But there's not much to worry about, according to experts.
The odds of an unprovoked attack on a human being are very small, John Lutz of the Eastern Puma Research Network told The Suffolk Times this week. Though fast, powerful and an agile hunter, the mountain lion -- also known as cougar, puma or panther -- wants nothing to do with people, Mr. Lutz said. He believes the big cat exists in the wild in every state east of the Mississippi, yet there hasn't been one documented attack by a wild eastern cougar in more than 100 years, he said.
"If you encounter a mountain lion, whatever you do, do not run," Mr. Lutz said. "They love a good chase." Back away and "talk to it like you would a house cat," he said.
Mr. Lutz, director of the volunteer research organization based in West Virginia, said he's been tracking eastern mountain lions since the early 1960s. He said it's "completely possible" that a native mountain lion is living in the wild on the North Fork, because the region has the habitat (woodlands) and the food supply (whitetail deer) to support it. It's much more likely, however, that the big cat is an escaped or abandoned pet, Mr. Lutz said.
That's the assumption of Southold Police Chief Carlise Cochran, who said his interview with a Bayview man who reported a sighting to the police Oct. 17 led him to conclude that the animal the man spotted was indeed "a big cat."
"He knows what he saw," the chief said. "He saw a big cat."
In an interview with The Suffolk Times last week, the witness, who asked that his last name be withheld, said the animal was walking in his neighbor's yard at about 9 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 17. He was unable to retrieve his cell phone in time to take a picture of it before it disappeared into the woods, but he was certain it was a cat, and certain about its size: about five feet long with a three-foot-long tail. It was light brown in color, he said.
Another Bayview resident, weekender Marisa Romeo, reported seeing the cat twice. The first time, in early July, she thought maybe she was seeing things and didn't mention it to anyone. The second time, toward the end of August, she got a good, long look at the cat -- which was lying in the road in front of a neighbor's driveway, "grooming itself like a cat."
Since the sightings thus far have all been in the same neighborhood, the chief said, "I'm convinced it's somebody's pet and gets out once in a while. It's probably declawed and defanged, or I would think we'd have deer carcasses." No deer carcasses have been found, the chief said.
Cougars bury their kill or "stuff it in a tree 15 or 20 feet off the ground" -- they can lift five times their body weight -- and they will return to eat for a couple of days, Mr. Lutz said. The location is usually near water, so that they can drink after eating, according to Mr. Lutz. They can drink salt water and do not need a fresh-water supply, he noted. If it is an escaped or abandoned pet, Mr. Lutz said, it could be declawed and defanged and, in that case, would feed off smaller prey, pet food left on porches and garbage cans.
DEC Regional Director Peter Scully said his agency has investigated the initial reports and found no evidence of a mountain lion in the area.
"You'd typically expect to see footprints, scat [feces] and possible reports of missing pets," Mr. Scully said.
Cougars are elusive, generally active between dusk and dawn, and it's possible for the animal to be living free in a populated area without being seen by people, Mr. Lutz said. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service trapped a cougar in Provo, Utah, a few years ago and put a tracking collar on the animal before setting it free, he said. "It actually crossed the interstate 11 times in five days without being seen. It walked through a commercial development, and across a shopping center, all without being reported," Mr. Lutz said.
"With all due respect to wildlife biologists," Mr. Lutz said, "they generally don't know what they're looking for and have little field experience tracking cougars."
Jay Tischendorf, a Montana veterinarian who's studied mountain lions for 30 years, agrees that they are elusive animals, but said if a lion inhabited an area, there would be detectable physical evidence of its existence.
If it's an escaped or released pet, its behavior might run the gamut from "normal mountain lion behavior in the wild, to "acting like somebody's lonely, homesick pet," Dr. Tischendorf said.
Chief Cochran said if the police find the cougar, they will call the Hampton Bays-based Wildlife Rescue Center to shoot it with a tranquilizer gun.
By the time that plan is implemented, the cat will be long gone, according to Lori Ketcham, a licensed wildlife rehabilitator who runs the only wildlife rehabilitation facility on Long Island licensed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to house exotic animals, including cougars.
There should be "an organized effort" to track and capture the animal, Ms. Ketcham said. "You need shooters there and a vet, to make sure you've got the right dosage of tranquilizer. You need to track it after you shoot it, too, because it takes up to 15 minutes for the tranquilizer to take effect, and it won't stay where it's shot," Ms. Ketcham said. "As soon as it's down, it has to very quickly be transported to a very secure pen."
"They should hire folks to trap this animal," said Greenport resident Judy Cochran, formerly of Boulder, Colo., where she worked for the Boulder Humane Society and was a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. "I'm very concerned about the cavalier attitude of officials about this," Ms. Cochran said. "A lot of people are concerned. Clearly we need to get some professionals who know what they are doing involved before a predator-human contact occurs with bad results."
Dr. Tischendorf cautions against "hysteria." Reports of a loose mountain lion like this, right before Halloween, "have the makings of a Stephen King novel," he said. But there's no need to be paranoid. "People can rest assured that if the cat is there, it's probably more afraid of you than you are of it."
Cougar Facts:
Species is also known as puma, panther, mountain lion
Protected under Endangered Species Act
Adults weigh average of 140 lbs. and are 7 feet long, from nose to tip of tail
Preferred prey is whitetail deer
Can jump 15 ft. high and 40 ft. wide
Was top predator in eastern U.S. until about 1900
Shy and generally avoids people
Sounds include purrs, growls, whistles, chirps, peeps and screams
Source: Eastern Cougar Foundation
See: easterncougar.org