Old Dominion Wildlife

I enlarged the far left of a recent picture from my automatic camera to reveal this unknown image. A bear, raccoon, coyote, or sasquatch? What do you think?

I noticed this scat on the Appalachian Trail. After consulting my Scats and Tracks field guide, identification cannot be absolute. On one hand, the constrictions seen are associated with mountain lion and bobcat scat. The diameter of the scat is too narrow for an adult mountain lion and is more consistent with bobcat scat size. On the other hand, the tapered end of the scat is consistent with dog scat. What animal do you think made this deposit?

3/18/2007–I photographed these tracks appearing to be consistent with mountain lion tracks. After posting to Yahoo’s EasternCougar Group, the consensus was that the photo is inconclusive due to snow melt having erased track details.