The initial report read like a scene from a wilderness survival movie. But a joint investigation by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and Pennsylvania State Police has found no evidence of an alleged mountain lion attack on Samuel Fisher, 42, of Christiana, Lancaster County.

Fisher told the York Daily Record that on Oct. 9 he entered a field where he'd been told two cougars were sighted the night before. Seeing three cougars, he said, he shot one and was following a blood trail when a second cougar jumped out of a tree and onto his back. Fisher reported the attack and was taken to Lancaster General Hospital, where he was treated for multiple scratches.

State Police searched the area with a helicopter-mounted thermal-imaging camera, and search dogs were deployed. Only a small house cat was found. Biological samples collected at the scene tested negative for blood. While blood of unknown origin was confirmed on a knife Fisher says he used to stab the animal, the knife tested positive for deer hair. Further blood analysis is underway at East Stroudsburg University. Investigating officers found no mountain lion fur, tracks or scat at or near the scene of the alleged attack.

But Dr. Michael Reihart, the emergency room physician who treated Fisher, said he saw a shredded shirt, cuts and abrasions on the farmer's chest, arms and face and supports Fisher's claims.

Research continues into the allegations. Game Commission officials are calling it a hoax and considering charging Fisher with filing a false report.

"The Game Commission has no evidence of wild, breeding populations of large cats in Pennsylvania," said Doug Killough, Game Commission Southeast Region director. "While this incident is considered to be a hoax ... we acknowledge that numerous people do have exotic animals which escape or are released illegally."

The last wild eastern mountain lion in Pennsylvania is believed to have been killed before 1900, yet more than 1,000 sightings of big cats with long tails have been reported in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other eastern states.