The reports of Mountain Lion/Cougar sightings in New Jersey continue to flow into my email box.

Since March of 2022, I've been writing articles about eyewitness sighting of big animals being spotted in New Jersey. Animals the witnesses claim are cougars or mountain lions. (The names are pretty synonymous for the same animal.)

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These eyewitness accounts have come from throughout the state - but the majority have come from two areas - in Sussex County in North Jersey and in the Cape May/Cumberland County area of South Jersey.

Recently, I did a story on a mountain lion possibly being seen in the area of the Cape May Airport. Shortly thereafter, Cape May Police issued an advisory about coyotes in the area - not saying anything about mountain lions.

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Since those stories, I received this message from a Cape May resident we'll identify as "B." She says she lives right next to the airport:

"We have had a MASSIVE coyote that lurks our property at night and early morning. Roaming to and from the field across the street from the runway, to our yard, to our neighbors yards and digs under the airport fence. I’ve caught this thing on camera a few times.

I had no idea what it was the first time I saw it. I was taking my dogs out early in the morning and it came running towards us. I immediately yelled and threw the dogs in the house. Once it got close I realized it was a coyote. I have a German shepherd that is 120 pounds, and this thing easily was much larger than my dog."
B says she's actually caught the coyote on video playing with some of her dogs large toys!
So, B says, no mountain lion - but there is a giant coyote! Perhaps that's what was caught on video recently:

Now, a look at some of the emails I've received recently.

"P" reached out to me about his encounter in January of this year, near mile marker 20 on the Garden State Parkway. Here's what he said he saw:

"... a fast, long tailed cat cross the traffic a hundred feet ahead. Barely missed the cars. All that was certain is that it was a large cat with a long tail, and moving fast. Couldn't get a good look at it, but coming from California recently, I believe it to be a mountain lion."

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Another witness, "J" says his sighting came "a couple of years ago" on Willow Grove/Weymouth Road in Pittsgrove. This is near Willow Grove Lake.

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"It came from the north side coming from the direction of the lake and ran south across the road into the woods towards English Road."

J says he's had other encounters in nearby wooded areas that led him to question if there are, in fact, cougars in the area.

So, what have you seen? Got any photos of video? I'd love to hear from you. My email is joe.kelly@townsquaremedia.com.

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