WENDOVER, Utah — The town of Wendover, Utah has been keeping an eye out for a critter that's been lurking around in a rare place, where it shouldn't be hanging out.
Even the Wendover Police Department got involved in the hunt for the creature, and the idea of it hiding around is scaring residents.
It started when a UPS driver spotted a badger walking across a front yard on Friday, Mayor Mike Crawford said.
"[It was] going right across the steps of a house, not even caring about where it was at," Crawford said.
The driver, Jeff Remington, said he took photos of the badger when he saw it just before 2 p.m.
"It's unusual that they're in populated areas like this, during the day time," Wendover Police Chief Kenneth Quirk said.
The animal is nocturnal, Quirk said, so the police department jumped in to look for the critter as well as get the word out to residents.
"My concern is that they somehow came in from the mountains, bypassed the freeway and got down to a neighborhood," Chief Quirk
said. "School's out, children are playing."
Tom Becker, wildlife biologist with the Department of Wildlife Resources, said badgers tend to be "angry" animals that will attack if
provoked.
"They would probably give you a good bite," he said, later adding, "They're a pretty powerful animal, and their bite is pretty painful."
Laramee Robertson's been watching her dog, Trey, closely for the past couple days after hearing about the badger.
She lives just behind the house where the UPS driver took the photos.
"It's around here somewhere on our street," she said. "Its actually kind of scary."
Robertson said she's been worried about Trey as well as the household cat. They've been limiting the cat's outside time, and they raised the dog house up off the ground to keep away from any potential badgers.
Quirk and Crawford said the badger hasn't made any other appearances after that first sighting.
Still, the town is on standby in case that badger is still lurking around and causes any problems with residents.
"We're ready to set traps up in different areas," Quirk said.
