Spirit Lake, Iowa — Some people who live and vacation near Spirit Lake are a little concerned after a low-resolution video seemed to show some sort of big cat near the lake.
This past week, a video was posted to a lakes area Facebook group. The video seemed to show a big breed of cat, which most people seemed to think was a mountain lion, near East Bay of Big Spirit Lake.
We talked to Vince Evelsizer, a Furbearer Biologist with Iowa Department of Natural Resources. He says, while he won’t rule out a mountain lion (also known as a puma, a cougar, or a panther), from the low-resolution video, it seems like a bobcat. But it’s impossible to tell for sure.
We asked him to help us quantify how likely it would be to be a mountain lion versus a bobcat.
But, it may not be a bad idea to take a few precautions, just in case.
