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Experts offer contradictory opinions on whether animal could survive in Ohio. Some say it could be escaped pet
By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published on Saturday, Oct 11, 2008
In September 2007, Dan Adkinson was driving at dawn on State Road near Northlawn cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls when he saw a large cat chasing a white-tailed deer.
The deer bounded across the road, followed by the loping cat.
Adkinson, a 65-year-old hunter who lives in Cuyahoga Falls, says the cat was a 90-pound mountain lion, or cougar.
For months, he never told anyone what he saw, figuring that no one would believe him.
But he contacted the Beacon Journal to report the encounter after stories were published of big-cat sightings in the Sharon Township-Copley Township area in August and in Richfield earlier this month.
In all, some two dozen reports have now surfaced of such sightings in the Akron area since 2007, raising the question:
Could a mountain lion — a large, reclusive, nocturnal, predatory cat — have been living in the Akron area for the last two years?
Differing opinions
The Ohio Division of Wildlife repeatedly has said no. Spokesman Damon Greer has said that if any mountain lions were spotted in Ohio, they would be escaped pets that would likely be declawed and be unlikely to survive in the wild.
But others who track mountain lion sightings give a different answer.
''There is no reason why a cougar couldn't reside in Summit County,'' if the cat can find food, water and adequate cover, said John Lutz, of the West Virginia-based Eastern Puma Research Network. '' . . . They are the most adaptable land mammal on Earth.''
Ohio's northeast quarter might
have as many as five or six mountain lions, said Lutz, whose group claims there have been 12,000 mountain lion sightings in the eastern United States going back to the 1930s.
The cat spotted in Medina and Summit counties could be a mountain lion last reported six years ago near Toledo or one from two years ago in Tuscarawas County, both of which dropped from sight, he said.
Lutz, 67, began investigating mountain lions in 1965. He said it is likely that the cougar spotted in Sharon Township and Richfield is a female, perhaps with a kitten, who is setting up a territory that typically covers 75 square miles. A male's territory may cover up to 300 square miles.
The cat is a wild animal, not an escapee, he said, noting that there have been no reports of the animal feeding on pet food set outside or eating bird seed at feeders.
A mountain lion would eat one or two deer a week, he said.
Bill Reichling, 63, has been tracking mountain lions in the Cincinnati area for 20 years. Since 1994, he has been working with a group known as R&R Animal Trackers.
Reichling is convinced that a small number of mountain lions have survived in the wild in Ohio.
''It has survived under the radar,'' he said of the big cat.
It's impossible to say how many mountain lions might be found in Ohio, he said, although his group has seen and found evidence of cats in the Cincinnati area.
He called it ''absolutely 100 percent likely'' that a mountain lion is living in Summit County.
Six deer skeletons found in June in a Richfield hay field, Reichling said, could have been a result of a mother cougar teaching her kitten how to kill deer.
There are reports from Sharon Township of people seeing a baby mountain lion and, several months later, a less-than-full-grown cat.
But another mountain lion investigator disagrees with Lutz and Reichling.
Helen McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Eastern Cougar Foundation, also based in West Virginia, said there have been only nine confirmed mountain lion sightings in the eastern United States (outside of Florida) since 1990, and none of those was in Ohio.
States like Ohio, Michigan, Pennsylvania and West Virginia may have a few cougars in the wild, but there is little evidence to support that, she said.
It is more likely, she said, that any mountain lions in Ohio are once-captive cats that were turned loose or escaped.
McGinnis said most people who reported seeing a mountain lion don't know what they are seeing.
Bobcats often are confused with cougars, she said, and 90 percent of purported cougar tracks are actually from dogs.
Motorists' accounts
In the last two years, three motorists reported spotting a large cat crossing roads in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.
One was on state Route 303 east of Peninsula in Boston Township, another was on Interstate 77 near Wheatley Road in Richfield, and the third was on Route 303 near Olde Eight Road in Boston Heights, said Lisa Petit, chief of science and resource management in the Cuyahoga Valley park.
It almost is impossible to verify such reports, Petit said, but the callers all sounded credible and the descriptions closely matched that of a mountain lion.
Metro Parks, Serving Summit County got an e-mail warning last May from a visitor to Silver Creek Metro Park in Norton.
Kristen Miller, 27, of Wadsworth, said she encountered a large cat with a long tail on the Chippewa Trail at dusk. She came around a turn and the cat was 30 feet away. It ambled away when it saw her and her dog.
Miller said there was no doubt about what she had seen.
''Last time I saw a cat that big was in a zoo,'' Miller told the park district.
Other 2008 reported sightings of a big cat have come from New Franklin, North Royalton and Twinsburg, Copley, Granger and Medina townships.
Reichling offers one bit of advice: Anyone going hiking in the woods should carry a staff for protection and know what to do if you encounter a mountain lion.
This includes: Do not run. Try to appear larger, possibly by climbing on a rock or stump or holding open your jacket. Do not take your eyes off the cat or turn your back. Pick up small children and put them on your shoulders. Back away. If it attacks, defend yourself.
Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com.
In September 2007, Dan Adkinson was driving at dawn on State Road near Northlawn cemetery in Cuyahoga Falls when he saw a large cat chasing a white-tailed deer.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Barberton, OH
Posted 05:23 AM, 10/11/2008
There are also UFO's, Bigfoot, Yeti, Dinosaurs, and Lochness Monsters in the Akron area too.
