Cougars In Westport

To some Westporters, the word “cougar” conjures up images of Benjamin Braddock and Mrs. Robinson.

Others think of the nation’s largest, deer-stalking cat.

That cougar — once the most widely distributed land mammal in the Western Hemisphere, now an endangered specie — is the one Westport is concerned with today.

News 12 is carrying a story about sightings in Westport and Cos Cob.  (They call it a mountain lion; according to the US Fish & Wildlife Service, “cougar,” “mountain lion” and “puma” all refer to the same animal.)

Cougars have no natural enemies.  Eastern cougars’ primary prey includes white-tailed deer, porcupines and other smaller mammals.

Keep your pets in at night!