BATON ROUGE — A girl searching her window into her yard final Thursday observed an animal that doesn’t often roam round in Louisiana yards.
Juanika Cheree Daniels-Benoit stated her mom, who lives in a neighborhood off Plank Road close to Blount Road, observed an animal that she thought appeared like a canine at first, however after making an attempt to startle the animal, she realized it was one thing totally different.
“She hit her glass, and it didn’t move,” Daniels-Benoit recalled. “It didn’t startle and run off, so she hit it again. It stood up, and then she said, ‘That’s not a dog.’ Then she noticed it wasn’t a regular cat, and she ran to get her cameras.”
Daniels-Benoit stated her mom took images of the animal and reached out to the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries and the Baton Rouge Zoo to see if somebody may go and get the animal.
Neither entity may affirm what sort of huge cat it was, and so they advised the lady she must rent somebody to seize the animal.
“Her objective was to let the older people know because it’s mostly old people in this neighborhood with grandkids or something like that,” Daniels-Benoit stated. “She wanted them (neighbors) to be on the lookout or whatever. She called her immediate neighbors that night to let them know.”
Nuisance Wildlife Control Operators are licensed by Wildlife and Fisheries and focus on capturing sure wild animals. Wildlife and Fisheries has a listing of operators on its web site.
The operators receive a number of certifications. They aren’t paid by way of Wildlife and Fisheries. The home-owner or business proprietor pays them.
Jay Lapeyrouse is the nuisance wildlife management operator who spoke with Daniels-Benoit’s mom. He stated he advised the lady it’s unlikely she’ll see that cat once more. He companies Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Livingston, St. Helena and West Feliciana Parishes.
He makes a speciality of alligators, armadillos, beavers, bobcats, coyotes, feral hogs, foxes, minks, nutrias, opossums, otters, rabbits, raccoons, skunks, snakes and squirrels.
“You better go get a Powerball if you think you’re going to see that cat again,” Lapeyrouse stated. “This is not the right habitat for them. There are plenty in Texas, but the Louisiana habitat has not been the best for them. If it was truly a big cat, they’re so reclusive, and they’re not gonna see him again.”
Lapeyrouse stated the one method the lady would see the animal once more is that if she had a particular meals supply the cat was fascinated with, reminiscent of pets, chickens and geese.
Lapeyrouse’s message to everybody was to not make a nuisance animal scenario worse.
“The one thing people need to know is don’t feed wild animals,” he famous. “It always ends up bad for the animal.”
He added animals like this often observe a river or water supply for meals and by now, it’s lengthy gone from the yard.
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