Lions, tigers and bears. Oh my! The line from the screenplay of “The Wizard of Oz” conjures up all kinds of wondrous childhood spooks.

But mention the possibility of a cougar sighting in downtown Natchez and the flying monkeys of speculation, cynicism and a little silliness are sure to rear their hairy heads.

Last week, our newspaper reported that two local women believe they saw a cougar walking in a field along Briel Avenue.

Skeptics immediately pointed to the impossibility of such a sighting. No cougars have been seen in Mississippi in 100 years, they said.

They must have been mistaken, others said. Perhaps it was a dog or some other creature, these folks speculated.

Let me say that if these women said they saw a cougar or some other kind of big cat, I believe them. Neither of the women was seeking any kind of publicity by letting folks know of the sighting.

In fact they only told a few neighbors to alert them and a neighbor told me about the sighting. I alerted our newsroom and a reporter interviewed the witness.

Now, I could understand being overly skeptical if the women had come to the newspaper or called a TV or radio station immediately to report what they’d seen. That surely would have been a sign that they were seeking attention from the sighting.

But in this instance, that’s not the case.

Nope, these women really believe what they saw.

Lots of others apparently believe what gets sent to their e-mail inbox, too. In the last couple of weeks photos of a monster-sized cougar allegedly struck and killed by a vehicle in Amite County have made the circuit in the area.

No one in Amite County seems to know anything about the cougar sighting. Further, a Web site specializing in debunking or confirming outlandish stories and urban myths, Snopes.com, reports that the Amite County cougar is actually a mountain lion from Arizona.

Perhaps a few of our online readers had the most fun with the cougar story.

Collectively they had a number of suggested uses for the animal. One sought to have it captured and taken to Danny’s Lounge in Vidalia, under discussion by the town leaders after a growing number of complaints there.

One suggested the police and sheriff department train the animal for crowd control.

Still another sought to blame the cougar for the missing sign at the Natchez-Adams County Chamber of Commerce building on Main Street.

Of all of those absolutely ludicrous ideas, I think I like the latter best. The mystical cougar can be blamed for all of our problems.

Problems with the public schools? The big cat has corrupted the minds of our students.

No homework? Easy. The cougar ate it.

Underage drinking? My cousin saw the cougar buying liquor for a group of teens at the liquor store.

Natchez Regional Medical Center’s financial woes? The cougar scared the last three or four CEOs provided by Quorum Health Resources and that prevented them from thinking clearly at the office.

Lack of manufacturing jobs? It’s simple: The cougar scared off International Paper, Johns Manville and Titan Tire. Titan’s CEO Maurice “Morry” Taylor, whose nickname was “The Grizz” just wasn’t enough against the cougar.

Yes, the cougar excuse is perfect. All you have to do is click your ruby red slippers together and say, “There’s nothing like cougars.”

And, of course, follow the yellow brick road.

Kevin Cooper is publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com.