to find it. They think the phenomenon is hogwash anyway. Maybe they can will it not to bite.
Google "mountain lion milford". Apparently, the animal ran afoul of an SUV.
"A" mountain lion was killed by a SUV in Milford, CT. 40-50 miles from Greenwich, and on the other side of a really big river. DEP says there are no mt lions in CT, so this has to be the same one as the one in Greenwich, and it must be an escaped pet. Uh huh. And it either swam the river or strolled across one of the very busy bridges unseen. There are still sightings of it back in Greenwich, but they are all mistaken. There are no mt lions in CT. The other weird thing is the police/press reported the identity of the woman who struck the mt lion in Milford, but she claims she was home in bed, and doesnt even own an SUV.
Oh BTW, they used to say there were no moose in CT as well. Well, the did up until some poor woman (from NH no less!) was killed when she hit one way down south in Stamford.
Well before they were nearly extinctified they were common. now we have protected species and the few remaining are huntin deer which are excess.
Your not as far from the woods as you think you are. Nor are the critters.
Eck!
I'd be going armed ALL the time...
PS: the one killed the other day in Milford, CT weighed in at 140 lbs, which is smallish for a male, but large for a female. I don't think I've heard what sex it was. 8ft nose to tail is probably around average. Probably the worst "disarmed" feeling I've ever had has been hiking in SoCal some years ago where of course we were disarmed except for a stick. All the trailheads had mountain lion warnings, and there had been a fairly recent attack on a mountain biker in the area. I know a gun or knife is most likely not going to stop one from attacking, but I still would have felt a little better.
Greenwich Conservation director Denise Savageau said, "You don’t want to act like a bunny."
Act like a bunny? Ghods of light and shadow, this is a mountain lion we're talking about, you ditz! Out west they kill whitetail deer, mule deer, and the occasional elk -- all animals, you'll note, that are bigger than a human.
If you encounter a cougar, you have exactly three chances to escape with your life. One, it isn't hungry. Two, you're with someone else who is slower than you are. Or three, you see it before it's aware of you. Were I you, I wouldn't bet my life on chance three. If you're carrying ... well, maybe, if you see it in time and you're one of the few who can aim straight while a VERY LARGE PREDATOR IS CHARGING RIGHT AT YOU.
Back in the mid 70's my uncle's coon hounds treed one here in western NC, near Sylva. Me ( age 14 or so ) and my dad and uncle were camping while the dogs were out chasing coons. It was pretty late and when the dogs set up with the "treed" call, my dad gave me the rifle and told me to go get it. Now, this rifle was a single shot 22, and the extractor was broken so you had to pry the spent shell out with a pocketknife blade.
I make my way through the woods to where the dogs were and shine the light up in the tree, and there is this damn mountain lion staring at me. It let out a scream and I turned around and lit out back for the camp. I made it back just in front of the dogs and jumped in the back of the truck ( It had a camper cover ). The dogs jumped in behind me and would not get out of the truck for the rest of the night.
If the authorities were to admit that their is a native population of Mountain Lions in CT, then they probably have to take steps to protect them as an endangered species. If they continue to insist that they are strays from, well, somewhere else, then they are off the hook.
Until one eats the Governor, I'd guess any sightings will be attributed to strays or vivid imaginations.
@TOTWTYTR -- that is a very astute observation. I was wondering why they were so insistent that there was "nothing to see here."
To amplify my previous comment -- I had two kids both under 6 at the time that this dead deer turned up in my neighbors yard. I feel like just maybe I was the endangered species...
Our little neighborhood was pretty densely populated. Unless someone was in danger of being eaten Right F'ing Now, you would be very unwise to shoot. A miss or richochet could easily hit a house, or pass across a frequently travelled road.
"Until one eats the Governor, I'd guess any sightings will be attributed to strays or vivid imaginations."
Oh, if only we could be so lucky.......
An 8 ft cougar is a pretty big cat. They do get heavier in BC and Idaho but my largest was 7' 11 and weighed about 145 pound, taken in southern Utah.
We used .357 with all lead wad cutters. Jacket hollow points tend to punch through without expanding. A .243 is plenty large enough with the right bullet.
Just for the record lions hunt and kill thing that weigh 2 1/2 their body weight and hunt in prides. Leopards hunt things that weigh 4 times their body weight. Mountain Lions have no problem killing things that weigh 8 to 10 times their size.
Gerry
I wonder how many idiots will that that idiot's advice seriously...
and how many will arm themselves (more gun owners in CT than most people would think).
OC used to be legal there, too; Contrary to what the cops will say.
Dunno if it still is...
...some days it's not your turn to be at the top of the food chain...
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