Lucas: More Than 70 Say They've Seen Mountain Lions

MASSENA - After hearing from more than 70 people this past week who say they've seen mountain lions prowling St. Lawrence County, Donald J. Lucas is even more convinced he's on the right track.

Since a story ran in The Journal and Courier Observer on Tuesday, Mr. Lucas, Massena, said he's received dozens of phone calls from county residents stretching from Russell and Macomb to Waddington and Massena.

"Overwhelmingly, they swear to God they know what they saw. One guy swears he's seen three of them," he said, "And every single one has been refuted by DEC [Department of Environmental Conservation]."

That's exactly what happened to Mr. Lucas.

On Feb. 25, Mr. Lucas said that he had heard of a sighting of a mountain lion off of State Highway 37 in Massena and within an hour he was in the woods with a .357 magnum pistol, a camera, a bottle of water and two quarts of dry plaster to make plaster casts of any tracks he could find.

After tracking the animals and finding urine, hair and numerous tracks of several animals, he made plaster casts and sent photos of the casts as well as tracks to DEC personnel to review.

DEC Region 6 spokesman Steven W. Litwhiler said wildlife personnel believe that the tracks and casts appeared to be those of coyotes.

Mr. Litwhiler said that New York State hasn't had a population of mountain lions, also called cougars, since the 1800s. However, there have been instances of mountain lions being owned by residents legally with permits that have gotten loose or they are illegally released into the wild.

However, many cases of mountain lion sightings are actually of other animals, according to Mr. Litwhiler.

Mr. Lucas said that he is confident, especially with the outpouring from the public, that mountain lions are real and living in the area. He'd like DEC to take a real, hard look and try to locate these animals.

He's waiting to hear back from an organization that has expressed interest in paying to have the urine and hair he's collected DNA tested to prove it was a mountain lion he was tracking.

For now, he'd like to hear from more people who have witnessed a cougar in the area.

"It's very important to those who have had sightings to come forward," said Mr. Lucas.

He believes that DEC should try to trap these animals and relocate them to an area where they currently live. He's afraid that somebody could be attacked by one of these big cats, that have been known to attack humans out west.

"There should be a plan to trap them and get them out of there," said Mr. Lucas, "I think DEC needs to acknowledge that there are big cats out there that could kill somebody."

Mr. Lucas says he has read Internet posts that say he's crazy for thinking they exist in the North Country, but he's still confident because of the amount of support he heard after the story ran this past week.

"I am not the only individual out there who believes they're out there. All of them say 'I know what I saw,'" he said.