(WSB Radio)  State wildlife officials are on the lookout for what might be an unusual prowling predator in Hall County.

"Several of the reports described, not a mountain lion but what people seem to think was an African lion," says Scott Frazier, wildlife biologist with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.

That's right.  There may be a lion loose in Hall County.

"We found some consistency in those reports," Frazier tells WSB.  "So we went there and set some traps but didn't catch anything."

There has not been a sighting of a wild mountain lion in Georgia since 1973, so Frazier discounts the possibility that this is a natural occurrence .  But, he thinks there is some possibility that this could, in fact, be a lion from Africa.

"In all of these big cat sightings, our first thought is that we're probably, if we're dealing with a legitimate, accurate report, we're probably dealing with something that someone had a role in being there," he says. 

"Any big cat report now, bigger than a bobcat, we first think of illegal pets, illegal importation, escaped animal from a facility," says Frazier.

The first sightings were in May, four in all.  The witnesses all described the same type of animal, in the same general area.

"The reports were geographically close by, and, on a timeline, they was enough time for one animal to get from Point A to Point B," Frazier says.  "And the descriptions that people gave of the animal were consistent between the four reports."

Since word first got out of a possible lion in Hall County, Frazier says his office has been inundated with calls, with descriptions varying, locations all over the map and people telling wild tales, all of which has made the search for the lion more difficult.

"After the original reports and story, it's been a mismash of reports," Frazier says.  "We did have a horse killed and the big cat was suspected.  We did have a cow attacked and the big cat was suspected."

Frazier says there are reasons to doubt whether there is, in fact, a lion on the prowl. 

A few years back, two Florida panthers traveled into Georgia, separately. 

"They were collared, radio tagged animals,' he says.  "It was part of their work down there with the endangered cats.

"In both instances, people immediately began seeing those cats," says Frazier.  "And, in both instances, those cats were ultimately shot within two weeks of being in Georgia."

Those sightings lead to skepticism from Frazier over the current reports.

"When I think about how quickly that occurred," Frazier says, "and then the potential that we have another cat that's out there now that nobody can produce a picture of and nobody runs over with a car and nobody shoots, um, it seems unlikely."

But Frazier admits, right now, officials with the DNR just aren't sure.