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A large wild cat—believed by some to be a bobcat and others to be a lynx—seems to be lying low since first being reported here in late February.
Bylaw enforcement/animal control officer Arlene Byrnes said last week that the town has picked up the live traps it had set for the big cat.
Byrnes said the town hasn’t received any new reports of the big cat—or evidence of its attacks—for several weeks.
“We haven’t trapped it yet and we haven’t had any more reported sightings,” she noted.
“I don’t know if people have seen it and not bothered to call us.
“I don’t know if that’s a good or a bad thing,” added Byrnes. “It’s all quiet—touch wood.”
Byrnes said it’s possible the big cat has moved on. But if new sightings are reported, the town will redeploy a live trap.
“If they see it, give us a call so we can keep track of it,” she urged.
Meanwhile, reports of large cats have popped up elsewhere.
Devlin resident Allison Badiuk was taking one of her dogs, “Smokey,” on a walk on March 20 when five minutes into the trek, she refused to go any further.
“As I was staring down at her, I noticed paw prints in the snow,” Badiuk wrote in an e-mail to the Times.
“I followed the tracks with my eyes [and] noticed they came from my neighbour’s yard and headed in the same direction I was walking.
“I gave ‘Smokey’ a command that triggered her to walk forward, and I followed the tracks for another five minutes and noticed how they finally travelled into the bush,” she added.
“I did not continue on as ‘Smokey’ was determined that we had gone far enough,” Badiuk said.
“The tracks appeared to look like cat tracks but larger than the normal house cat.”
Badiuk returned the next day and took photos of the tracks to send to the Ministry of Natural Resources.
“I actually noticed the tracks further away from where I originally noticed them the day before,” she noted.
“The animal appeared to like to use the roadway for travelling and occasionally would run into the bush line.”
The MNR later confirmed a bobcat was suspected to be in the Devlin area.
And a lynx is said be terrorizing pet owners in the Shuniah area near Thunder Bay.
In fact, Thunder Bay physician Jack Remus said he’s willing to put up a bounty on the lynx, which has killed at least three cats over the past few weeks.
Remus believes the big cat is not going after the domestic pets for food, but “seems to have a desire to kill.”
