Mountain Lion Sighting Near Pompton Lakes NJ Roadway

Are there mountain lions in New Jersey?

Officially - at least according to wildlife experts in the State of New Jersey - the answer is more.

"No mountain lions live here" is the statement.

But, could some of the animals have either been released, escaped, or made their way to the Garden State some other way?

Eyewitness Reports Seeing Mountain Lion Dead on New Jersey Road

Over the last few years, I've received dozens of claims from residents throughout New Jersey about mountain lion sightings in the state. Really, that's come from all over New Jersey. You can check some of those reports out here.

The latest report I received was via an email this week from a witness in the Pompton Lakes area of the state. That's in Passaic County.

The witness claimed he saw what appeared to be a dead mountain lion on Route 287, early Tuesday morning of this week.

He said he was on his way to work when he say this:

"It was laying lifeless in the median strip. It's tail was very long and I've never seen anything like this before in my life and I do a lot of traveling for my job."

Here's how he described the animal: "It was not a bobcat because they have short stubby tails and the thing I noticed most was how long the tail was and this animal was big."

He says when he traveled by the spot the next day, the animal was gone.

I reached out to Daniel O'Rouke of the Pompton Lakes Public Works Department, and he said he hadn't heard about a large animal being struck on Route 287 this week. He also said he's never heard of a mountain lion being stuck or seen in the area.

So what did our witness see that morning? A mountain lion - or something else?

If you witnessed this animal - or you can tell me about another possible mountain lion sighting, I welcome your report. Email me here: joe.kelly@townsquaremedia.com.