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Virginia town tries to prove existence of "ghost cats"
Fri Sep 19, 9:04 AM
By The Associated Press
BLACKSTONE, Va. - U.S. wildlife officials are reviewing the matter, but some residents of Blackstone, Virginia, are convinced they've got cougars running around their town.
The local newspaper has run at least 15 stories in the last five years about sightings in Blackstone and a neighbouring Army National Guard training base.
The paper's editor says he gets a sense that game commission people are laughing.
The large cats are also called mountain lions, pumas, panthers and "ghost cats." Wildlife officials say except for a population of 100 in Florida, they were wiped out in the eastern U-S by 1900.
While hundreds of sightings are reported each year from Maine to the Carolinas, only 64 have been confirmed in more than 100 years.
Experts say most are likely cases of mistaken identity - perhaps a bobcat, deer or even a Labrador retriever.
