One of the early sightings caught on video (above) was of this female mountain lion, who was subsequently captured in Nov.

Wildlife officials claim no knowledge of the carcass, but there are any number of alternate explanations, such as scavengers dragging it off the road or a passerby collecting it. Many reports of mountain lion sightings are immediately dismissed as a case of mistaken identity and some, like this alleged sighting of a dead mountain lion on a highway cutting through North CarolinaвЂ™s stretch of the Blue Ridge Mountains. WhatвЂ™s more, mountain lion kittens and young bobcats are very difficult to tell apart. While bobcats are considerably smaller (the largest among them are under 20lbs), their similar coloring can lead to cases of mistaken identity, especially from a great distance. They are also known as cougars, panthers, pumas, or catamounts-all are the same animal. Related: LA lawmakers take steps to create wildlife corridor to protect big cats Are they really mountain lions?ДЄ mountain lion is a wild cat ranging from two to three feet tall, with females weighing up to 120lbs and males up to 200lbs, making it the fourth largest cat in the world. So far, wildlife officials do not seem eager to take action. However, the growing number of sightings in Tennessee since September 2015 has environmentalists arguing that itвЂ™s time to reconsider the speciesвЂ™ status, and work to conserve their habitat to encourage further population increases. Declining numbers of mountain lions over the past 100 years led wildlife officials in other Eastern states to declare them extinct.

In fact, the only recognized population of mountain lions east of the Mississippi River are southern Florida panthers and DNA testing has confirmed that population is not migrating north. Mountain lions once roamed the continent from west to east, but the spread of human communities have led to a massive reduction in the number of big cat populations in the east.

Mountain lion range