It's a controversial subject that apparently raises very strong feelings on both sides of the question. NH Fish & Game agrees that they have been sighted in NH but questions whether there is a
breeding population in NH.
Here's the gist of it:
"Jakubas, along with his counterparts at the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game, don’t deny that there are likely real cougar sightings in Northern New England.
There is just very little proof.
"We get lots of sightings every year, but we have never been able to substantiate a sighting here in New Hampshire. That doesn’t mean they’re not out there, but there is no reproducing population," Wendy Virville said Wednesday. Virville is the administrative secretary of wildlife for the New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game.
Virville said she was aware of confirmed sightings in Maine, but said no conclusive proof, such as scat or a hair sample, has been recovered by New Hampshire Fish and Game in the last 150 years.
Jakubas and Gagne both remain skeptical that genetic samples found in Hampden, Maine, in 2001, Monmouth, Maine, in 2000, and those in Canada in New Brunswick and Fundy National Park originate from wild animals."
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I've seen lots of bobcats in the last 6-8 years but no cougars (aka mountain lions, catamounts).
Agreed, solohiker, you're far more likely to see bears (and lots of mud!) on the CT than cougars.