mountain lion traveled 1500 miles

[dipbait]

OK. Ive heard that the conservation departments in Missouri, Illinois and Connecticut are releasing Cougars and denying it. Have any of you in other states here something similar?

Im not denying cougars exist in these states .

 

[Arathol]

Same kind of story the farmers spread here. It must be true, they heard it from their brothers, uncles, cousins, who heard a conservation agent talking about it.

This did not come from somebodys cousins uncle. Right from the horses mouth so to speak.

The "official" line is that there are no native cougars in CT. Of course, that is plausible deniability since the cats that are here aren't native to the area. The native cats were driven to extinction many years ago.
If it were officially announced, there would be a panic. The rich folks who have been buying up everything in Litchfield County would have a conniption, there would be riots in the streets and all the yahoos would be out trying to shoot one. The dangers of an interaction between humans and a big cat are far outweighed by what could happen if the actual cat population numbers got out. These cats won't generally attack humans unless they are threatened or their food sources are all but depleted. There is no shortage of deer and other prey in the woods of CT, so the chances of a deadly encounter are considered minimal.
For that matter, black bears and coyotes can be just as dangerous as a big cat, both have a substantial population in CT, and so far they have managed to live around humans with no major problems.