The Associated Press

CANAL WINCHESTER - Some people think the African lion reportedly seen roaming the Gahanna area earlier this year has wandered about 13 miles to the southeast.

Madison Township firefighter Ed Dildin says he spotted a lion Thursday along U.S. 33 near this Columbus suburb.

Dildin and other firefighters were on a training run in the fire-truck when Dildin noticed something on his right.

"I never thought much about it," he said. "But then it came out of the cornfield on the right side and into the cornfield on the left side."

Other firefighters, sitting backward in the truck, didn't see it before it disappeared, he said.

Dildin said he heard that someone else had seen a lion in the same area a day earlier.

Dildin said there's no doubt in his mind that what he saw was a lion. He described it as about 200 pounds and blond, with long tail.

Dildin suggested the lion could have traveled across Gahanna and followed Blacklick Creek into Canal Winchester.

There were several reports of lion sightings in Gahanna, a northeast Columbus suburb, in early May, then no more.