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PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y. Police aren't ruling anything out, but a mountain lion that was reportedly spotted on Heritage Drive in Pleasantville Wednesday evening may actually have been a bobcat, Mount Pleasant Police Chief Louis Alagno said.
It makes more sense for it to be a bobcat based on the size and the coloring of the described animal, Alagno said in a Thursday morning phone interview. Theyre also more native to this region than a mountain lion is.
Two separate residents driving on Heritage Drive called 911 around 5 p.m and said they saw a large animal near the property of 61 Heritage Drive. Alagno said one resident reported seeing a tan-colored animal that appeared to be some sort of wild cat and the second resident reportedly called saying they saw a tan colored feline about as big as a medium-sized dog with spotted fur. Alagno said the size and spotted fur is what determined the animal to likely be a bobcat.
Two responding officers did not find the animal on the scene and we went back and interviewed the two residents that called reporting they saw it and based on their description of it, it was probably a bobcat, Alagno said
David Whitney lives at 61 Heritage Drive and was home when the animal was spotted on his property, but did not see it.
The police said people saw it running up my driveway to the back of my house, Whitney said Thursday morning. Its not going to stay here though so Im not concerned. I dont have any constant source of food around here so its going to move on.
Whitney said his best guess was that the animal was moving toward the Wampus Lake Resevoir, which he estimated is only a mile from his property.
Although Alagno said the department could not determine the exact species of the animal, he could not completely rule out the possibility of it being a mountain lion.
Just not too long ago there was that incident in Connecticut where a mountain lion was seen, Alagno said, referring to a mountain lion that was struck and killed by a vehicle on the Meritt Parkway near Milford, Connecticut. So anythings possible.
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