Zoo creates panic with missing cougar alert

An hour after causing public panic by saying a cougar escaped from a zoo in Kansas on Monday, officials said the animal never actually left the grounds and has since been captured.

Initially, officials in Independence said the cougar escaped from the Riverside Park and Ralph Mitchell Zoo and that local law enforcement, along with park officials, were searching the area for any sign of the animal.

But a short time later, city officials said the cougar had been captured and, in fact, had never left the zoo grounds.