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There have been two reported sightings of a mountain lion in Greenwich, made after a mountain lion was struck by a car and killed on Saturday. But state environmental officials say they don't believe there is a second big cat. WNPR's Nancy Cohen reports.
Just this spring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency declared the Eastern Mountain Lion extinct. But reports of sightings of the big cats in the Northeast are not uncommon. On Saturday a car on the Wilbur Cross Parkway killed a mountain lion. After the animal was killed Greenwich police received two calls from people saying they had seen a mountain lion. But D.E.P. Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette says there's no evidence to confirm a second cat.
“With little or no fresh evidence with the additional sightings the D.E.P. continues to believe the animal that was killed in Milford early Saturday morning was in fact the animal that was last seen in Greenwich.”
The D.E.P. believes the animal that was killed was most likely a pet. Keeping a mountain lion captive is illegal in the state. Environmental police are investigating.
The U.S. Fish and Wildife Service will do DNA testing on the cat that was killed to determine if it is from South America where pet mountain lions come from or if it is from one of the wild populations in Florida or the west. Investigators will also take a look at what the animal ate to see if it was fed in captivity. DEP Wildlife biologist Paul Rego says mountain lions kept in captivity tend to be a little fat, but this one wasn't.
"In layman’s terms: ‘out-of-shape’, flabby, perhaps over-fed. Our very cursory examination of this animal is it was not of that condition. It seemed to be a fairly lean animal.”
The D.E.P. is advising people to take common sense precautions: keep pet food and trash inside and children and pets close by.
