Investigative reporter Mark LaFlamme continues his inquiries into Maine’s mystery beast with a new article published in the November 18, 2005, Lewiston Sun-Journal.

Widespread interest and comments have been generated through LaFlamme’s initial article which was then mentioned in my earlier blog here, and that Cryptomundo comment was noted in David Pescovitz’s Boing Boing column. Today, reporter LaFlamme zeroes in on the probable best candidates for the central Maine dog killer and attacker, issuing from comments we all are now receiving.

After relating that the dog "Buddy" has happily been reunited with its owners, Mark LaFlamme comments on the cryptid angle. Due to some problems in accessing the article online, here’s an extract from the cryptozoological section of LaFlamme’s article:

While nobody knows for sure, most animal experts are leaning toward a big cat – a bobcat, lynx or mountain lion – as the source of the wounds.

"From what I understand, the injuries were to the neck and a paw," said Christopher Gardner, a cryptozoologist in Bangor. "That’s what cats seem to go for when they attack."

Gardner is leaning toward a mountain lion. While state biologists admit there have been numerous reported sightings of the animals, none have been confirmed.

Gardner said: "From the research I’ve done and the people I’ve talked to, I don’t think there’s any doubt the mountain lions are back."

Still others believe it is too soon to rule out a lynx or a bobcat as the beast that attacked the dog. Loren Coleman, considered by some to be the world’s leading cryptozoologist, said he heard from several people who live in the area where the dog was found on Monday. Two of them reported seeing a bobcat or lynx wandering through that area in recent days or weeks.

Joanne D’Unger, who lives in Leeds, stated in an e-mail that she saw such an animal on Quaker Ridge Road in Greene just six weeks ago.

"I saw an animal standing, broadside, in the middle of the road ahead and thought it must be a dog, as it appeared rather small for a deer," D’Unger wrote. "I quickly realized that I was looking at a cat. … The hindquarters were taller than the forequarters as the back legs appeared to be longer."

The cat ran back into the woods, D’Unger added.

Another man wrote to Coleman and stated he was driving on Quaker Ridge Road two months ago when he saw what appeared to be a lynx or a bobcat bounding across the road, not far from the intersection at Route 202.

In the sightings, a distinctive short tail and lightly spotted body is being reported, giving a hint that there mystery cats are lynx versus bobcat, and probably not puma, in this case. But I agree with Chris Gardner, puma do exist in the state and may be in the mix, overall. Whether these recent lynx-like sightings directly have anything to do with the dog-killer of last summer or the recent throat-slashing of the Greene, Maine, dog, of course, remain to be seen.

Stay tuned.