Cats' comeback - Wild cougars, who resemble this captive cat cared for by Free Again, a specially licensed wildlife rehabilitation and education organization, are dispersing east of the Rocky Mountains looking for potential new habitat.

Clayton K. Nielsen, a wildlife ecologist at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, says there have been 21 confirmed cougar appearances in the Midwest and Canada in the last year-and-a-half.

Nielsen also directs scientific research for the Cougar Network, a non-profit group collecting credible information on cougar movements for use by state and federal wildlife agencies, among others.