The Cass County Sheriff’s Office is warning tourists to the Jim Edgar Panther Creek Area to prepare to manually navigate your way through the state park.
Sheriff Devron Ohrn reports that on Sunday, sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to the park for a report of two missing park visitors. The Sheriff’s Office, Beardstown Police, IDNR Conservation Police, Illinois State Police, the Ashland Fire Department, the Virginia Fire Department, and Beardstown Ambulance all responded to the search.
Ohrn says that Cass County K-9 Echo was deployed to track the missing visitors. Echo traced a trail through the park for 1.3 miles before being overcome by the heat. Conservation Police and sheriff’s deputies continued in the direction of the scent trail and soon located the individuals in the park. Both unidentified individuals were checked and released by the Beardstown Ambulance.
Ohrn says that K-9 Officer Echo is just fine after the incident.
Ohrn says that people getting lost is becoming a regular occurrence at the park.
He asks that visitors take a paper copy of the park’s map with them on any hikes, take someone familiar with the park along, bring plenty of supplies to get by for several hours if you plan to hike in the park, and plan for poor cellular and GPS service.