— By most accounts, the big cat population in upstate New York was eliminated by the early 20th century; how then to explain a series of eyewitness reports of seeing them there, in particular large black cats? The mountain lion is believed to be the only large cat to exist freely in the U.S.–Are people seeing an escaped exotic pet?
It’s MonsterQuest to the rescue, setting up thermal-sensing cameras and sending out decoy calls to lure the elusive cats! As usual, deer, raccoon, squirrels, and even lynx were detected by the cameras. The cameras revealed food sources sufficient to support a large cat. More intriguingly, claw marks were found on a tree, and tracks were found that match those of the leopard…
…additionally, more lions and tigers are believed to be in private ownership than exist in zoos! The first leopard arrived in the United States in 1768, with the first tigers brought in in 1806. Sadly, there is little or no regulation by most states on the private ownership of exotic animals. An animal who is fun when adopted as a cub grows up to be a predator, and “there is no such thing as a tame wild animal.”
MonsterQuest additionally performed a DNA analysis of 30 captive tigers, finding that over half showed moderate to severe inbreeding; this leads to increased genetic abnormalities which in turn can cause behavioral abnormalities, including increased aggression. Such aggression can lead to cases like that cited by MonsterQuest of a couple hiking that were attacked and mauled by a large cat in January of 2007.
The conclusion of the MonsterQuest team was that big cats are out there in the eastern United States, but are not easily found…and as the poet once wrote, “If called by a panther,/don’t answer!”
— I now have a certified pre-owned cat without a tail; maybe he wasn’t pre-owned at all, but was simply cast out or born in the wild. It’s not that I needed another cat; I already had three, all of which were abandoned or rescued animals. 
— Disney has a mixed record on their portrayal of foxes, which range from the villainous to the heroic. On the one hand, “Honest John” Foulfellow of the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio was a scoundrel, a sly anthropomorphic fox and known criminal who tricks Pinocchio twice in the film; negative stereotyping! In fairness to Disney, however, both the fox and cat characters were depicted as con men who lead Pinocchio astray and try unsuccessfully to murder him in the original Adventures of Pinocchio story, a tale which is quite dark in places. The Fox and Cat in the original story even pretend to sport disabilities, the Fox lameness and the Cat blindness! Felines will probably take offen
in 
— Then for a heroic fox, it’s hard to beat Disney’s Robin Hood, with a very affable vulpine in the title role. Most furolks genuinely like this film and for good reason, even though the characters are somewhat stereotypic and parts of the film footage including dance sequences were borrowed or adapted from other Disney creations to save a little time and money.– Still, two paws up for Robin Hood and a positive portrayal of foxes!
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— Killer Chimps in America 
— Having already considered the Trix Rabbit, it is only fair that we also consider the Nesquik Bunny, wondering perhaps which one might win in a Deadliest Warrior deathmatch…
— It’s not a good idea to feed the bears. They might become extremely annoying, like Yogi Bear and Boo Boo…or they 
— Bears are omnivorous and opportunistic feeders that primarily forage for berries, nuts, and insects. They will, however, also consume human 
— His 50th birthday has quietly come and gone, and I’ll bet that you didn’t buy him anything, either, what with famous people dropping like flies lately and hogging the spotlight…he’s the Trix Rabbit, an anthropomorphic cartoon rabbit and the oldest commercial mascot to continue to exist on television! Now Trix cereal by General Mills has been on the market since 1954, but the Trix Rabbit was created on August 
— Something is snatching up the wild leek crop that is a staple of the diet of the local Shor people of Kemero Region in Siberia!
— It’s a little-known secret that I played a chicken (specifically, a rooster) in my second grade class play!
FOXSYLVANIA 
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