My brother and I thought we had seen a cougar in Central NY about 20 years ago, when I was not even a teenager.

Made some plaster casts of some prints, and sent them to the DEC.

Someone responded and said that the prints were not consistent with a cougar, must have been a large ferral housecat.

The prints were as big as my brother's hand. I had spotted them first and thought they were from a bear---which are extremely rare but have been spotted in nearby counties. Look at NY's declining turkey populations, and stable coyote populations. Look at NYs loss of hare/rabbits, even with perfect ecological niches.

We were once told that we would never see wolves, moose or elk either.

Well, wolves have been reported in Maine, moose have been hit in Central NY, and there are some free ranging elk in the Carolinas.

Why is the notion of cougars in NY so bizarre?