SODUS, N.Y. — According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State hasn’t had a confirmed wild cougar population since the late 1800s. But one man in Sodus captured an image on one of his trail cameras near his property that he believes to be a cougar. While the image is blurry, he’s now concerned about the safety of his community.

“Yeah. We have kids all around here, and we have a small community, like, right 300 yards away. And their dens are right here. There’s tons of kids. There’s been ten, ten deer kills in this orchard in the last two months. Eight, eight fawns and two doe. And that’s never happened,” Clifford Mayo said.

Mayo hunts in the Sodus woods. In recent weeks, he’s seen paw prints, and other signs he believes to be a cougar.

“I’ve had footprints that are five inches in diameter. …Yeah, I’m out here every day, and I’ve never had a problem. But now I don’t want to go in the woods,” Mayo said.

Mayo says the DEC came out to investigate.

News10NBC reached out to the DEC for comment. They said in a statement that “after thorough examination, DEC determined the sighting to be a case of mistaken identity. Physical evidence suggests the animal in the area is a coyote,” citing the track size and shape and presence of the claw marks.

The DEC provided this statement to News10NBC:

“The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) receives several reports of alleged cougar sightings every year. DEC investigates these reports when physical evidence of tracks, scat, or hair exist. After the reported cougar sighting and receipt of photographs, DEC performed a site visit to investigate. After thorough examination, DEC determined the sighting to be a case of mistaken identity. Physical evidence suggests the animal in the area is a coyote. From the photos shared, it is evident that this is coyote track due to the size and shape and presence of claw marks.”

“The last confirmed wild population in New York was in the late 1800s. A notable exception is a 2011 incident involving a wild cougar that traveled through several states, including New York, as it trekked nearly 1,800 miles east from its native population in South Dakota until hit by a car collision in Connecticut. With the exception of Florida, where the cougar is a federally protected Endangered Species, the cougar is considered eradicated from states east of the Mississippi River since the early-1900s until recently. Cougar populations may expand eastward in the distant future and there are many confirmed sightings in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan since 2008. There is no evidence of any wild cougars currently in New York State. The only cougars known to inhabit New York are held in captivity, at facilities such as zoos, and currently no captive cougars are reported missing.”

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