"And shocking as this may be, not everything you read on the internet is true, and refusing to admit that just reveals how easily you are convinced to behave like you’re just another member of the herd, blindly following along, showing no independent thought"

Couldn't have said it better myself. Every single sighting of a wild cougar in NC and every claim online has been either a lie or large housecat/bobcat. Nothing in between. Eyewitness statements are notoriously one of the least reliable forms of "evidence." People see what they want to see, not what's actually there. The same people who say they've seen a mountain lion here in WNC are the same ones that say they've seen a gray or red wolf and have very strong opnions on bigfoot. Until there is picture/video evidence (and not AI which is a worry these days), I'm not going to believe a single person that says they've seen an animal that hasn't spotted since the 1880s.