I've heard the "escaped/released" pet cougar theory many times. But I just can't buy it, there can't be that many people who can afford to buy, house, feed, etc a cougar in this state in the first place and are then dumb enough to release it into the wild. I'm sure there are a few that can do it, but surely not that many.
With all of the sightings reported over the yeas and photos now coming to light, maybe there will be some answers as to whether there are Florida panthers who are migrating from Florida to Georgia to here, or if these are just very small populations that have been here and are growing a little bit each year.
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One more thing. Several years ago after an accident, I worked at Noccalula falls park in Gadsden as a security guard. I preferred the night shift as I wouldn't have to deal with the general population. I saw foxes, coyotes, bobcats, racoons, I even smelled and then got a glimpse of a young black bear with my spotlight.
One of the perks along with walking the grounds (3+ miles a night) was checking on the animals. They had whitetail deer, a red & a silver fox, coatimundi, racoons, a Canadian lynx, goats, llamas, emu, rabbits, horses, donkeys, caiman, and the star was a female African Lion named Sheila.
Sheila and I would play, I would walk by her pen and she would crouch wiggle her haunches, I would run to the end of the fence and she would end up waiting on me...Thank goodness for strong fences.
Well, she would go into heat occasionally and would make a loud roar/moaning sound that could be heard 2 miles down the road. I noticed that when she did that the lynx would cower, the deer and all the other animals that knew better got spooked, and she attracted a boyfriend.
Every time she moaned, a large cat down in the canyon screamed back at her.
Sounded kinda like MRRROOOOOOOOWWWRR! and then YEEEEHHHRRRRAWWWR!
Gave me goose pimples, still does thinking about it. Scared the hell out of some of the newer guards, two of them never came back. I waited on several occasions in the barn overlooking her enclosure which was well lit at night. I did see a large dark shadow come close but never into the light. I hit it with the spotlight but only saw greenish eyes.
I think it might have been one, I've heard a bobcat meow, and scream and they sound like a large tom cat. This though sounded like a very large cat crossed between a woman being murdered in a slasher movie.
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Bear in Ensley
![[Image: 6-22-Bear.gif]](http://www.franklincountytimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/6-22-Bear.gif)
