Debbie Perkins and a friend, Sarah Shelton, were standing on the front porch of her home last week when they noticed something highly unusual: An apparent large cat hanging out near a pond on the neighboring yard.
Another image of the animal spotted last week near Houston.
Perkins, who lives a couple of miles east of Houston near Oakwood Golf Club, said she and Shelton saw the animal last Wednesday in the yard of neighbors Dennis and Debbie Wilson.
“There it was, just sitting pretty as you please,” Perkins said.
Alan Leary, wildlife management coordinator with the Missouri Department of Conservation and co-leader of the large carnivore response team, said the animal appears to be a bobcat. He said the image taken by the Houston women was shared with his team members.
“The thing I worry about is that we have two dogs and two little children who ride bicycles in the area,” Perkins said. “You never even think about something like this.
Dennis Wilson said he suspects the big cat had been in the neighborhood for several days prior to being spotted.
“My dogs had been raising Cain off and on for about a week,” he said, “so I think it had been around for a while.”