BATON ROUGE - Wildlife biologists say Louisiana's first verified cougar sighting in five years is a trail camera photo taken last month.

The Department of Wildlife and Fisheries says in a news release that there's no way to tell whether the animal photographed in northeast Louisiana is a wild animal or an escaped illegal pet.

The department's large carnivore program manager, Maria Davidson, says the cougar is unlikely to stay in one area longer than it would take to eat a kill. She says the animal photographed Nov. 23 may be photographed by other trail cameras set up at deer feeders.

Louisiana's last documented cougar sighting was a trail camera photograph in Vernon Parish in August 2011.