Four people told campus police they saw a cougar prowling around the University of Maryland, College Park, on Wednesday and Thursday, but 18 officers and news helicopters have not yet found any such critter.
Police stopped combing woods near the reported sightings when nothing surfaced — in flesh or on security cameras — during a full day’s search, but said they still hoped to capture the cat.
“First we want to find and identify it, then get the proper people to trap and remove it,” said Capt. John Brandt of University of Maryland security. “If it is a cougar, it doesn’t belong in our highly urbanized area. They’re not predatory, but it’s still not good to have a cougar running around.”
A 4-foot-long, tawny-brown, 50-pound cat lay sunning himself on the road at 6 a.m. Thursday when a college maintenance employee drove up, the man told campus police. He left his car and approached the animal. It stood, looked at him and walked away.
Upon receiving the maintenance employee’s report, campus police e-mailed students and staff an alert at 1:21 p.m. Thursday. Three other people then reported seeing the cat.
Two unnamed individuals later told police they had seen the animal Wednesday night. The third sighting came Thursday morning just after the maintenance worker made his report.
Thursday afternoon and evening, campus police and a Department of Natural Resources specialist searched woods on the northwest side of campus near the sports and recreation facilities, including Cole Field House and Comcast Center.
Students live right across the street. Many have left campus for the summer, but college staff, children attending summer camps and athletes competing in a swim meet all traversed that area Wednesday and Thursday.
“I have all my cameras pointed in that direction and all my officers looking for it,” Brandt said Thursday evening. He encouraged anyone who has seen a large, catlike animal near campus since Thursday morning to not approach it but call University of Maryland campus police at 301-405-3555.
