YORK COUNTY, Pa. — Two big cats were spotted at a York County cemetery on Wednesday, Aug. 23.
According to the Spring Garden Township Police Department, at 12:23 p.m., officers were dispatched to the 1100 block of Southern Road near Mount Rose Cemetery for a report of two large cats that were observed earlier in the caller's yard.
The cats were last seen heading north towards Mount Rose Cemetery at approximately 11:35 a.m.
Julene Seaborg was the first one to report the animal sighting to the police. She said she spotted the two cats from her kitchen window and immediately grabbed her phone.
"I was standing at the kitchen sink doing dishes around noon, when I just happened to look out my window and see a large animal," said Seaborg. “I yelled for my son saying, ‘You have to come see this.’ He was asking, ‘What do you think that is?’ and I said, ‘It’s definitely not a coyote.’”
Seaborg said the large cats roamed in the backyard before escaping through the trees. She added the cats were unlike the wildlife she's used to seeing in her neighborhood.
“We get foxes, coyotes, deer through here all the time," said Seaborg. "Big cats, however, are predators so that was a little unnerving.”
The public has been asked to exercise caution in the area.
Travis Lau with the Pennsylvania Game Commission released the following abbreviated statement to FOX43 regarding the sightings:
Sightings and reports aren’t uncommon. Believe it or not, a lot of the reports revolve around large house cats that might either be feral or roaming outside. We identify a lot of bobcats, too, in the photos we review. With any unfamiliar animal, be it domestic or wildlife, there’s always a potential disease risk, so unfamiliar animals generally should not be handled because they could be sick.
Lau addressed that if the big cats are identified as bobcats, they're not much of a safety risk to humans but could pose a risk to pets and small livestock.