Sunday, December 16, 2007

I love my job.

Here is a slightly expurgated, but not otherwise manipulated, e-mail alert that I just received from campus news services:

ALERT: [University where I teach] Police receive another report of panther on campus

[University where I teach] police received another report of a panther on campus today (Dec. 16).

Campus police responded to a call from an employee who reported seeing what was believed to be a panther between [the building where my classes are] and [the building where my office is]. Officers searched the area but were unable to find evidence of a large cat.

An earlier sighting on Nov. 23, during [my University's] Thanksgiving break, was reported by a contract security officer who spotted what he thought looked like a panther near the [historic landmark on campus] . Police officers later spotted the animal near [two other buildings on campus].

Police Chief [Name] urged students, faculty and staff to avoid contact with wild animals that may have wandered onto campus.

"For your own safety it's best to stay away from any wild animal that could have rabies or some other disease," [Name] said.

Call police at [phone number] if you spot an unusual animal on campus or one that's not acting normally."


Did you catch that? This is the second reported sighting.

I should note, however, this passage from the original Thanksgiving alert:

Police Chief [Name] said the department contacted a wildlife expert who said it's unlikely the animal is a panther, but that it could be a cougar, a dog or some other animal.

Yes, "a dog." That kind of reminded me of the time my graduate school roommate claimed to have seen a wolverine in the parking lot for our apartment. Turns out it was a woodchuck. And no actual wolverines live in greater metropolitan Ann Arbor.

2 comments:

Joe said...

OMG! I regularly see skunks and raccoons in my backyard, but no panthers!

Tony Lanza said...

I like how the one reports says to stay away since the animal might have rabies. Does the guy know they have sharp teeth too?

This story also reminds me of my mother-in-law that told everyone in the family that she saw a kangaroo out the window of her summer cottage in northern Kentucky a couple of summers ago. Of course a few weeks later we heard that wildlife experts captured a kangaroo in the area that had escaped from a local farm. So grandma was seeing things even though we still tease her about it now.