Posted 06:59 AM, 10/11/2008
I have a picture of my grandmother bottle feeding a mountian lion cub, she lived in west virginia. I just thought of it as fact without doubt that mountian lions lived in this region.
akron, OH
Posted 08:41 AM, 10/11/2008
i believe they saw the big cats
Posted 09:10 AM, 10/11/2008
I live in Barberton/norton line and six years ago a large cat was licking grease from my garage floor where we had fried a turkey the day before. I and my dog startled the cat and it ran off,but left great foot prints to show my husband who did not believe me. This was six years ago, and this cat also was a fawn color and had a long tail.
Barberton, OH
Posted 09:18 AM, 10/11/2008
I saw a Unicorn run down the street yesterday.
Posted 10:26 AM, 10/11/2008
"If it attacks, defend yourself."
No $#!T Sherlock!
akron, oh
Posted 10:53 AM, 10/11/2008
Well they keep complaining about the huge deer herd in summit county. A couple a cougars should help that.
I had a friend in canton with 2 of them. If hers got out. They would be easy to spot. Since they didn't have a complete fear of man...
So I would bet the ones being reported are wild.
Also. With a huge food source.. Like the deer in the parks. They shouldn't have to stalk people.
So Calm down. They wont be breaking into you home to steal your babies... Dingos do that.. NOt cats. LMAO.
Barberton, OH
Posted 11:39 AM, 10/11/2008
That's right! Dingos steal babies. Also, if you are from Kent, Bicas do too.
Posted 12:48 PM, 10/11/2008
Reports of mountain lion sighting occur regularly in the Chicago area.
Posted 01:24 PM, 10/11/2008
They could easily survive in this area. Food is plentiful, the deer population is expanding at an ever increasing rate. They adapt to their environment quickly and since they are mostly nocturnal, their sightings are rare as are those of coyotes even though we know they have a large population in this area. If I lived in an area where a cat was spotted I would make sure to have outside lights on when I went out and would not allow young children out unacommpanied at all. They shouldn't be anyway, but especially with this in mind.
Posted 01:26 PM, 10/11/2008
We have had evidence of bears and bear sightings in Summint, Portage and Stark counties the last few years, so it is extremely likely there are bear in this area as well.
cuyahoga falls, oh
Posted 08:23 PM, 10/11/2008
apparently only damon greer, who is a paid naturalist, disputes this as folly. he needs a new job and to be relieved of endangering those citizens he has a responsibility to assist in awareness of potential dangers.
damon, you are a sad, sad joke.
Akron, Oh
Posted 08:36 PM, 10/11/2008
Why the disbelief?
Posted 10:19 PM, 10/11/2008
Last week while getting on 77N at Arlington Rd., I saw a strange animal that looked like a large tan colored cat but it had a longer snout. It was near the road and didn't seem fazed by the traffic entering the highway. Did anyone else see this thing?
Posted 08:26 AM, 10/12/2008
Geee just think with all the lions, tigers and bears in this area let's start a petting zoo. Oh my......
Posted 10:20 AM, 10/12/2008
Long before the existence of Man, life changed and adapted on the basis of need, especially in accord with the dictates of environmental fluctuations to extremes.
Science has solidly proven the theory of mutation as a catalytic mechanism for survival. Even bacteria may inherently invade and alter the "normal" parameters of cellular structure, simply for the purpose of sustaining their own existence. Such tiny, minuscule life forms are capable of change and adaptation well beyond the realm of probability.
Should it therefore be impossible to entertain the notion of animal migration? Such activity takes place each spring and fall, and not only in Ohio.
Driven from their natural habitats and programmed for survival, all living organisms will instinctively seek a means of self-preservation. Where the food source goes, so goes the predatory chain.
To underestimate, or far worse ignore, life's ability to change, adapt, and thrive, is paramount to participating in an exercise of futility. Such egotism will be Man's downfall more drastically and rapidly than the activities of Wall Street.
Believe it possible and take these things as a sign of hope, rather falling prey to the hopelessness of despair. We will survive these things, as well.
Posted 09:24 PM, 10/12/2008
Last week while getting on 77N at Arlington Rd., I saw a strange animal that looked like a large tan colored cat but it had a longer snout. It was near the road and didn't seem fazed by the traffic entering the highway. Did anyone else see this thing?
The animal you are refering to is a coyote. They have been seen there often eating rabbits and such right next to I77 I have even spotted him or her on 2 separate occasions.
Posted 08:38 PM, 10/17/2008
Laugh all you want, but they are there. Just like here in North Dakota where there is nothing to hide behind but flat rows of corn, sunflowers, etc. Nobody believed they were here either until the "experiemental hunting season" was opened a couple years back and evry year the quota has been met, in fact this year the quota increased to 8 for Zone 1 , a very small area in western badlands, and unlimited for Zone 2 which is the rest of the state where I live in the sugarbeet forest. NO TREES, MOUNTAINS, CRAGGY TERRAIN etc. and just grass and crops and a very thin line of trees along the rivers, agriculture is too profitable to leave anything unplowed here. And 20 miles from my house a guy is calling coyotes and a mountain lion shows up, that was just one of many surprise appearances and the quota for hunting cats was actually met within the city limits of ND towns for 3 of the cats. They are very adaptable and invisible, look how adaptable coyotes are in urban areas, cats are sneakier.
