Mountain Lion Spotted Near New Jersey State Park

A witness says she saw a mountain lion on a road next to a New Jersey State Park.

This is just the latest eyewitness account of a big cat in the Garden State reported to me.

If you're new here, I'm Joe Kelly. I've become a sounding board for people in New Jersey who've seen a mountain lion or cougar.

Over the last few years, I've received dozens of reports from people all over the state who claim to have seen a mountain lion. You can check out many of these reports by clicking here.

Mountain lion spotted near Hackettstown

Our latest report comes from a resident of Florida, who has been in New Jersey house sitting.

"VC" says she lives in Florida, which has mountain lions (or cougars or panthers - the names are pretty much interchangeable). Southwest Florida has developed a successful program as a home for the animals.

VC says she grew up in Chester, but has been living in Florida, where she's a delivery driver for Amazon. She says she's seen cougars on her route, including one which was "not so nice."

VC says she was outside the house, near Stephens State Park - which is full of wildlife, including bears, coyotes, and deer. She says she turned around because she "felt something", and saw a mountain lion watching her.

VC says a short time earlier a deer with two fawns was in the yard, and she wonders if the mountain lion had been watching them - or it was stalking her.

Eventually, she says, the mountain lion turned and walked away down a nearby road.

As she wrote me about the encounter later, she said she was still shaking her head in disbelief.

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State says no mountain lions in New Jersey

The official position of the State of New Jersey is that "there are no mountain lions in New Jersey" - but, are there?

UPDATE: Since this story was first posted, we've received a number of more mountain lion reports. Check back for more stories coming soon.

If you've seen something, I'd love to hear from you! My email is joe.kelly@townsquaremedia.com.

READ MORE: Did a New Jersey man catch a mountain lion on camera?