they migrated to ny jeffery:cool: neo
From a different thread;
Not only were they claimed to have come from Hornell, NY - but also Maine. Here's an article from a Maine newspaper explaining the hoax;
Experts say cougar photos a hoax
By Marci Hait
[email protected]
YORK - According to Maine state biologists and an organization which tracks mountain lion spottings around the country, the "infamous deck photos" of a cougar prowling around a residential neighborhood are a hoax.
They are real photographs, said Cougar Network Co-founder Mark Dowling, but they were taken no where near southern Maine.
"The photos are authentic, but the incident occurred in Lander, Wyoming, not Maine," said Dowling. "Nothing happened during the visit and the cougar left on its own."
Local Animal Control Officer Tom Porter said he learned the circulating pictures were fraudulent when he was contacted by Eliot/Kittery Animal Control Officer Bob Gagne late last week. When the photos began to travel via e-mail, at least one claim said they were taken on Beech Road in Eliot.
"Apparently he talked to the state biologist ... There were a few chuckles about it but that’s about it," he said.
State biologist Phil Bozenhard, who is stationed out of Gray, could not be reached for comment as of press time.
However, Dowling said Bozenhard was probably aware the photographs were not taken in this area because a number of such hoaxes occur each year.
"The Cougar Network has been sent these photos well over a dozen times, along with claims they were taken in various eastern states like New York and Maine," he said.
Dowling said in addition to the three images of a mountain lion peeping through a glass door and creeping around someone’s deck, there are also other fictitious photos popping up around the country.
"One is a trail photo of a California cougar stalking a black-tailed deer, the other is a photo of a man holding an enormous cougar shot in Washington state," said Dowling, adding that there are also three hoax videos circulating in Michigan. "Their stories have resulted in ‘cougar paranoia’ among citizens and resulted in the lock-down of several schools in the Detroit area."
Dowling said his group, which is "a nonprofit research organization dedicated to relationships and the role of cougars in ecosystems," with a special focus on expanding populations, does not believe there is a "remnant population" of cougars in Maine.
If there were cougars that were reproducing and thriving in the wild in this area, it is "inevitable and unavoidable" that residents would find their carcasses owing to incidental snaring, car and motorcycle accidents and starvation.
"The cats documented there (in Maine) are almost certainly of captive origin, as thousands of these animals are in private hands throughout North America," said Dowling. "Anywhere these animals live in proximity to humans, cougar carcasses are recovered on a regular basis."
To learn about the Cougar Network and view its research, visit www.cougarnet.org.