Mountain Lions In Massena? Don Lucas Says He Has Proof

MASSENA - The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) insists that there is not a mountain lion population in New York.

Massena's Donald J. Lucas believes otherwise and he has hair and plastered paw prints to prove that there are not one, but two living in the Massena area.

On Feb. 25, Mr. Lucas said that he had heard of a sighting of a mountain lion off of State Highway 37 in Massena and within an hour he was in the woods. He carried a camera, a bottle of water and two quarts of dry plaster to make plaster casts of any tracks he could find.

"I was given very specific instructions as to the location of the sighting. We had a foot of wet, packy snow and the tracks were not hard to find. I started to back track from where I found the tracks to determine where the cat had come from," stated Mr. Lucas, "What surprised me was when I came to a spot where two cats had been walking together, but had gone in two different directions. I had been following a large set, the new ones were large but a little smaller, so I decided to follow them."

He said that he followed the tracks for a quarter mile and they joined up with the other set of larger tracks. After following them about an hour, he came to a spot where he thought they had bedded down.

"Up to this time, the tracks were meandering back and forth, but when I came upon the tracks that were leaving the bed they were in a straight line and the tracks indicated a very hurried exit. I feel I had spooked them," he said, adding that he also found where the animals had urinated several times, some that contained blood.

He came upon a barbed wire fence where the tracks went under and he came upon some hair.

"The hair was not coarse, but very fine and almost golden to light brown in color," he said and continued to track the animals until he heard something running through the brush. He found more tracks, including those of where the animal had jumped a distance of 8-9 feet.

"It bounded an awful distance," he said. He then gave up pursuit of the animals.

He took the plaster and made casts of several of the larger footprints, took photos of the tracks and collected the hair and the bloody urine. He said that he was told by DEC that they can't afford to have the specimens tested to prove they were mountain lions.

"I don't know where to take the hair and urine to have it analyzed. If anyone knows where to take it please let me know," said Mr. Lucas, "I feel I have the proof that there are mountain lions in New York State," he added.

New York State hasn't had a population of mountain lions, also called cougars, since the 1800s, according to DEC Region 6 spokesman Steve W. Litwhiler

"We do not have a mountain lion population in New York State," said Mr. Litwhiler.

He said that there have been instances of mountain lions being owned by residents legally with permits that have gotten loose or they are illegally released into the wild.

However, many cases of mountain lion sightings are actually of other animals.

"Ninety-nine percent of reports we get are cases of mistaken identity," said Mr. Litwhiler.

On Friday, he said that he had spoken to Mr. Lucas and was waiting to receive some photos of the tracks.

"We'll look at any information we get sent in," he said.