Wild Wild Life...

[rkold]

I knew moving to CT meant we would have more wild life, but I never expected someone to share that they saw a bear wander through our townhome complex the other day! A real live full grown wild adult black bear. It didn't go near any of the actual units, just passed from our huge grassy septic field over the road into the small wooded area between a bunch of the units. Supposedly it was going at a good pace and I'm sure it then left the wooded area between units to find better cover outside of the complex, but still BEAR!

Yesterday, we had someone come to look at trikes who lives up in Litchfield about 30-45 minutes north of here. And he shared that when hiking in one of the state parks up there super early in the morning he saw A COUGAR! (and not the type that inhabits NYC though I am sure there is that type as well.) He explained CT didn't want to admit there were cougar here or they would have to do something to protect them as they are an endangered species. COUGAR! (he also said he had bear come into his backyard to try to eat bird feed from the bird feeders. I had no idea bears like bird feed.)

Comments

[summer-queen.livejournal.com]

The bear part doesn't surprise me. My friends who lived in the middle of Pennsylvania had semi-regular black bear visitors. Apparently their wee Bichon Frise would be at attention, growling, the whole time one was outside.

Cougar, on the other hand, I would never have thought of in this part of the country (as in, east of the Miss. river).

[rkold.livejournal.com]

The bear only semi-surprises me, I know when I talked to the real estate agent about up here she did say an occasional bear wanders through Newtown, the next town over, it's more... a bear HERE in my complex that is surprising. >>;

I've heard cougar have been slowly moving East of the Mississippi. There is a huge debate about whether any live in the Adirondacks in NYS. There is also a lot of debate about them in PA. I believe there was at least one confirmed cougar in MA though. I think it might have been a captive "pet" that had escaped. DE actually has confirmed 3-5 cougars. It's believed they are all escaped "pets" but it's just really hard to know.

[sumeragiskank.livejournal.com]

Wooo cougars! Delaware likes being special.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

But if we have them in CT and NY are you still as special, or are you more special since you admit having them and we don't? XD;

[sumeragiskank.livejournal.com]

We are even more special since we own up to it, hehe. Delaware has some interesting flora/fauna, we do have the northernmost cypress swamp in the country.

[rkold.livejournal.com]

We have uhhh uhhh uhhh Moose I think? We might be as far south into New England that they range.

They totally don't seem to want to own up here.

[twotone]

Oh wow, bears and cougars! We haven't had either in our neck of the woods (we mostly seem to get coyotes, foxes, and deer, plus the usual skunks). The in-laws have had bears knock over their bird feeders and have had a reported cougar sighting, but they live in the Berkshires/right near a ski resort so it's not *that* surprising for them.

Bears will go after fatty foods, and bird seed (also suet feeders, I think) are an excellent source of fat for them. The in-laws started bringing in their bird feeders at night after the first time a bear tried to go for their stuff. So if you have bird feeders, remember to bring them in at night!

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I would think if we get bears occasionally they might wander down to your neck of the woods as well.

After the guy looking at bikes mentioned it I started reading up on supposed cougar sightings in CT and actually there were a bunch in Broad Brook as well as where we are in Brookfield. o_O; I'm not sure how much I believe some of the sightings since they don't always sound like typical wild animal behavior. (vs. the guy from Litchfield's story totally jibed with what I know of wild animals.) The farm we went to near the CT/MA border off 84 (and with the goats) had pictures of a moose they had taken and some sort of large feline, but I had thought it might be the slightly less frightening lynx, but maybe it was cougar! o_O;

Kennis grew up in Boulder and we went out hiking there in the mid-90's when there had actually been some fatal cougar attacks on people in the area and saw no sign of anything.

I think my biggest concern is cougars, bears, and coyotes (which I knew were a danger, we're getting them now even in Southern Westchester) + Ryuchan as well as cougars, bears, coyotes + my desire to own a few chickens or ducks >>;;;;;

[mec]

Bears and cougars? Yikes! The idea of them just wandering around seems so foreign to me. As you can imagine, they are not exactly common sights in England...

[rkold.livejournal.com]

It's pretty foreign to me too XD;;; I still remember when it seemed amazing when deer moved into Southern Westchester!

(Growing up the wild life in evidence were: squirrels, robins, blue jays, cardinals, sparrows, bunnies, skunk, chipmunk, and raccoons.)

The 4 legged types of cougars if really here are north of here (since officially we have no cougars) and less likely to come down this far south as it is more populated and they tend to be shy. (and there is plenty of food for them in the area they are.) Even the bear (which we have officially) are not seen all the time, just occasionally down here. The one sort of wildlife we do need to be more concerned about and have spread to where I grew up as well are coyotes. ~.~

Kennis is not bothered by any of this having grown up in Boulder, CO.

[bramblyhedge.livejournal.com]

Eeek! :O

[rkold.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking like that bit in the Wizard of Oz with minor changes "Lion and Coyote, and Bear, Oh My!" >>;;