The mountain lion, also known as the cougar or puma, is the second-largest wild cat in the Americas. These powerful, solitary predators once roamed the forests and mountains of New York State. While sightings persist, state wildlife authorities confirm that a resident, self-sustaining, and breeding population of mountain lions does not exist in New York. Any animals seen today are either transient wanderers from distant western populations or escaped captive animals.
Official Classification in New York
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) classifies the mountain lion as “extirpated” within the state. This term signifies that the animal once lived in the region but has been locally extinct for many decades. The DEC has found no evidence of a native, self-sustaining population, such as a female denning with young or consistent physical signs like tracks and scat.
Despite the lack of a native population, any mountain lion found within New York is protected under state law. The species is listed as Endangered under Environmental Conservation Law. This designation means that if a mountain lion were to appear in the state, it would be protected from hunting or harassment.
The federal government previously recognized the Eastern Cougar as an endangered subspecies, but it was formally declared extinct in 2011. This determination was based on a lack of biological evidence that a wild, breeding population of the original eastern subspecies survived past the mid-20th century. New York remains outside the species’ current established range.
History of Mountain Lions in the State
Mountain lions, specifically the Eastern Cougar subspecies, were once widespread across New York’s wilderness, including the Adirondacks and the Catskills. Their presence was a natural part of the ecosystem, with their primary prey being the white-tailed deer. The decline of the Eastern Cougar began with the arrival of European settlers and the subsequent expansion of colonial settlements.
Settlers viewed the large predators as a threat to livestock and a competitor for game animals, leading to systematic persecution. Unregulated hunting and the destruction of vast tracts of forest habitat throughout the 18th and 19th centuries decimated the population. Many states, including New York, offered bounties for dead cougars as a means of population control.
By the late 1800s, the mountain lion population had nearly vanished from the state. The last confirmed record of a wild mountain lion in New York dates to around 1903 in the Adirondack region. The Eastern Cougar was considered functionally extinct across its entire range by the 1930s, with the last verified individual killed in Maine in 1938.
Sources of Modern Sightings
The rare, modern-day confirmed sightings in New York State are attributed to two sources: transient wild animals and escaped captive pets. The most celebrated example occurred in 2011, involving a wild male cougar that migrated over 1,500 miles from the Black Hills of South Dakota. This animal passed through the Lake George area of New York before being struck and killed by a vehicle in Connecticut.
This type of long-distance movement, known as dispersal, is a behavior most often seen in young male cougars seeking to establish a territory far from their birthplace. The Midwest, where populations are expanding, serves as the origin for these rare travelers. These animals are temporary visitors and are not part of a resident New York population.
A second source of confirmed sightings involves animals that have escaped from private ownership. Despite regulations, some individuals illegally keep mountain lions as pets or acquire them through the exotic animal trade. These animals, often less fearful of humans and not adapted to hunting in the wild, are occasionally released or escape, leading to isolated and non-sustainable appearances in the state.
However, the vast majority of mountain lion reports are cases of misidentification, where other common animals are mistaken for the large cat. Bobcats are frequently confused with cougars, though the bobcat is significantly smaller, weighing less than fifty pounds. The bobcat also possesses a short, bobbed tail, a stark contrast to the mountain lion’s long, heavy tail, which accounts for up to a third of its body length.
Other common misidentifications include coyotes, large feral dogs, or domestic house cats seen from a distance or in poor lighting. The mountain lion’s uniform tawny color, large size (adult males average around 140 pounds), and long tail are distinguishing characteristics often overlooked in a fleeting glance. When reporting a potential sighting to the DEC, the public should seek physical evidence such as tracks or scat, and photograph the sign with a ruler or coin for accurate scale and confirmation.