WISCONSIN DELLS, Wis. (AP) -- With two new sightings by drivers of the Wisconsin Ducks -- popular motorized water-rides on the Wisconsin River -- officials say a big cat seen on the loose may be a cougar, or mountain lion, not an African lion.

Becky Fenzig, a police clerk for the village of Lake Delton, said a report was made Friday [July 31] of a cougar sighting by an employee of the Ducks amphibious boat rides. That driver and another driver both reported seeing a similar animal on Thursday. The state Department of Natural Resources was placing traps near motorized Duck trails. " We aren' t actively looking for it, " Fenzig said. " The DNR is putting out traps."

Another report was made to Sauk County officials on Thursday, this time from a woman who said she saw a lion last week in northern Dane County. There had been at least four other recent reports of lion sightings. But the woman who made the report Thursday was certain she saw an African lion cross U.S. 12 between Middleton and Sauk City in front of her vehicle.

Sgt. Fred Coller of the Sauk County Sheriff' s Department said the woman was " very credible." " She said it wasn' t a puma or a cougar because it was more muscular and it had a long tail with a puff on it, " Coller said. But the latest reports of cougar sightings make it more likely the animal is a mountain lion, not an African lion, Fenzig said. " I' d be very surprised if we had a lion and a cougar around here, " Fenzig said.

Mountain lions once roamed throughout North America. Although they aren' t believed to have inhabited Wisconsin since about 1905, there have been occasional sightings reported over the years. African lions are similar in color to cougars but are much larger and have a squarer head and a darker tuft of hair at the end of the tail.