Southold police were called to Nassau Point yesterday morning by a resident who said he spotted a large cat, possibly a bobcat or cougar, on the Cutchogue beach.
A large, tan-colored cat was spotted by the man who said it went underneath the stairwell of a beachfront home on Nassau Point Road, according to police radio reports.
Southold Police responded to the beach at about 9:15 a.m. yesterday. They did not locate the animal but found tracks in the sand they thought merited further investigation and called the State Department of Environmental Conservation. Responding officers would not comment.
Southold Police Chief Martin Flatley said today responding officers yesterday saw the tracks “but could not determine what type of animal actually made the tracks in the beach. There was no animal there when our officers arrived and the tracks appeared to leave the beach and go into the bluff area and into brush. I know the NYS DEC also responded to investigate, and I’m sure they will continue to investigate this report.”
The DEC press office has not yet responded to a request for additional information.
The neighbor, a man who told a reporter he was out walking his dog when he spotted it, declined to give his name.
David Bergen, a former Southold Town trustee, lives nearby and said he spoke to Southold Police at the scene.
“They were tracking what they think is a bobcat,” Bergen said. He said he was told “it was walking along the beach on the bulkhead and came up the beach.”
Bergen said police showed him pictures of “very distinctive” tracks. “They described it as a large cat. It was definitely not a deer track,” he said.
“Within the last year or two there was another sighting on Nassau Point, over between Bridge Lane and Wunneweta,” Bergen said, “but I never heard of any confirmed sightings.”
In 2008, there were also reports of cougar sightings in Southold. Those were never confirmed by authorities either.
Bobcats were once numerous on Long Island but were hunted out of existence here long ago and are no longer known to exist in the wild. They can be found in Connecticut, Westchester and upstate New York.
A bobcat is about twice the size of a domestic cat. Males average 21 pounds and females, 14, though both can be 30 pounds or more, according to the state DEC.
Body length for males is 34 inches and 30 inches for females.
Keeping a bobcat or any wild animal as a pet is illegal in New York State, said Suffolk County SPCA Chief Roy Gross.
“But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen,” Gross said in a phone interview. He said his organization has found many different kinds of wild animals in captivity in Suffolk County, including a lynx, leopards, a cougar, a baby bear — even a camel.
“Bobcats are not found in the wild on Long Island,” Gross said. “But they are upstate. If anyone sees it, they should call authorities and should not approach it,” he said, “They are not known to be aggressive, but if cornered, it could be a problem.”
