Allyson Halm

Mountain Lion Sighting Reported on Gerdes Road

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Police received a report of a mountain lion sighting at about 6 p.m. Saturday, officials said. The sighting on Gerdes Road is the third in the past month and very close to the most recent one, on Aug. 8 on White Oak Shade Lane. Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm said the cougar was seen at the edge of a resident’s yard and that the sighting is credible based on the eyewitness descriptions. Yet another mountain lion sighting had been reported Friday night on nearby Brookside Road, Halm said, though it was too dark outside at the time to be classified as credible. 

Halm said she is encouraging residents to always be prepared with air horns to haze any predatory animal and is urging those who have seen mountain lions to contact the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection directly. 

A man told Halm that he’d seen a mountain lion pass in front of him while jogging on Hoyt Farms Road on the morning of July 20 .

Allyson Halm

Mountain Lion Sighting Reported on White Oak Shade Lane

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Just a few weeks after a reported mountain lion sighting on Hoyt Farms Road, a couple about two miles south on Sunday morning told authorities that one of the big cats walked through their back yard, officials say. The White Oak Shade Lane couple “saw what they described as a large brown feline with a long tail” and confirmed that it was a mountain lion and not a bobcat when asked to compare photos of the separate species, according to Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm. “I believe this was a credible sighting,” she said. The couple did not capture a photo of the animal. Mountain lions have been known to travel through Fairfield County in the past.

Animal 411

Mountain Lion Seen on Briscoe Road

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A Briscoe Road woman on Monday saw a mountain lion while walking her dog, in what New Canaan Police are classifying as a credible cougar sighting, the third of 2018. 

Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section, called for residents in the area of Briscoe and North Wilton Roads to check surveillance video for images of the animal. “We have had enough sightings that we believe are credible and people just need to always be alert,” Halm said. “We do live in the woods. Everyone needs to be prepared to see a bear, to see a mountain lion, always. We can’t let our guard down.

Animal 411

Police: Mountain Lion Sighting Reported on Marvin Ridge Road

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Police on Thursday received a credible report of a mountain lion sighting on Marvin Ridge Road, officials say. The 7:30 a.m. sighting of the cougar crossing a backyard comes about three months after the last one and just a few houses away, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. Halm is calling for all homeowners in the area of 250 Marvin Ridge Road above Nursery Road to check surveillance cameras so that police can get at least one visual confirmation. The sighting checks out, as the man who spotted the animal without prodding described a tawny- or beige-colored feline about as large as a golden retriever and with a long tail, Halm said. Both sightings occurred in the area of the Fivemile River watershed.

Allyson Halm

Mountain Lion Seen on Nursery Road in New Canaan

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[Editor: Please note that this article is from 2018. For unknown reasons, enough people began re-reading the story in January 2020 that it resurfaced in our ‘Most Popular’ widget. Also there’s been a lot of idiots submitting comments on this article in recent weeks, so we are disabling the comment thread.]

Town officials said on Monday that they received a credible report of a mountain lion sighting in New Canaan earlier this month. The Jan. 16 sighting on the eastern end of Nursery Road (near the Merritt Parkway) came in from a man who described a tail three feet long—a physical characteristic that distinguishes the cougar from smaller felines, such as bobcats—and saw the animal directly in front of his car, walking under a streetlight, in a well-lit area, according to Officer Allyson Halm, head of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section.