RE: Mountain lions in PA!
I guess I can't understand what the big mystery is about the locations cougars inhabit and why there is such a strong need to deny it. Don't see a body, kill, scat, tracks? Guess what, when there are only a handful of them you won't see much. We had coyotes in MI when I grew up there and I've still never seen one in that state. Occasional tracks, but that's it. Only one hunter I know if ever saw one either. But when a local guy with dogs takes them out to hunt coyotes for the weekend he comes up with several.
MI DNR denied cougars in the state too. Finally someone got sick of being told they were seeing things and paid out of pocket to have some scat analyzed and it came back cougar. So the DNR goes from denying they exist to passing a protection order (while still officially denying they exist).
In 2005 I was living in the outer suburbs of Detroit and I go out one morning and there one is lying in my backyard. No I did not get a pic or video, I was too busy getting my shotgun in case it went after my dog. The DNR came out, told me I was seeing things, until I informed them I was a trained biologist. Then they asked me not to tell anybody... I asked why, and they wouldn't give me a good reason.