Municipalities report mountain lions spotted in Sussex County

VERNON — As someone who is a “huge animal lover,” Christine Fitzgerald is more than familiar with domestic and stray cats, as well as dogs, deer and bear. But never before had she ever seen a mountain lion out in the open. But that changed in the early morning hours of June 1, 2006 when a painful episode gave her an initial brush with one of the big cats. “It was about 1 a.m., I was getting ready for bed and I had just turned off the air conditioning,” recalled Fitzgerald, who has lived on Tallahatchie Drive for the past year-and-a-half with her husband Sean. “About 15 minutes later, I heard the cry of a kitten, and it wasn’t a good cry. I ran out with my husband’s flashlight and as I panned the light, I saw the back end and then I saw the full length of her body. “I slowly backed up, and she just proudly stood there,” Fitzgerald added. “She went back and sat down next to her cub.” Fitzgerald says she is positive that what she saw was a mountain lion, about six feet long, better than four feet tall on all fours and “all muscle.” Startled by the big cat that was standing so close by, Fitzgerald initially went back into her house. Filled with adrenalin and greatly concerned about a stray cat she had recently seen near her property, however, Fitzgerald went back out again, but this time, the cougar seemed more irritated. That forced a frightened Fitzgerald back into the house with her husband. “There was no mistaking what we saw,” Fitzgerald said. “It wasn’t a wolf, it wasn’t a big dog and it wasn’t a bobcat. She was standing 15 feet in front of me. I went back up on the deck and tried to make a lot of noise to scare her off, and she later left.” The next day, Fitzgerald went back out and made the gruesome discovery of the dead stray mother cat and her two kittens. “I was crying,” she said. “I couldn’t even bury the last kitten. It was very sad.” According to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife, mountain lions are considered rare in New Jersey, although according to one published report two years ago, a Somerset County woman reported seeing a mountain lion eating from a bowl of dog food in her garage. Also, Fitzgerald told of a Bergen county homeowner who reportedly had a pet mountain lion later confiscated from his home. Mountain lions are more endemic to both the Western United States and the Florida Panhandle, the Fish and Wildlife Division conceded. Knowing that from having talked to a state representative about the incident, Fitzgerald speculates the cougar and her cub may not have come from a great distance away. “I don’t think she migrated here,” Fitzgerald said. “She just wasn’t frightened enough of a human for the first time. We went on line to research this and every other link was about buying exotic animals. We never clicked on them, but we just wanted to see how easy it was to purchase one. “Did someone get in over their head and just dump an exotic animal (outside)?” Fitzgerald continued. “How do you handle an exotic pet when you can’t even take them to a vet? You dump them off somewhere. I think she was someone’s pet.” The Vernon resident also feels that while the mother cat was killed by the parent cougar, the cub that was being taught how to hunt badly mauled the two kittens. “I’ve had nightmares and I didn’t sleep for a few days afterward,” Fitzgerald said. “She was 20 feet right after our drive way, and our driveway pushes back a little more and is probably 20 feet away from the wildlife preserve. It’s frightening. It’s near where my neighbors’ kids play, and they haven’t played there since that happened. “We’ve actually gone back outside and pruned bushes,” she added. “I don’t call the police every time I see a bear, but we pruned all our low-laying bushes just for peace of mind.” Tom Maellaro, Vernon’s animal control officer, was not available for comment. “She was beautiful, but I never want to see her again unless she’s in a zoo,” Fitzgerald concluded.