Connecticut cougar sighting revealed as a hoax

Photos of a cougar, purportedly sighted in Simsbury, were e-mailed to Connecticut wildlife professionals, naturalists and even Boy Scout troops.

But it’s all a hoax. The big cats, also called mountain lions or pumas, can reach 100 pounds, but they live in the western United States.

In reality, Connecticut’s biggest cats are the reclusive bobcats, the largest of which tip the scales at around 30 pounds of carnivorous muscle.

About 160 scoutmasters within the Derby-based Housatonic Council of the Boy Scouts of America recently received e-mail copies of photos of the cougar, which was apparently photographed five years ago outside a home in Wyoming.

State Department of Environmental Protection officials and staff members of the Connecticut Audubon Society also received copies.

“I’m not sure what the distribution net was, but it’s way out there,” said Dale May, director of the DEP’s wildlife division. “I’ve had people from the DEP who called me who got it at home and they wanted to know if it’s true.”

May said it’s the third cougar fraud in recent months. The last trick featured a photo of a hunter holding up a dead cougar in New York state, but it was actually snapped five years earlier in Washington state, May said.

“Once bad information gets out there, bad information gets out there,” May said in a phone interview Wednesday. “The pictures are impressive.”

Whether the hoax is malicious or a fun-loving deception appears to be in the eye of the recipient.

I would just suggest that people rely on the state wildlife agency to be their authority, and if they have questions, consult us,” May said, noting in recent years sightings of coyotes, black bears and moose have been on the increase.”Other than what people occasionally report, there has never been a verified report in Connecticut, or the Northeast, of a cougar,” May said. “Bobcats are common and seem to be increasing.”

Milan Bull, senior director for science and education for the Fairfield-based Connecticut Audubon Society, said he hasn’t received queries from the public, but society staffers say the photos have been floating around the Internet for weeks.

“It gets people all worked up over nothing,” Bull said in a phone interview. “They hit a sensitive note over this.”

Bull thinks too many people in the state erroneously believe there are cougars in the woods.

“I’ve had a number of reports,” Bull said. “It always turns out to be a dog, coyote or cat. The mystique of the cougar in Connecticut continues.”

“The more you hear and see that people believe it, the most important (thing) is to reveal it as a hoax,” said May, the DEP executive. “The last couple hoaxes seem to have been sent to professionals in natural resources.”