RALEIGH, N.C., Dec. 3 (UPI) -- A woman in Chapel Hill, N.C., says she was "stunned" to find a large cougar traveling along a creek on the edge of her property.
Linda Janssen said she and her 22-year-old nephew, a U.S. Army private, saw the large cat leap over a tree trunk as it moved along her property line last week, the Raleigh (N.C.) News & Observer said Wednesday.
"It was big," she said of the cougar, which she estimated to weigh up to 75 pounds. "We were just so stunned."
Janssen told the News & Observer she and her son watched the large animal prowl about the area for nearly 90 seconds last Friday.
The newspaper said eastern cougars are on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Endangered and Threatened Wildlife list as the once-prominent subspecies's numbers have dwindled dramatically.
