I don't doubt the sightings. I can more doubt the wildness of the cats.
Travel to Mt. Hope one of the 3 weekends a year in Ohio when the Exotic Animal Auction is going on. They'll have camels, elk, moose, bears, monkeys, crocodiles, alligators, hogs, zebras, kudu, impala and even MOUNTAIN LIONS. They've had African lions there, and I was told that they used to have elephants.
I'll bet dollars to donuts that some of these sightings were because Joe Nimrod thought that he could turn a mountain lion cub into a 100 pound lap cat. Then that didn't work, he kicked the cat to the curb.
Here's a link to the Mt. Hope auction flyer coming up in March.
http://www.mthopeauction.com/files/2...cSaleFlyer.pdf