(File Photo: Wisconsin DNR)
Rock County officials are on alert, following a possible cougar sighting in a Beloit park.
Beloit Parks Director Brian Ramsey says staff spotted what they believed to be a large cat last week while working in Big Hill Park. The parks department had posted caution signs to alert visitors, although no further sightings of the suspected mountain lion have been reported.
DNR Large Carnivore Specialist Dave MacFarland says it’s not unusual for cougars to be spotted in the state, even though the animals are not native to the region. They do sometimes travel through though while searching for a mate, and genetics have typically traced them back to cougars from the Black Hills of South Dakota
The last confirmed cougar sighting in Rock County was around the Milton area in 2008.
WCLO