Mountain lion spotted at Idaho college was euthanized in backyard near elementary school
Published at | Updated atLEWISTON (Lewiston Tribune) — An Idaho Fish and Game officer shot and killed a mountain lion in a Lewiston backyard the morning of Feb. 3 after determining the animal could not be safely darted with a tranquilizer gun.
Fish and Game spokesperson Jen Bruns said Lewiston police notified the department of the lion’s presence in a yard near the corner of Eighth Avenue and 20th Street, a few blocks from Whitman Elementary School and Albertson’s grocery store.
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“We decided the best choice was to euthanize it,” Bruns said. “It had been sighted a couple of times. Public safety is our first priority, and we had to make a decision with it being that close to houses and people, and the best decision was to put it down.”
The male animal was dispatched at about 6:30 a.m. Feb. 3 by George Fisher, conservation supervisor for the agency’s Clearwater Region at Lewiston, using a rifle with a silencer. Bruns said Fisher estimated the animal weighed about 80 pounds.
“George said it was still a younger cat, but it was bigger than we thought,” Bruns said.
The mountain lion was first seen on the Lewis-Clark State College campus the night of Feb. 1, where a security camera recorded it entering the covered ticket window area at the LCSC Activity Center adjacent to Harris Field.
Mountain lions, also known as cougars, are generally secretive animals that avoid humans and urban areas. However, young lions looking to establish their own territory are sometimes drawn into urban environments. Bruns said when that happens the animals often leave quickly to find more natural habitat. On rare occasions, such as this one, they stay.
Because mountain lions are protective of their territories and are intolerant of other animals, relocation efforts are not always successful. Bruns said that also played a factor in the decision to euthanize the animal.
Mountain lions are classified as a big game animal in Idaho and Washington where populations are healthy enough to support managed hunting seasons.