By Sheila McLaughlin
The Cincinnati Enquirer

DEERFIELD TWP. - Andy Lawson doesn't go very far these days without a loaded .308-caliber rifle slung over his shoulder.

Rifle on his shoulder, Andy Lawson points out an indentation he says was made by the lion on his uncle's farm. (Michael Snyder photo) | ZOOM |

It's been a month since Warren County deputies abandoned their attempts to find the male lion that Lawson swears he saw on his uncle's Tylersville Road farm in late June. Lawson - and now his father, Doc - say they're still seeing the big cat, almost every morning since things quieted down at the farm.

And what Lawson has described to a veteran exotic animal tracker is enough to make the expert take him seriously.

Tim Harrison, a suburban Dayton police officer who has studied big cats in Africa and Nepal and has captured them locally and nationally for 30 years, pledged Friday to help Lawson find the lion.

"There's probably a 70 percent chance there's something out there," said Harrison, who met with Lawson and walked the farm recently.

"We've got a dart rifle, a dart pistol and a .45 Magnum. There are only two ways it's going to come out. It's either asleep or dead."

Harrison, who caught an 80-pound cougar in downtown Dayton last year, said he was convinced when Lawson described the grunting noises he said he hears early in the morning.

"Even if he watched TV shows, they don't show the lions making those noises at night. He made the exact noise," said Harrison.

Harrison said he has checked with four Warren County residents who raise big cats to see if they have any missing. Two refused to allow him on their property, he said.

Sheriff Tom Ariss said he doesn't want his deputies to spend any extra time at the farm. They'll respond if Lawson calls.

But Lawson said he's fed up with local authorities because he feels they've disregarded his sightings as a hoax.

That's a typical response, Harrison said.

"They pooh-pooh it. Until they see the pictures," he said.

E-mail smclaughlin@enquirer .com