Crime & Safety

Greenwich Mountain Lion Investigators Turn to NY

Police say state officials now are looking into the status of two legally permitted mountain lions in NY.

Though the Greenwich now has its own , the beast has eluded further , according to Greenwich police.

The lion hasn’t been seen since Sunday and police haven’t received any calls of the outside of the King Street area, according to Lt. Kraig Gray, public information officer at the Greenwich Police Department.

“The GPD will continue to investigate all reported sightings in cooperation with [Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection],” Gray said in a media release.

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State officials from Connecticut and New York are working together to investigate the status of two permitted mountain lions in New York state that “are reasonably close to Greenwich,” Gray said. “Given that these animals can (and do) travel great distance reasonably close does not mean [they necessarily came to Greenwich from] the town right next door.”

All mountain lion sighting should be reported immediately to the Greenwich Police Department at:

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Reports emerged Sunday and Monday of sightings of a mountain lion, and Greenwich Police on Wednesday released a photo taken of the elusive animal,  taken June 5 on the King Street campus of .

The lion had been seen in the northwest corner of Greenwich, specifically the King Street campus of the Brunswick School.

Officials of the private all boys school have placed the campus—which abuts the Westchester County Airport—off limits to activities and are allowing only faculty and staff on the bucolic acreage that is across the road from the and just up the road from the town-owned .

DEP Deputy Commissioner Susan Frechette, said it's very likely "a mountain lion that has been held in captivity and either escaped or was released."

"Our current information, which we will continue to evaluate, is based on hazy photographs we have seen and the size of the paw prints that have been left behind," Frechette said.

The DEP said it is cooperating with local officials and its counterparts in nearby New York State to investigate the sightings. The said it has not received any reports of missing wild animals held by private farms or foundations in the area.

State DEP spokesman Dwayne Gardner said that while there have been reports of mountain lion sightings over the years, this is the first time in recent memory that officials believe the sightings are indeed a lion.


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