Increased cougar sightings in Allen Co. (via Chad Arment)

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - There's growing concern that a cougar could be lurking around southwest Allen County. The DNR has gotten at least four reports of sightings in four different locations in that area.
Bob Girod is an eye witness to one of the sitings; he said he saw one in his own backyard after he heard his dog barking.

"All three of us went to the window and we looked out the kitchen window and right outside the window beneath the security light we saw a large cat. I'm estimating about 50 lbs. He had a long swooping tail and very characteristic ears and face."

Girod, who's a Fort Wayne police officer, reacted quickly. "I said 'gun.' My son grabbed a gun and racked a round into it and as he worked the action, the cat heard it and moved its head up toward the window and looked up at us."

Girod said the cougar then ran into the woods. He called the Department of Natural Resources, but officers there aren't as convinced that it was actually a mountain lion.

"In order for DNR to make a confirmation presence, we need to have some hard evidence: photos, tracks, scat, something like that, that our folks can look at," explained DNR Communications Director Phil Bloom.

Officials said there have been more than 200 reported sightings across Indiana in the past year. There's proof in fewer than 20 of the cases and only one has been confirmed in Greene County. The cougar there was captured by a trail camera.

Girod has put up his own camera in hopes of capturing an image of what he's already seen. There are no pictures yet, but he said he has all the proof he needs In the x-rays from when his dog McHale was attacked.

"He (the veterinarian) said he was not hit by a car, it was not a gunshot. He said they were puncture bites that looked like bite marks. Forensically speaking, it was his opinion it was a cat bite not a dog bite. The only cat he thought could possibly break a leg on a dog that size would be a cougar," recalled Girod.

DNR officials are still looking at the x-rays and encourage people to call if they see anything unusual.

"We're not saying that those reports are false or inaccurate," Bloom said. "We just need to have some hard evidence for one of our biologists to say, 'Yes, that is indeed a mountain lion."

The DNR said there have been reports in nearby states like Illinois, so it's not unreasonable to think the animals could migrate to Indiana. "Anything's possible. Particularly the young males will move out. There has been increased evidence of some movement out of the Dakotas into the surrounding states," said Bloom.

What should you do if you actually come across a cougar? Bloom had these tips:

• don't approach it


• don't run from it


• make eye contact

Mountain lion killed in Conn. traced to S. Dakota

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A mountain lion killed on a Connecticut highway last month had apparently walked halfway across the country from South Dakota, according to Connecticut environmental officials who said Tuesday that the journey of roughly 2,000 miles was one of the longest ever recorded for a land mammal.


The animal originated in the Black Hills region of South Dakota and was tracked by DNA from its hair and droppings as it passed through Minnesota and Wisconsin in 2009 and 2010, Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Commissioner Daniel Esty said at a news conference.
Biologists estimate the size of the mountain lion population at about 100,000 in North America, mostly living in western regions and seldom traveling more than 100 miles. It was the first confirmed wild mountain lion in Connecticut in more than 100 years.


"It is a testament to the adaptability of the species that it can travel so far from its original home in South Dakota to Connecticut," Esty said.

The lean, 140-pound male was killed June 11 when it was hit by a sport utility vehicle at night on the Wilbur Cross Parkway in the New Haven suburb of Milford.

Authorities initially believed it was a captive animal that escaped, but tests showed that it was not neutered or declawed and it had no implanted microchips, which are commonly used in domestic animals.

Tests also determined it was likely the same one that had been seen earlier in Greenwich, Conn., a New York City suburb 30 miles away. The death was followed by a flurry of big cat sightings in the suburbs of Connecticut, but experts dismissed most of them as unreliable. Government experts say no native mountain lions are believed to live in Connecticut.

Although it was an anomaly, Esty said the presence of the wild mountain lion is a good sign of the ability of Connecticut's conserved land to sustain wildlife.


He said the discovery is "a strong symbol of what we had all hoped for who work in the conservation area, that wilderness areas and biological diversity can be preserved and protected."

Genetic testing showed the cat had the same genetic structure of the mountain lion population in South Dakota's Black Hills region. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service Wildlife Genetics Laboratory in Missoula, Mont., matched the DNA with samples collected from a cat that was spotted in eastern Minnesota near Minneapolis and in northern Wisconsin from late 2009 through early 2010.

It was unclear what route the animal took to Connecticut. Biologists said it could have traveled south near urban areas or north through Canada.

STEPHEN DOCKERY

From Associated Press
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