Though the Eastern Mountain Lion was supposedly hunted to extinction in New England around a hundred years ago, sightings keep popping up. I've heard one in the woods around our New Hampshire home and we know at least one person who has seen one -- while out hunting over 10 years ago. Spotted a large cat on a stone wall out in the woods and thought at first it was a lynx (much more common in this neck of the woods). Then spotted the long tail. Uh uh. Mountain lion. He fired one shot in the air and skedaddled in the opposite direction.

Sightings are becoming more and more common, while the various state governments keep denying the cats' existence. I think someone got one on videotape a few years ago in Connecticut -- eating a deer on the side of the road.

They're shy animals and there are plenty of deer in our woods. I'm not surprised they haven't taken to staging a parade on Rte. 4.

Linn