by mike » Sun Jul 15, 2012 1:19 pm
It could be a cougar.
You have to remember that bobcats are twice as big as domestic cats, and cougars are five times larger then bobcats. They are usually around 3' high and 5-9' long (nose to end of tail). Juveniles will obviously be smaller. The key identification points are quality pictures and paw prints. Scat works too because we can test it for DNA to find out the species and where it came from.
Being within 50' of a wild cougar is way too close. The key word is wild. More often then not, people acquire a cougar cub and start raising it. Once it becomes too large, they become scared of it, and take it into the country and release it. If the animal you saw is a cougar, it probably would be an illegal released animal. And, there will probably be more sightings. You also have to remember that a cougar can travel 50 miles in one day. So, today it can be down towards NYC, and a week from now it can be in Vermont.