Community Corner

Large, Wild Cat Spotted in Oxford Not a Mountain Lion, DEEP Says

People who have seen it locally say it looks an awful lot like a mountain lion, while DEEP says it's not possible.

People in Oxford have seen an animal several times that looks a lot like a mountain lion.

Every day it makes the same trek up and down Route 67, behind B&B Insurance Group and Jesse's Barbershop. Nobody has been able to capture a photo, until this week when Carissa Beaulieu of B&B Insurance Group snapped the one above.

To me, that looks a lot like a mountain lion, and several people agree. But Paul Rego, a wildlife specialist for the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, disagrees. He says it's a bobcat. 

Here is what he wrote in an email to me:

The animal in the photograph is a bobcat.  We have no tangible evidence of mountain lions occurring in Connecticut.  If Connecticut had a population of mountain lions then we would have verifying evidence such as photographs, specimens from road-kill or other mortality, unambiguous tracks, etc.  

I can’t tell too much more from the photo.  Size is hard to judge unless something of known size is also in the photo for comparison.  The sex is difficult to ascertain without physically examining the animal. Bobcats are found throughout the state, so one being observed in oxford is not surprising.

The cougar killed on the Merritt two years ago.  It was an extremely rare, and record, long-distance dispersal from the far Midwest.  It is highly, highly unlikely that that event has been repeated.  Most dispersals are very much shorter.

Find out what's happening in Oxfordwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

What do you think? Tell us in comments. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here