State officials won’t confirm it, but some residents in Round Hill, Va. say they’re positive there is a mountain lion lurking around their neighborhood.
About two weeks ago several people reported seeing or hearing a big cat in the evening and early morning hours.
“We heard this noise, and had no idea what it was. It was a deep throaty noise, kind of screechy… You could tell it was a large animal,” said Matt Toocheck, a Round Hill resident.
Toocheck’s suspicions were answered the next morning when his neighbor told him she’d seen what she believed to be a mountain lion walking around just outside the wooded area near their homes.
"I'm actually a little concerned when I leave my dog out [now]. I have to go out with her," Toocheck said.
Brian Puckett said he’d just gone to sleep when he heard the same eerie noise that he called a “blood curdling scream.” He told NBC Washington’s Julie Carey that after listening to several YouTube examples of a mountain lion growl, he’s convinced that’s what he heard.
One resident tried to snap a photo of the alleged lion was only able to capture two glowing eyes, as it was still too dark outside.
Officials with the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries say they without other evidence they will not be independently investigating the report. They say while they get a couple reports of sightings each month, there has been no officially confirmed sighting since the late 1800s.
