People have reported sitings of "long tailed cats" in WV for years, and the DNR says the same thing here. No proof. I guess they need to see a body.

Hit by a car on rte 39 near savage road in Erie County close to the Chautauqua county border. This is the second one we had seen hit by a car. That is the game wardens truck when he weighed it it was 190 pounds.

Here is a link that might be useful: mountian lion erie county

another hoax. NYS Conservation officers(game wardens) don't drive pickup trucks(they drive SUVs), especially trucks with dog kennels in them. This is obviously a houndsmans truck who was recently hunting, successfully, mountain lions. That only takes place west of the Mississippi.

Folks,

We spotted a mountain lion in Hamlin, NY, right off Rt. 19 where the town just put in a new trail system.

We had a similar experience to others posted here. Two of saw the cat as were hiking today.

At first, I spotted the cat as it ran across the main path, but I thought it was a VERY big fox, because of the red color (not really thinking cougars here).

After we got deeper into the woods, on a side trail, we came across it dead on about 100 feet ahead, but thinking at first it was a deer -- until I saw the cat's head, and thought geez, that looks like tiger. Then, I realized OMG --that is, it's a mountain lion!

We both saw it at the same time, and I never turned, tucked tail, and ran so fast! We hauled out of there scared skinny that cat saw us.

We made a narrow escape, when I saw that head my animal instinct kicked in, I knew we were in big danger.
I felt like we were back on the steppes of Africa suddenly exposed, like in a dream, where you are suddenly confronted with an attacker.

So there you have it, sighting of cougar along Lake Ontario, western NY, about 30 miles northwest of Rochester. Anyone else care to verify?

Ontario Canada has cougars / puma / big cat /
Seems like a reasonable place to start looking for confirmation.
If anyone cares to know more:

http://www.canadiangeographic.ca/magazine/nd07/feature_wildlife.asp

"Cougars on the move"
After decades of fleeting glimpses and speculation, DNA analysis proves that the elusive puma is reinhabiting its range in Ontario
By Eric Harris
The scat proves the cats back. Confirmation came in May, but the story started in March 2004, when Anne Yagi, a biologist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, was inspecting a carnivore kill site in the Wainfleet Bog, near Port Colborne, Ont. She was convinced it wasnÂt the work of a coyote, so she collected fur and scat samples and handed one promising piece of feces over to Stuart Kenn, president of the Ontario Puma Foundation. It turned out to be the most significant proof, in a field of frustratingly anecdotal evidence, that the cougar (Puma concolor) is reoccupying parts of its former eastern habitat. ..."

I just want to say that I SAW a Black Panther today!! That's why I did the search. I told the Forest Ranger and he said others have sited them too, but the DEC officially says None in NY. I first thought it was a black bear, until it turned around and ran in the woods. It was definately a black mountain lion, with the long tail. It was bigger than a German Shepard too. So to say they don't exist is BULL. This was in Jersey Hill State Forest, near Birdsall, NY (Allegany County)!

That is about 45 miles from where I live north of Albany, so that one easily could travel that distance in a few weeks or much less. Having those animals around is not appealing when planning a hiking trip. Thanks for that info!

'large greyish/black cat sitting just across the property line in the field about 50 feet away.....she said that it was easily as big or bigger than our 60 pound dog....'

Well, she saw it and I suppose you claimed a few neighbors saw it, so I guess that's sufficient proof for them to do some investigation.

:o

I just sent this to an author of an article on the moutain lion in ct. I am posting this here to see if anyone else saw what I did. On November 9, 2011 I was driving from Syracuse to Binghamton at 10:30 am. Soon after I passed the Whitney Point exit, but well before Castle Creek, I saw a dead cat on the left shoulder of the road. This was a huge red cat. It was obviously dead but its face and body were intact. The face was rounded-a cross between a raccoon kind of face and a domestic cat.-sweet and round. It had a very long tail that had fur that was straight (not fuzzy or curly) and the tail was rope-like and long-swung/curved around to the front of the animal. The legs were long. The color was very close to the red you would see on a domestic red cat-solid color not spotted and not merely tan with redish tint-clearly orange red. I would say its back would have been about 2-3 feet off the ground had it been standing. It was thin and the fur on it was not fuzzy but short. I was traveling at 65mph and by the time I had processed what I saw it was too late to easily pull over and I was late. I called the police (I think Castle Creek-911 but can't recall) and the dispatcher showed interest. She said she would have someone check it out. I called her later that day. She said she was so curious about it that she went herself during her lunch hour but by then it was gone. She said someone probably took it for the fur. Then she started listing the kind of animal it could have been.

