Ocean County: Driver Reports Possible Mountain Lion on Parkway

A local delivery driver says he spotted something on the Garden State Parkway in mid-August - something that may have been a mountain lion.

Officially, wildlife officials in New Jersey will tell you there are no mountain lions in the state, but I continue to receive emails and phone calls from residents who claim they have seen a mountain lion or cougar, or something close.

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Possible Mountain Lion Spotted in Ocean County

I received an email from someone I'll call JF. JF says he's a delivery driver, and he saw something out of the ordinary on the evening of Friday, August 15th, while traveling on the Garden State Parkway.

JF says it was about 1 am and he was driving southbound, and just passed Exit 63. He says that at that hour, he usually sees plenty of deer next to the parkway, but on this trip, there were no deer in this particular area. Instead, JF says, an animal was sitting in the area, facing the parkway - and, it definately was not a deer.

"As I got closer, I saw clearly it was a big cat. It was large, about the size of a large boxer dog, it was tan in color, and had white on its chest. It was in that cat sitting position with its butt on the ground while having its paws stretched downwards and its body upwards in an almost standing position. I didn’t get a good look at its tail, but I was in astonishment because I know we’re not supposed to have them here."

JF says that at first, he thought it was a bobcat, but after doing some research, he realized what he saw may have been a mountain lion.

Photo by Leah Huyghe on Unsplash