Iowanic wrote:
I understand the eastern cougar has been officially declared extinct.
I don't know about that. My in-laws and my sons saw one cross the road in front of them while camping in Virginia a few years back and were told they really did not see one because there were none living in the area. They were told that it was probably a large house cat or a bobcat, but as I had a bobcat hide on the wall at home, we had a house cat that weighed 23 pounds and was over 3 feet long and they clearly described the long tail, that it was much larger than our cat, and was not colored like the bobcat hide I think they saw a cougar.