{"id":263396,"date":"2025-07-14T05:10:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T05:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/263396\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T05:10:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T05:10:10","slug":"rochester-describes-close-encounter-with-mountain-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/263396\/","title":{"rendered":"Rochester describes close encounter with mountain lion"},"content":{"rendered":"

This New Yorker is getting his dander up over a reported mountain lion roaming Rochester. <\/p>\n

Curtis Jones said he has armed himself with a baseball bat after he spotted the big cat lurking around<\/a> his block last week \u2014 and locked eyes with the beast as it slinked by and sent neighbors scattering.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt when right over there, and it said \u2018Rawr!’\u201d said Jones, who spotted the panther prowling around his street Wednesday. \u201cI seen it, see me, see it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the \u2018Rawr,\u2019 I felt the \u2018Rawr.\u2019 I know he be pushing, I know that,\u201d Jones told WHAM<\/a>. \u201cIn my head I\u2019m like, \u2018No, I gotta go, man. I\u2019m out.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ManCurtis Jones spotted the big cat, and said he was going to carry a bat around with him until he feels safe again. ABC<\/p>\n

He was just one of numerous people in the Rochester neighborhood who reported spotting the beast last Wednesday, prompting police to order a shelter-in-place while a search for the suspected cougar was launched.<\/p>\n

Officials were unable to verify the sightings<\/a>, so the order was lifted \u2014 but witnesses like Jones say they know what they saw, and are keeping prepared to avoid becoming panther prey.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ain\u2019t find it last night. It\u2019s still out here, it could be out here in one of these bushes,\u201d he said, pointing into nearby treetops. \u201cYou know them mountain lions, it be \u2018Rawr,\u2019 they be crawling, you know. They serious.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt about like this big, it was just walking, slithering. I don\u2019t know man,\u201d Jones said. \u201cImma keep this bat right here, man, just in case. I\u2019m gonna protect this. I ain\u2019t gonna let nothing happen to us, nothin\u2019, okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

But Jones is hoping it doesn\u2019t come to that.<\/p>\n

\"NighttimeThe suspected mountain line was seen on home security footage in a Rochester neighborhood on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t play with lions, I don\u2019t play with tigers, bears, nothin\u2019 with the wild, I don\u2019t play with those. I promise you.\u201d Jones added, shaking his head. <\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t even do roller coasters. I\u2019m good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Home security footage appeared to capture a ferocious feline stalking down a Rochester sidewalk Wednesday night, while the Monroe County Sheriff\u2019s Office deployed a drone to search the area.<\/p>\n

Rochester\u2019s Seneca Zoo even weighed in, assuring authorities that none of its animals had escaped.<\/p>\n

Mountain lions haven\u2019t had a sustained population in New York since the 1800s, according to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), though they have been known to range through the state from as far away as South Dakota.<\/p>\n

The last confirmed sighting of a cougar in New York<\/a> was 2011, but the DEC says the animal in the doorcam footage does appear to be one.<\/p>\n

\u201cDEC is actively investigating reports of a big cat in a Rochester neighborhood and determining if there is evidence to validate the images,\u201d the DEC said in a statement. <\/p>\n

\u201cAdditional information will be provided as it becomes available. DEC reminds the public to treat an encounter like any other with a large, potentially dangerous wild animal or unfamiliar dog.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This New Yorker is getting his dander up over a reported mountain lion roaming Rochester. Curtis Jones said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[933,466,19910,23526,4447,99989,70,16,15,99990,727,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-263396","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-interviews","10":"tag-lions","11":"tag-metro","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-rochester","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-upstate-new-york","18":"tag-us-news","19":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}