Geordon Omand THE CANADIAN PRESS
VANCOUVER—A cheetah on the loose in B.C.’s Interior still is unaccounted for after it was last spotted roaming a snowy highway in the Kootenay region last week.
As of yesterday evening, conservation officers still were urging people to phone in any sightings of the big cat.
RCMP notified the public on Thursday that the feline had been seen wandering near Crawford Bay, about 50 km northeast of Nelson in the Kootenays.
“It’s pretty much status quo,” said the Environment Ministry’s Danielle Bell, speaking on behalf of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service.
“We’ve gotten some public tips and are following up on those.”
The B.C. government approached the Calgary Zoo late last week asking whether the facility would be willing to house a cheetah, said zoo spokeswoman Trish Exton-Parder.
“We’ve got the expertise to care for them, and the veterinary care to make sure they’re safe and happy,” she noted.
Calgary doesn’t have any cheetahs of its own, but Exton-Parder said such an animal could be held comfortably in a temporary quarantine.
Insp. Joe Caravetta of the Conservation Officer Service said last week the provincial wildlife veterinarian doesn’t believe the missing cheetah poses a threat to the public.
“We want to be able to find this cheetah and for its own health and benefit, be able to capture it and get it to a facility and have it checked out,” Caravetta said Friday.
“It could be hungry, and any animal that is hungry may do things that may not be in its character,” he warned.
The RCMP are encouraging people to keep an eye on small children and pets until the animal is located.
