1. I received an interesting email this weekend…

2. > > Subject: Fw: > > Mark Bailey who owns the IGA Grocery store in Mesick, > > Michigan! > > Careful out in the woods.

3. > > > This is Mark Bailey who owns the IGA Grocery store in > > Mesick, Mi. He > > > heard his dogs barking and went out to check it out. > > They had the lion > > > > in the tree. When the lion saw Mark, he jumped out of > > the tree and > > > came towards him. His dog attacked the lion in the > > side which gave > > > Mark enough time to pull his hand gun out and shoot > > the lion 9 times. > > > It did not kill him but disabled him. He called the > > DNR who finished > > him off. > > > If it weren't for Mark's dog, he would have > > been attacked.

11. Pretty wild, huh?! Quite the coincidence, too, since Northern Express has an article this week about a cougar sighting up near Glen Lake. The best picture that guy managed to take was this one:

12. I thought “This will finally settle the whole debate about whether or not there are cougars around here. It’s hard to argue with evidence like a dead carcass!” But something didn’t seem quite right… How come I hadn’t heard about this anywhere else? If this had actually happened in Mesick, wouldn’t it be all over the news? And not just our area, either – this would make state news…

13. …so I did what any curious person would do, and tried to track it down online:

14. Bingo! Hmmm, Michigan Sportsman Forums. These folks probably know something about this story. Let’s see what they think…

15. Aha!!

16. Cougar shot in Mesick! …just another internet hoax. Moral of the story: The more important an issue is, the more careful you should be in checking out the facts before you make a decision. Develop the habit of asking yourself: How well do I trust this source? Is there another way to verify this information? The more effort you put into finding the truth of a matter, the more confident you can be in your answer!

17. EPILOGUE: One Week Later… …and sure enough, when the truth came out, those who hadn’t taken the time to investigate the rumor ended up slightly embarrassed!