Big cat seen near Morson likely a lynx

In the words of Tommy Smothers, “There’s pumas in the crevasses!”
Are they also on the prowl near Morson?
Last Wednesday around 7:30 p.m., Ashley Gibbons, a resident of the new subdivision of the Big Island town site, spotted a large cat crossing the yard of neighbour Phyllisity Jack.
Armed with her camera, Jack left her house and spotted the animal lying in the grass at the end of the street.
Upon spotting her, it rose and walked slowly off into the bush, but not before Jack managed to snap a photo with her digital camera.
Jack had the camera on maximum zoom, and said she was about two utility poles away from the animal (roughly 75 metres). The cat did not make any threatening gestures and has not been sighted in the area since this initial incident.
The photo was subjected to further analysis by the Ministry of Natural Resources, with some specialized software, to try and clarify the image, estimate the size of the animal, and identify the species.
John VandenBroeck, a biodiversity species-at-risk biologist with the MNR office in Fort Frances, forwarded the photo to several experts and they feel it is unlikely the animal was a cougar, but rather a lynx or a bobcat.
That doesn’t mean there are not cougars in the area. Cougar sightings have been reported across the district several times over the past decades.
And with the abundance of white-tail deer, the cougars’ favourite prey, there certainly is ample food supply to support the big cats.
VandenBroeck noted the ministry has received about 70 cougar sightings since 1965. In 2004, a radio-collared animal from the Dakotas was tracked across Minnesota to a location 90 miles west of Rainy River.
Also that year, two animals were shot in western Manitoba.
In 2006/07, cougar tracks were identified in the Sioux Narrows area. Then this year, photos of a live cougar were taken in Manitoba.
The cougar, puma, or mountain lion is a very shy animal. People who have lived all their life in cougar habitat in the western part of the continent may never have seen a wild one.
Should you suddenly encounter a cougar, make noise in a firm loud voice, maintain eye contact with it, pick up small children, be prepared to fight, stand upright, and slowly back away.
Sudden flight from a cougar could trigger an instinctive attack response by the animal so do not run or turn your back.
The Ontario Puma Foundation hosts a website at www.ontariopuma.ca which gives extensive information on this elusive cat.