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Last summer, there were several local-news reports about mountain lion sightings in the Philipstown area. Philipstown.info, for example, reported on several residents claiming to have seen the animal. The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), has a position "that no evidence exists of a sustained native mountain lion population in New York State."
The DEC's assertion of there not being a local mountain lion population is given its own section on the agency's website.
"Eastern cougars (mountain lions) do not have a native, self sustaining population in New York State," the overview says. "They have been absent from this state since the late 1800s; however, there have been a few isolated sightings. Each sighting involved cougars that are not native to New York."
The DEC also rebuts rumors about mountain lions, including the notion that they were released by the agency to control the deer population.
Coyote sightings have garnered significant attention recently in Westchester. In Chappaqua, for example, the New Castle Town Board created two committees to recommend policy: New Castle Coyote Awareness & Safety Advisory Committee and the New Castle Coyote Management Task Force. Both groups support increasing education about coyotes and promote the use of hazing, a technique where people make loud noises and movements to scare coyotes.
However, the groups disagree on when it is appropriate to kill coyotes. The advisory committee only recommends doing so in reaction to unprovoked attacks on people, when an attack is made on a pet in a person's arms or on a short leash, or when they have a disease such as rabies. The group argues that killing coyotes leads to replacement breeding from packs that become destabilized due to lost members.
The task force takes a more liberal stance on killing coyotes, calling for it to be done proactively when there is a threat deemed for people or pets.
Coyote management has become a contentious topic amid the groups' findings. Daily Voice's coverage about it is available here.
The New Castle Town Board is slated to decide on which of the groups' findings it will adopt.
Meanwhile, the organization Wild Suburbia, which has ties to Mianus River Gorge, tracks sightings of coyotes, foxes, Fishers, Bobcats and bears. The group also warns against leaving out potential animal food, such as bird seed and garbage, along with not having pets or small children unsupervised.
"Bobcats are pretty strict carnivores, but bears and coyotes are more than happy to eat almost anything, including vegetable matter and garbage," a post on the group's site states. "Thus, you should also keep your compost piles safe and secure."
The group also notes relative risk when it comes to the carnivores and people.
"For many cultural and, maybe, instinctual reasons, carnivores set off our psychological radar more than other, much more significant and prevalent risks that we have learned to live with and/or ignore."
Wild Suburbia's carnival sighting maps are available here.
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