By Roger McKinney
rmckinney@joplinglobe.com
GALENA, Kan. — Galena police are seeking the help of the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks to determine if the animal caught on a video surveillance camera at a local business is a cougar or some other large cat, or a common house cat.
The video was taken at Allied Waste Services at 2:32 a.m. on Saturday, July 5. The company is located on old Route 66, east of Galena, but still in Kansas.
The video shows a dark, feline figure walking with a fence in the background and a trash container in the foreground. The cat stops briefly to sniff or lick something on the pavement before continuing out of the camera view.
Police Chief Larry Delmont said he would send the video to the state agency to see whether experts can determine what type of cat is in the video.
Police officer Jerry Dannels was among those viewing the video Wednesday at the Galena Police Station who thought it was a cougar or other large cat, pointing out the muscle tone visible in the video and the cat’s neck.
Dannels and assistant police Chief D.J. Hestand traveled out to try to determine the distance and angle of the camera from the cat. Dannels also posed in the range of the surveillance camera to try to gauge the size of the animal.
After the experiment, Dannels said he was convinced of his initial decision, while Hestand said he was maintaining some healthy skepticism while not ruling out the possibility that the animal is a big domestic cat.
Delmont at the police station watched a loop of the video on a computer.
“I don’t know,” Delmont said. “I just don’t know.”
As he watched the video again and again, Delmont said he was leaning toward thinking that it was a house cat. He said he was eager to find out whether the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks could make a determination from the video.
Larry Williams, a route supervisor with Allied Waste Services, was one of the first to view the surveillance video. He said he is convinced it is a cougar or some other large cat, and not a house cat. He found large paw prints near the business on Wednesday that he said reinforces his belief. Other workers had previously told him about the tracks.
“The raccoons are real thick around here,” Williams said. “There’s plenty for them to eat. There’s deer and turkey, too.”
Williams said by watching the video, it appears to him that the cat weighs close to 120 pounds.
Other reports
On May 19, Cpl. Donn Hall, of the Newton County Sheriff’s Department, shot and killed what later was determined to be a black leopard that had been pawing at a storm door at a home at 9555 Orchid Drive, southwest of Neosho. Hall said he shot the cat as it charged him on two occasions. The deputy took the dead animal to a taxidermist.
The Missouri Department of Conservation news release at the time said the cat had been declawed, indicating it was a captive animal that had escaped, possibly during the May 10 tornado.
Carl Francis, Webb City, Mo., police chief, said police received two phone calls about a month ago from residents who reported seeing a large cat, but no proof of the animal was found.
Paw prints
Galena police Chief Larry Delmont said Wednesday that the paw prints found by Allied Waste Services worker Larry Williams measure three to four inches long. He said the prints can’t be definitively linked to the cat on the surveillance video, but he hopes the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks can make a determination from a combination of the two sources.
