Scottsbluff officer kills mountain lion & Hunting for deer, boys find lion (Ne)

[Omaha Steve]

I can understand the boys shooting a puma under the circumstances. I don't understand why the game officer didn't drug the one he shot. This is the 5th & 6th mountain lions shot in the past 13 months in Nebraska. Several were not a danger and should have been protected under the law. Flip side is when drugged, nobody wants to take them. One survived a shotgun wound after being drugged in Omaha a few years back. The Omaha zoo nursed it back to health. But they don't have room for anymore. There is no cougar_rescue.org. Nobody wants them while we enter their territory. Shame on us over and over with Mother Nature.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10547453


Published Sunday January 25, 2009
Scottsbluff officer kills mountain lion

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission says a Scottsbluff police officer shot a mountain lion that had wandered into a neighborhood.

Conservation officer Scott Brandt says the 70-pound female cat was seen in a tree near Scottsbluff High School on Sunday morning. When she came down from the tree, the police officer shot her, causing critical injuries.

The cat ran, but was found in a garage a few blocks away. Brandt says he then euthanized the cat with a dart gun.

Mountain lions — also known as cougars, pumas, panthers or catamounts — became a protected species under Nebraska law in 1995 and can’t be hunted. They can be killed if they are threatening livestock or the safety of others



http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1000&u_sid=10546860

Published Sunday January 25, 2009
Hunting for deer, boys find lion
BY DAVID HENDEE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

What to do in an encounter Do not approach a mountain lion. Leave the animal an avenue to escape. Stay calm. Move slowly. Back away safely if you can. Don't turn your back to the animal or start running. Lift up children to prevent them from running. Raise your arms or backpack to appear larger. If attacked, fight back. Mountain lions have been fended off with bare hands. Use rocks, sticks or whatever you can get your hands on. Try to remain on your feet. Get up if knocked down.

Source: Nebraska Game and Parks Commission
Tyler Jines of Alliance isn't sure who was more surprised when they met face to face in a timbered canyon - the mountain lion or him.


The carcass of a 97-pound female mountain lion killed Nov. 22, 2008, near Chadron, Neb., is displayed in the box of a pickup truck.

It was the last weekend of rifle deer season and 16-year-old Tyler was hunting mule deer in rugged hills south of Chadron when the close encounter with a cougar occurred.

"She stepped over a fallen log and hesitated. We both hesitated. I think we startled each other," Tyler said.

Other hunters in the party startled a mountain lion at the far end of the canyon 15 minutes earlier and watched it slip away but had no way to alert hunting partners down the slope.

When the cougar emerged from timber on a game trail, it apparently saw 12-year-old Tanner Kickland of Chadron. Tanner heard something walking over dry pine needles and brushing past branches, but didn't see the cougar when it appeared on his right.

Then the mountain lion and Tyler spotted each other.

The cougar crouched. It looked back and forth at Tyler and Tanner. The boys were sitting about 25 yards apart. The big cat's tail went up. It was poised midway between the boys.

"I pulled up my gun and hesitated to shoot," Tyler said. "I didn't know what to do. I was scared. I just aimed at her head. I wasn't going to give her another chance."


THIS full story at link.

[grannie4peace]

1. that's a lot of mountain lions

:wow:

[colorado thinker]

2. They estimate 5,000

to 6,000 in Colorado. Nebraska Wildlife says that they were eradicated in Nebraska by the end of the 19th century, with no sightings until the 1990's. It seems that they are ranging outside of South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado, probably because humans continue to build McMansions in the cats' historic territories . . .

Cheers!

[grannie4peace]

3. ive heard they are in virginia

[MadHound]

4. Shame that they shot these animals,

However it's nice to see that mountain lions are moving back into their historic territory. They're coming back down into Missouri and even reports of them in Arkansas.

Now we need to see wolves making a comeback in the Midwest. Some large primary predators to help control this exploding deer population.