COUGAR IN KINGSVILLE?

Big cat spotted in town

They thought at first it was a golden lab out on an adventure in a rural area with widely scattered homes, but it turned out not to be a dog but a cat — a really big cat.

“My husband said, ‘That’s not a dog — that’s a cougar!’” said Fay Hermann.

Fay and Tim Hermann were driving along Road 3 West, east of County Road 23 (Arner Townline), on Friday night, heading from their Essex home to a Kingsville restaurant, when the large wild animal stepped out from a cornfield on the north side of the road at about 8 p.m. and crossed to a thickly forested patch on the southern side.

It was “definitely” an exciting encounter, said Hermann. “He looked very healthy, his legs were strong and muscular, his paws, they were big, and he had a long tail ... maybe three-quarters of the body.”

It was a close encounter of the very rare kind, locally. Concerned that the animal they thought at first was a dog might dart in front of their GMC Sierra after exiting the cornfield and then going into a ditch, Hermann said her husband had slowed to a stop. The cougar paid the vehicle and its occupants barely a glance as it padded across the road directly in front of them before sauntering into the nearby woods. There have been other reported local cougar sightings in the past, but Hermann said she’s always had her suspicions. “They were questionable, debatable — nobody ever had a picture,” she said. Neither she nor her husband had smartphones with them, so there’s no record of this encounter either.

Fay said the cougar was gone in seconds, near a driveway to a home in the 1600 block. Further east along Road 3 is the Jack Miner’s Bird Sanctuary and Jack Miner Public School. “People should be aware,” said Hermann, adding she contacted the Windsor Star in order to alert the public to the cougar’s presence, especially area residents with children, farm animals and pets.

It was just over a year ago, in May 2017, when LaSalle issued a cougar alert after residents spotted a big, tan-coloured “catlike creature” behind homes in the 2500 block of Todd Lane. Responding officers discovered large paw prints in a bushy area between the town and the City of Windsor.

At the time, police warned local residents not to approach such an animal if located or spotted. Residents were also asked to be alert of their environment when out enjoying local trails.

The area of Friday night’s reported sighting is in the Cedar Creek watershed and north of the Cedar Creek Conservation Area, one of the few corners of Essex County where a large wild animal might avoid too much public attention.