2 schools forced to go on ‘secure status’ after mountain lion spotted roaming in neighborhood
DULUTH, Minn. (KBJR/Gray News) - Two schools in Minnesota were placed under a ‘secure status protocol’ due to a mountain lion in the area earlier this week.
On Wednesday, parents received a notification that Congdon Elementary was in secure status, as classes continued as normal inside the building.
Ordean East Middle School was also part of the secure status after a resident sent Duluth Public Schools a picture of the mountain lion that was spotted in a nearby neighborhood.
Adelle Wellens with Duluth Schools says the alert prompted the team to activate their “SECURE” status to keep everyone indoors.
“It’s very unusual to have to deal with a mountain lion, especially in our city, but knowing the DNR, the Duluth police, and our neighbors are looking out for our students is great,” she said.
Students and staff remained inside as a precaution. The alert was lifted later in the afternoon after the school district and Duluth Police communicated with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources.
Based on the patterns of the animal, DNR decided it wasn’t in the area around the time school was out.
Parents received notification around 2 p.m., and students were cleared to be released from school; after-school programs continued as normal.
Jay Hanson was picking up two of his children at Ordean East and said he wasn’t too concerned once he knew his kids were indoors.
“If it had been right after school, it would’ve been a bit of a different story because kids would have been walking around and wandering around,” he said.
He believes that his kids were completely safe inside, as he’s dealt with wild animals living in the area since 1999.
“We’ve dealt with bears, been hiking places where there are mountain lions, and I’ve let them know what to do and how to take care of them, so they were probably pretty relaxed about it,” Hanson said.
The school administration did notify parents to pick up students who typically walk home from school.
Through communications with other state DNR agencies, they believe it was a mountain lion that was originally tagged in Nebraska that had a broken tracking collar.
“We’ve been tracking it, if you will, through trail cam pictures that people send or home security videos all the way back since early September,” John Erb, a research biologist with the Minnesota DNR, said. “It’s been in Minnesota for nearly three months now.”
He says it was first spotted in Fergus Falls before heading through many towns like Wadena, Nisswa, Brainerd, and just five minutes from his home in Grand Rapids.
According to Erb, it’s not uncommon for a mountain lion to wander, especially a young male like this one, which they believe is around 2-3 years old.
He believes that the animal won’t stay put for long.
“Odds are this animal is not going to stay put anywhere; it’s going to keep on going where it ends up,” Erb said.
DPD reminded the community to exercise caution in the presence of the animals and not to approach them.
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