Petersburg NJ Resident Says She Saw Cougar on Garden State Parkway Near Cape May

Yet another sighting of a possible cougar or mountain lion from Cape May County.

For the last year, I've been sharing stories from New Jersey residents who claim that they have seen cougars of mountain lions in the Garden State. (By the way, the names cougar and mountain lion are pretty much interchangeable.) You can find a lot of these stories here.

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While a lot of the sightings come from the northern part of the state - particularly Sussex County, there have been reports from South Jersey, too. Most recently, I've received a number of reports from people who claim they have seen cougars in Cape May and/or Cumberland Counties.

One of the most recent sightings comes from a Petersburg resident, whom I'll identify as "T." T claims to have seen a cougar Tuesday evening, February 14th, in lower Cape May County.

T says her husband was driving as they left Cape May and proceeded up the Garden State Parkway. At about 7 pm at Mile Marker 2.6 her husband spotted an animal on the edge of the roadway. She says he first thought it was a coyote, but after thinking about it, he decided it was not a coyote, but a cougar.

T says she was not looking outside at the time, but once her husband expressed what he saw, they turned around and drove back to retrace their route:

"Minutes later we drove by that spot again and we both saw it! No doubt it was a cougar standing there along the side of the road! Plain as day, it was looking right at us. Probably no more than 15 feet away. I was so surprised and excited at that moment that I didn’t even think to photograph it. We then quickly turned around again, this time I had my phone ready for a picture. Unfortunately, it was gone before we got there the last time."

So, did they see a cougar? Have you been in the area and seen something similar? We'd love to hear from you! You can email me at joe.kelly@townsquaremedia.com.

For the record, New Jersey Wildlife officials say there are no cougars in New Jersey.

But - are there?