A spokesman for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the reported spotting of a mountain lion or black panther in central Iowa was a false alarm. DNR spokesman Mick Klemesrud says a witness reported seeing a large black cat with a long tail Thursday near the Polk County town of Bondurant. While there were big tracks found in the snow, he says a DNR biologist and a conservation officer have ruled out a big cat as the culprit. An interview with the witness and a review of the tracks and other evidence led them to believe the animal was not a mountain lion. Klemesrud says they can’t know for sure what the animal was. Klemesrud says the animal could’ve been anything from a large dog to a house cat. He says one report in the media about a possible mountain lion usually leads to dozens of other calls about possible sightings. Mountain lions have been confirmed in southern and northwest Iowa.
Iowa's Radio News Network
