I had no idea where to post this but had to share.
Keep in mind I live in Fairfield County, CT--very populated subburb of NYC. I was meeting my friend in a neighboring town to go swimming with the kids today. Noah was starting to fall asleep and she called and was running late so I said not to worry that I'd take th eboys for a ride on my way there. We were meeting at a friend's house to swim in the pool. Anyway, we were driving in a town with lots of farms, one in particular was coming up that sells ice cream that we like to go to. So I'm driving slow down a two lane state highway and telling Zach to keep his eyes open for cows.
When I see a large animal in the grass on the right side of the road right in front of us. I slow way down and say, Look Zach we're going to see a....(coyote was what I was going to say)....when a LION steps out onto the road. I stop and it slowly walks across two lanes (no other cars) and it looks once over it's shoulder at my car and then steps into the high grass on the other side of the road and disappears.
Now I can't believe what I just saw. It looked liked a freaking female lion! So, I call my husband at work--busy, I call my dad on his cell and he tries to tell me first it must have been a bobcat. Like I can't tell the difference. So I describe what I saw....a large cat with a brown coat--no spots and not fluffy like a bobcat, with longer bent legs like a cat, large broad head with big jaw muscles and very large paws. Uh, yeah, it sounds like a mountain lion he says. He's retired police and tells me to call the local pd. Of course this town has no pd so I call the state police barracks in the neighboring town. The dispatcher also tries to determine if it was a bobcat. Definately not. So she asks me how big it was. This is where I screw up. I have a 10 pd dog so anything bigger than that is huge to me. I say 30-40 pds. She says she has to report it to the DEP and they may call me to get more info. I told her it was the size of a large pit bull and had sleek fur like that also.
So I meet up wth my friend and I'm describing the cat and saying it's the size of her Great Dane/lab mix and say "What, he's about 40 lbs, right?" Uh, no, he's 90 lbs. So this cat was way bigger than my estimated 30-40 lbs. My friend works at the ice cream place at this farm and has since high school. So she calls the girl at the farm and tells her about the cat and the girl say, OMG, my mom will be so happy to know since she's seen this animal since the fall and no one has believed her.
The DEP in CT is denying any mountain lions are in CT. They said they are extinct in this part of the country. We do have bobcats and they don't even like to talk about those. There have been several sightings of these lions in past months and people are freaking out since they have been seen in populated areas. I'm glad I was about 20 minutes from my house when I saw this one b/c it was freaking scary looking. It didn't appear to be frightened in the least of me or my car. Very aloof and dangerous looking. The other scary part was a was very close to a state park which has tons of hiking trails that the boys and I had just driven through and I was telling them how nice it was there and that we could go to walk in the woods some time--NOT NOW. Another reason I'll stick close to my populated city where I live!
So can you believe it? My husband keeps telling me I should have taken a picture and I know I should have but I was shcoked that it was acutally happening. It seems like it took forever to walk across the street but it must have all happened in just a few seconds.
Keep in mind I live in Fairfield County, CT--very populated subburb of NYC. I was meeting my friend in a neighboring town to go swimming with the kids today. Noah was starting to fall asleep and she called and was running late so I said not to worry that I'd take th eboys for a ride on my way there. We were meeting at a friend's house to swim in the pool. Anyway, we were driving in a town with lots of farms, one in particular was coming up that sells ice cream that we like to go to. So I'm driving slow down a two lane state highway and telling Zach to keep his eyes open for cows.
When I see a large animal in the grass on the right side of the road right in front of us. I slow way down and say, Look Zach we're going to see a....(coyote was what I was going to say)....when a LION steps out onto the road. I stop and it slowly walks across two lanes (no other cars) and it looks once over it's shoulder at my car and then steps into the high grass on the other side of the road and disappears. Now I can't believe what I just saw. It looked liked a freaking female lion! So, I call my husband at work--busy, I call my dad on his cell and he tries to tell me first it must have been a bobcat. Like I can't tell the difference. So I describe what I saw....a large cat with a brown coat--no spots and not fluffy like a bobcat, with longer bent legs like a cat, large broad head with big jaw muscles and very large paws. Uh, yeah, it sounds like a mountain lion he says. He's retired police and tells me to call the local pd. Of course this town has no pd so I call the state police barracks in the neighboring town. The dispatcher also tries to determine if it was a bobcat. Definately not. So she asks me how big it was. This is where I screw up. I have a 10 pd dog so anything bigger than that is huge to me. I say 30-40 pds. She says she has to report it to the DEP and they may call me to get more info. I told her it was the size of a large pit bull and had sleek fur like that also.So I meet up wth my friend and I'm describing the cat and saying it's the size of her Great Dane/lab mix and say "What, he's about 40 lbs, right?" Uh, no, he's 90 lbs. So this cat was way bigger than my estimated 30-40 lbs. My friend works at the ice cream place at this farm and has since high school. So she calls the girl at the farm and tells her about the cat and the girl say, OMG, my mom will be so happy to know since she's seen this animal since the fall and no one has believed her.
The DEP in CT is denying any mountain lions are in CT. They said they are extinct in this part of the country. We do have bobcats and they don't even like to talk about those. There have been several sightings of these lions in past months and people are freaking out since they have been seen in populated areas. I'm glad I was about 20 minutes from my house when I saw this one b/c it was freaking scary looking. It didn't appear to be frightened in the least of me or my car. Very aloof and dangerous looking. The other scary part was a was very close to a state park which has tons of hiking trails that the boys and I had just driven through and I was telling them how nice it was there and that we could go to walk in the woods some time--NOT NOW. Another reason I'll stick close to my populated city where I live!
So can you believe it? My husband keeps telling me I should have taken a picture and I know I should have but I was shcoked that it was acutally happening. It seems like it took forever to walk across the street but it must have all happened in just a few seconds.
) It's either a coyote or something like it."
