WOMAN REPORTS SEEING A COUGAR, OHIO (Via Paul Cropper)

WOMAN REPORTS SEEING A COUGAR; SIGHTING ON STATE ROUTE 303 EAST OF PENINSULA LEAVES OHIO WILDLIFE OFFICIAL WITH SOME DOUBTS
12 May 2010
Akron Beacon Journal (OH)

An Akron motorist claims that she saw a large cat cross a highway in northern Summit County over the weekend.

''It looked like something that belonged in the zoo or in a circus,'' said 62-year-old Nan Bartlett. ''It was huge. That's what got my attention. . . . It was not something I expected to see in the Cuyahoga Valley.''

She was traveling east on state Route 303 east of Peninsula and about a quarter-mile west of the Happy Days Lodge in Boston Heights when the gray-colored cat bounded across the highway about 4:45 p.m. Saturday.
The cat was four to five cars lengths away and moved quickly across the road in just two leaps, said Bartlett, who said she was traveling about 40 miles per hour.

The cat's most distinctive feature was a long tail that was nearly as long as its body, Bartlett said.
She described the cat as being 2 to 3 feet high with a thick, muscular body. It was significantly bigger than a German shepherd and weighed more than such a dog, she said.

At first, Bartlett said she was unsure what she had seen. She went home, got on her computer and started an Internet search. Her conclusion: a mountain lion, also known as a cougar. It is a large, reclusive, nocturnal predator.

She reported her sighting to officials in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

Proving that such a cat is in fact roaming the Akron area is ''just so tough,'' said Lisa Petit, chief of resource management for the national park. Park officials had not yet spoken to Bartlett and might check the area to see if there is any additional evidence, she said. The Cuyahoga Valley park has gotten three similar reports of a large cat in the Cuyahoga Valley area over the last four years, including two from along state Route 303 in Peninsula and Boston Heights, she said.

There were also reports of mountain lions in August 2008 in the Sharon Township-Copley Township area and two months later in Richfield Township. There are no mountain lions in this part of the United States, said Damon Greer of the Ohio Division of Wildlife.

People who claim to see a mountain lion don't know what they are really seeing, he said. If such a cat was really spotted, it is highly likely that it is an escaped pet or an animal that escaped from captivity, he said.

Bartlett, however, remains convinced that she saw a mountain lion.''It was pretty cool,'' she said.

Bob Downing can be reached at 330-996-3745 or bdowning@thebeaconjournal.com