Now, I know nothing about wild animals but was surprised by the animals she listed because they were the sort of animal I assumed existed only in places like africa (I've got the suburban NY-view of the world) or the zoo. I began to google the various animals she suggested to compare to what I saw. What I saw was clearly most similar to a mountain lion. But, the face was round and did not have the long muzzle that the pictures show. So, I think it was probably young-although the pictures of the young mountain lions suggest that they are not solid in color. Maybe there is an adolescent period when the body becomes solid color and the face is still round?

It was only after I looked at pictures of all kinds of animals that I started to read about Mountain lions in NY. I had no idea there was any controversy about whether they exist or not. I did not know they ever existed in NY. In fact, I would have been quite surprised to hear that they existed in this country at all..anywhere. So, when the dispatcher mentioned things like mountain lions and panthers I was very surprised. I posted a description of what I had seen on Topix in the hope someone else had seen it and could let me know what it was. All I got was a few snide comments. Then I started to google more seriously because it began to bother me that I could not figure this out. At that point I found this post on a different site:

"05-05-2011, 06:48 PM #1
Crokit
Mountain lion sighting
First, let me state that I have all my faculties, excellent eye sight, and am not given to exaggerations.

Today, while traveling south on Interstate 81, between Syracuse and Binghamton, I saw a Mountain Lion / Cougar/Panther, pick your noun. !! 100% positive, absolutely no doubt. There is ZERO chance that it was anything else. The only other thing it could have possibly been ( other than a live mountain lion/cougar/panther ) is a full body mount of a mountain lion/cougar/panther and someone pulling a prank. It was less than 100yds off the West side of the road, sitting on top of a section of rock/cliff that the highway had been cut through. It was sitting on it's haunches, leaning forward, ears forward, looking down onto/across the highway. It was about 30-40 feet above the highway. Just before the " Castle creek 1 mile " highway sign.
When I screamed " holy F%^K, a mountain lion, scaring the S#$T out my buddy who was driving almost lost control at 75 mph.

An absolutely beautiful animal, well muscled, excellent specimen. Up until now, when ever I've seen reports of sightings, I've taken them with a grain of salt. No more!

Anyone know of any other recent reported sightings in that area?

Wldnerness: Can you put me in touch with any of the state Dec/Rangers/etc from that area?"

And my post on Topix was as follows:

Justwondering
East Syracuse, NY

huge red fox, moutain lion or lynx on I-81 (S) near Castle Creek
Nov 9, 2011
Did any see a dead huge cat like animal on the southbound side of I-81 about a mile closer to Syracuse then the exit for Castle Creek. It was on the left lying an its side, obviously dead and huge. If you did see it, or heard someone else talking about it, what was it? It looked like it had a body like a mountain lion, a long tail with long fur-not bushy and a face that was rounder like a lynx.Its color was pretty uniformly red-not mixed or strips or anything like that. I was moving too fast and, once I had processed what I saw, I had gone too far to see it. Apparently someone picked it up, probably for its fur, because it was gone soon thereafter. I saw it at around 10:40am Tuesday morning. If you did not see it but are familiar with the wild life around there, any ideas? Any information would be appreciated.

What do you think? These two sightings are at identical places. I do not believe that they are both mirages. Also, if the one I saw was young, it would not have been as visible to a driver on I-81 6 months earlier. The one I saw was not so big that it would have been very visible to drivers if it were on the top of a hill. That means that the one I saw could have been the adolescent offspring of the one seen by the earlier poster. I think there must be a den and the female must still be in the area. I know this was not a mirage and I wish I could locate others who saw it on that day.