Forest City Police says they are following up on a report from two people who saw what they believed was a mountain lion in the northwest corner of the Hy-Vee parking lot Saturday around 3 a.m.
Officers from the Forest City Police Department, DNR, and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Department were unable to locate a lion. Winnebago County Naturalist Lisa Ralls, says mountain lions or cougars are fairly rare in the area.
“You know, when we have had these kinds of sightings confirmed sightings in Iowa, they can usually trace them back to either mountain lions coming out of the Black Hills or out of the Ozarks and wandering in this direction. And a lot of times they’re young animals that just start wandering. And they just don’t know when to stop and they end up here in Iowa,” Ralls says.
She says cougars usually go the other way when they see people. “Like most wild animals they they do tend to shy away from people they would rather avoid people than confront people,” she says, “….”if they feel cornered or they feel threatened you know they could pose a danger but for the most part they are you know they trade avoid confrontation if they can,” Ralls says. Forest City Police say they are continuing to investigate the situation.
(By A. J. Taylor, KIOW, Forest City)