Animal 411

State Wildlife Experts: Purported Mountain Lion Tracks in New Canaan Inconclusive

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State officials say they’re unable to conclude definitively what animal left large paw prints in a New Canaan backyard after a woman who saw the animal that made them claimed it was a mountain lion. According to Dennis Schain, communications director for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, wildlife experts examined the photos from Fox Run Road and would “consider further photos or other evidence—scat, fur—if anyone is able to provide that.”

In fact, residents of a property nearby on Valley Lane told local officials that they also had photographs of similar-looking paw prints and those have been forwarded to the state, according to Officer Allyson Halm of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. It wasn’t immediately clear whether those photos would help the DEEP Wildlife Division reach a conclusion or what direction the animal in question appeared to be traveling, if it’s the same one. Halm said that while it’s not “panic mode” at this point for New Canaanites, they should be aware. Residents should absolutely avoid the big cat if they see it, and report sightings to Animal Control, Halm said—as they should with any bear sightings, which she’s expecting soon.

Animal 411

Mountain Lion Sighting Reported in New Canaan [PHOTOS of Paw Prints]

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State wildlife experts are assessing photos of paw prints taken last week in New Canaan to determine whether they show clear evidence of a mountain lion, as reported by one town resident who claims to have seen the animal. At about 6:17 p.m. on March 30, a Fox Run Road resident contacted police, saying she’d seen a mountain lion slink through her neighbor’s backyard, according to Animal Control Officer Allyson Halm. Officials snapped pictures of paw prints at the scene and “our wildlife experts are assessing these photos to see if they can determine the source of them,” Dennis Schain, communications director for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, told NewCanaanite.com. Also known as ‘cougars’ or ‘pumas,’ mountain lions are reclusive creatures that feed mainly on deer, raccoons, rodents and various small mammals, experts say. Five summers ago, a mountain lion made regional headlines after it was photographed in Greenwich and later struck and killed by a motor vehicle on the parkway in Milford—a young male that DEEP officials determined through DNA evidence had traveled east all the way from South Dakota.