Personally, I haven't seen any proof from anyone showing that lions do in fact exist in Pa. (however, as I stated earlier I had encounters with 2 at extremely close range so I personally believe they are here). This is all besides the point. What I don't get is when people say the last one was harvested in the 1800's. This is a bunch of BS. How in the heck can anyone say that "the absolute last one was killed". Did they check every square mile of the state? Did they have a name for him? I mean come on. No one in their right mind can use this as a valid argument to say there are none left. Now granted i can't say that the two I saw weren't released pets but then again at the time I wasn't aware of this huge debate so I didn't think of pictures or contacting the game comission. All we could do was cut the horns off the buck he was eating the next day. Basically, I know burden of proof rests on us that do believe they exist but some of the arguments against their existance are pretty weak.