ALTOONA (AP) — Officials have checked out another reported sighting of a mountain lion in Polk County, this time in Altoona.
Police searched an area about a mile south of Clay Elementary School for about half an hour on Wednesday. Officers found no trace of the animal.
School principal Lea Morris says students were kept inside during recess.
On Monday officers searched in vain near an apartment complex in northeast Des Moines after several residents reported seeing a big cat.
Kevin Baskins of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the sightings may involve the same mountain lion, one of many that pass through the state.