Salt Lake City • Two Salt Lake City area elementary schools are keeping students inside after reports of a mountain lion sighting in a backyard near one of the schools.
Jordan School District spokeswoman Sandra Riesgraf said Friday that the cougar was spotted by a resident early Friday morning in backyards of houses near Foothills Elementary School in Riverton, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Salt Lake City.
She says the nearby school of Blackridge Elementary in Herriman is also sheltering in place as a precaution while police, animal control and state wildlife officials look for the animal.
Riesgraf says there are no reports of anyone being injured. The schools have been in shelter-in-place mode since the start of the school day.
The schools are located near the southwest outskirts of the Salt Lake City metro area’s urban footprint.