I have a friend who has been a DEC officer in NY for 25 years. I also have a friend who retired as the DEC director of law enforcement. I have talked at length with both of them about this. Neither of them has seen proof of cougars in NY but they both agree that there probably are some here. They said there are too many reported sightings and some animals may have travelled through the state and stayed. They don't believe there is a significant population though. They said theDEC's official stance on this is they don't exist in NY because there isn't a sustainable population.

They both deny any involvement in NYS introducing cougars and I believe them, I know them well enough that they wouldn't keep it a secret.