Somebody Reported Seeing An Actual Jaguar Or Cougar Roaming The Hamptons. Well, Of Course There Are Cougars!
I am not making this up, reports of a Jaguar, or large cat-like creature, is currently being investigated by the DEC in East Hampton after Matthew Lester of East Hampton saw a large cat-like creature near a farm on Spring Close Lane on Sunday.
Pretty much everywhere you go in the Hamptons you can find Cougars, they are everywhere! But they are the ones that usually are divorced and got the house in the Hamptons!
Bill Fonda of the Department of Environmental Conservation broke down chronologically the events that happened on Monday, and stated that he believes most likely, what Mr. Lester saw was not an exotic cat.
He explained in an interview what happened, “Essentially on Sunday two environmental conversation officers responded to a call for assistance on Spring Close Road regarding a large panther like animal. The farm is owned by Mike Bistrian. The person that reported it is Matthew Lester and he stated that he drove onto the property to do some work and observed a grayish cat looking creature about 5 feet long and two feet high at the shoulder with a long striped tail, eating some composted vegetables. The animal then quickly fled into the brush upon his arrival in his truck. Our officers observed tracks in the area, took photos of them, and forwarded them to DEC Wildlife experts for review.”
But the photos they took, Bill explains, rule out an exotic cat, “Cats have retractable claws, which means that they don’t leave claws in their tracks. These photos did have claws in their tracks, so it rule out most cats. The only cats that don’t have retractable claws are cheetahs. The area is frequented by all kinds of animals because of the compost pile that is a food source for them. ECO’s have investigated the entire property and the surrounding woods and they do not feel that there is sufficient evidence that there is a cougar, jaguar or exotic cat in the area. In addition, wildlife staff did a search of a database for exotic cats in the area, and no listings came up for anybody that has them legally.”
Bill Fonda gave me his personal opinion what he thinks happened on Sunday, “Most likely what happened is that he saw a large red fox. Their size range is approximately 26 inches from head to end of body with a large tale. Their shoulder height is about 16 inches. We also have gray foxes on Long Island which is of a similar size. One theory about this sighting is that it was a fox with mange which causes shedding to their coats, and Mr. Lester mistook it for something else. However, if people wish to contact the DEC, we’re highly interested in sightings that people have seen and they can do that by calling 631-444-0250 or 631-444-0310.”
So your telling me it could be an illegal cheetah owned by an eccentric billionaire in the Hamptons that has it running on the loose! Right?! That’s what heard him say!
But if you wish to believe what Bill thinks (and you probably should) Google “Fox with mange” by clicking here. You’ll see in the pictures that they can look quite different.
I gotta go, there is a cougar stalking me right now, I don’t know what she wants, wait a second, YES I DO, run Dave, RUN!