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 Local Photographer May Have Evidence of Mountain Lion |
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;void(0)) DEC: Photo Probably Shows Bobcat By BREN MIOSEK HARTWICK - After years of hearsay and speculation, local biologists said this week that an animal photographed in the Town of Hartwick is a mountain lion. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation officials in Stamford said the animal in the picture looks more like a bobcat, but if it is a mountain lion, it would be the first proof of such an animal in Otsego County in more than a century. The man who snapped the photo said the sighting was almost an accident. "I was watching the evening news one night back in June, when I got up to get a glass of water," said a Town of Hartwick resident who asked to remain anonymous. "As I was doing so, I noticed a large animal moving through my back yard. I told my wife that there was a bobcat out back, and to grab the camera. She came around the corner with the camera and said, 'that's not a bobcat. That's a mountain lion.'" Although taken from a distance, the photograph shows what appears to be a large feline in tall grass, just off the edge of a residential property. Excited SUNY-Oneonta Biological Field Station officials said they agreed with the photographer's assessment. "The photograph presented to us appears to be of a mountain lion," said BFS Director Dr. Willard "Bill" Harman. "There's really nothing else that the image in the photograph looks like other than a mountain lion," said Assistant BFS Director Matt Albright after viewing the photo beneath a magnified screen. BFS officials went on to say that the mountain lion could have been an escaped captive, and that the only such animal they were aware of was at Lollypop Farm and Petting Zoo in Hartwick. The zoo, however, closed on December 31 of 2003, and the owners said the mountain lion they had in captivity died before that. "We used to have a mountain lion," they said, "but it died a year ago November of natural causes." Officials cautioned that doctored photographs claiming to show mountain lions circulate. According to Ed Weidner, owner of Cooperstown 1 Hour Photo, while digital photographs are often manipulated, it is "almost impossible" to alter 35 millimeter film, the method with which the Hartwick photo was taken. "When it's on a negative, you really can't doctor a negative," Weidner said. After carefully examining the negative in his West Beaver Street lab, Weidner said conclusively that the film had not been altered. While a picture may be worth a thousand words, several local residents have recently offered their own tales of mountain lion encounters. "I've been seeing mountain lions in a field off of County Route 33, across from Brewery Ommegang, for the last three years," said Cooperstown resident Kurt Terrano. "This past summer I was on my way home when I noticed something in a corn field. I stopped my truck and started backing up for a better look. What I saw was an adult mountain lion with a dead coyote pup in its mouth. I'm an avid hunter. I know the difference between a mountain lion, a bobcat, a wolf and a coyote." "People have been telling me for months about the mountain lions they keep seeing," said another Town of Hartwick resident who asked not to be identified. "Sightings have been growing in popularity. I saw the same photo the guys down at the BFS saw and I agree - the photo shows a mountain lion crouching in tall grass. I believe that the mountain lions that people are seeing were released by the DEC." Rumors suggesting that the DEC - in collaboration with the insurance industry - released mountain lions to keep down the white tailed deer population of Otsego County, and therefore the number of deer-related automobile accidents, abound. Duncan Davie, chief of staff for Republican State Senator James Seward of Milford - who serves as the chairman of the Senate's Standing Committee on Insurance- said Seward is aware of the accusation. "We've heard that," he said, "but I don't think we would put much stock in it. We have no view that there's any effort between the insurance industry and the DEC to reduce any kind if insurance claim." Bill Sharick, senior wildlife biologist for the DEC in Stamford, flatly denied that his agency has released the predatory cats. "The DEC did not release mountain lions to thin out the deer and coyote populations," said Sharick. "Mountain lions are, in fact, indigenous to the area, but there has been no documentation since 1890 to prove that they're in the area." A group of experienced DEC wildlife biologists convened in their Stamford offices Wednesday afternoon to examine the photograph. Although their opinions differed on what exactly the photo shows, Sharick said the animal is a cat, most likely a bobcat. One DEC official thought the photograph shows a deer. Another was convinced it is a bobcat, yet another leaned toward a mountain lion, while the majority thought the photo shows a bobcat, but could not be sure. "What I can tell you right now, looking at this picture, as best we can tell it's most likely a cat," Sharick said. "One person has no doubt in his mind it's a bobcat. Personally, I just cannot see enough definite features in the photograph to say definitely it's a mountain lion. To me, it looks like it has more bobcat features than mountain lion." The DEC officers digitally enhanced the photograph, Sharick explained, and tried to determine the most "reasonable" explanation for what it shows. Their analysis progressed from the most reasonable answer, a housecat, to the next most likely, a bobcat, and then on to the least reasonable, a mountain lion. They compared the photograph to mountain lion reference materials, as well as to a bobcat skin kept at their office. The DEC staffers said that what appears to be a white ear with a black tip on the far side of the cat's head is "very similar" to that of a bobcat. In their analysis, the cat's tail appears to be short, much like a bobcat's, and the head and neck are too small to be typical of a mountain lion. Sharick said the task of determining what sort of animal is in the photo was not easy. The high grass obscures many features, and because the animal appears to be turning, some of its features are contorted. "It's very difficult, and that's about all we really had to go on," Sharick said of the photographic evidence. "In terms of all the other pictures and videos we've had, this maybe looks more like a mountain lion." Reports of mountain lion sightings are common at the Stamford office, he said. In fact, it is rare that a week goes by without one, but Sharick has never seen definitive proof of a mountain lion. "After 30 years in this business, you've got to show me a body," he said. He said that with all the reports of lions in the area, he would expect to have seen a carcass by now if the cats were living in upstate New York. "It's very, very strange that somebody hasn't hit one with a car or shot one if they're here," Sharick said. He said that psychological reports have been published examining why people throughout the northeast continue to see mountain lions, but no hard evidence exists. "This is one of the oddest situations in modern wildlife science," he said. "It's not just in Hartwick and Milford and Cooperstown, it's all over." Sharick said that he has been told for years that residents believe the DEC is collaborating with the insurance industry, and that if a mountain lion was shot, it would not be reported for fear of reprisal. "I just don't know what to say to those folks anymore," he said. "I wouldn't want to have people, if they do think they see something, or if they shoot something, not report it - because who knows? Bring it to me first, because I want to be the first wildlife biologist in New York to report it." While the DEC analysis pointed officials away from the possibility that the local photographer captured a mountain lion on film, Sharick could not conclusively rule out a mountain lion. "These continual sightings that come to us with no definite proof, it's a strange thing," he said. "But you never know, odd things do happen in the world of wildlife." Chris Lott contributed to this report. Photo provided: A Hartwick resident photographed what some experts believe is a mountain lion in his back yard this summer. Click the photo to zoom | Sports Update | Our Columnists | Headline Stories | Mountain Lion | Holiday Guide | Susan B. 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