The NYS DEC never denied that coyotes were present...The hunting regs booklets have referred to them as least as far back as the 1940s..

What they DO deny is the ludicrous rumor that they have been covertly stocking them... You know, the stories about black stealth helicoptors lowering cargo nets full of the crittersat night, etc...

As far as cougars and wolves are concerned, there is no substantiated proof that there is a breeding population of either species in NYS...