Connecticut Mountain Lion Was a Wild Animal

Necropsy on Connecticut mountain lion

The latest news about the mountain lion that was killed when it was struck by a SUV mear Milford, Connecticut, is that DNA tests shows it originated in South Dakotas and traveled to Connecticut through Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Connecticut moutain lion hit by SUV near Milford.

This specific mountain lion was in the wild in Minnesota in 2009 -- the last time it was positively identified from its DNA. Sightings of a mountain lion in Michigan in January and May of 2010 are believed to be this animal.

Michigan Mountain Lion caught on camera, Jan 18, 2010,

To say I am amazed it putting in midly.  I was certain this was going to turn out to an escaped pet from  New York.

The mountain lions in the Black Hills of South Dakota have broken out before, you may recall, with one young male being shot in downtown Chicago a few years back.  Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection director notes:

The journey of this mountain lion is a testament to the wonders of nature and the tenacity and adaptability of this species. This mountain lion traveled a distance of more than 1,500 miles from its original home in South Dakota – representing one of the longest movements ever recorded for a land mammal and nearly double the distance ever recorded for a dispersing mountain lion.

I should say! This lean young male weighed in at 140-pounds and had messed with a Porcupine sometime in not-too-distant past, as quills were found buried under the animals tissue.

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