The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) has confirmed it wasn’t a cougar, but a “domestic cat” that caused panic last week at K.P. Manson Public School in Severn Bridge.
Tim Clayton, principal of K.P. Manson, said in a message to parents on Tuesday, May 7 two staff members spotted what they thought was a cougar on the road near the Hwy. 11 overpass. He says they called it a “large cat.”
Clayton says students were kept inside for the rest of the day out of an “abundance of caution.”
Sarah Fig, with the MNRF’s communications branch, says the MNRF’s Natural Heritage Information Centre tracks observations of species at risk, like cougars, which she says is “critical to the understanding of species biodiversity and conservation in Ontario.”
However, she explains most reported cougar sightings, particularly in southern Ontario, are from other species. “In southern Ontario, the few credible observations of cougars or their sign are likely the result of escaped captive animals, or transient cougars passing through,” continues Fig.
She says cougars primarily live in northern Ontario because of the remoteness of the habitat.
