Officials at West Scranton High School in Pennsylvania panicked on Tuesday morning when they thought they saw a bobcat roaming the school grounds. Security cameras captured footage of what they believed to be a ferocious predator stalking the cafeteria.
Bobcats are fast and have razor-sharp claws. Although they are known to shy away from humans, bobcats can attack if rabid or have babies nearby. So, students were sent home early for their protection.
The Game Commission arrived and searched the campus for two hours and couldn’t find the bobcat. But what they did find was a regular house cat.
In fact, there was no bobcat at all, just a Clouded Jack cat that resembles the wild animal. The game commission found out the cat was microchipped and had been missing from its family for three months.
“It looks, I mean, identical. (It has) the colors of a bobcat; it’s missing a tail,” Game Warden Jon Bowman said. “So just err on the side of caution. We wanted to make sure all the students are safe and staff are safe.”
Now, the cat has been reunited with its family, the kids can go back to school, and the Game Commission has a great story to tell.