January 20, 2010
Mountain lion likely the same one that attacked a snow machiner last month.
Idaho Fish and Game confirmed the harvest of a mountain lion near the Bitch Creek trestle bridge this week. It is highly likely that this is the same cat that interacted with a snow machiner at the end of last year.After a local man was tackled by a mountain lion, Idaho Fish and Game Regional Conservation Offi cer Doug Petersen did not plan on eliminating the cat from the local population, it seemed that the incident was the exception rather than the rule. Petersen said he would be surprised if the cat showed up again.
It happened, but go snowmachining and cross country skiing,” Petersen told the Valley Citizen the last week of December. So people did.
Jade Pittel took her young daughters cross-country skiing near the Bitch Creek trestle bridge at the beginning of the new year. She saw something in the distance, but wasn’t certain what it was. As she and her daughters got closer, Pittel saw it was a mountain lion. The cat began to crouch down and flick its tail, and Pittel was concerned about her family’s safety.
Ultimately, the cat was startled by Pittel’s dog and disappeared into the trees, but it was likely the same cat that had tackled the man on the snowmachine a week earlier. Fish and Game decided it was time to get involved.
“After the second incident, it was a public health and safety issue,” Petersen said. “We decided to take that cat out of the population.”
Petersen and F&G Wildlife Biologist Rob Cavallaro went out with local houndsman Jeremy Green to harvest the cat, but they found only wolf tracks in the vicinity of Bitch Creek. Despite the fact that no cat was found, it was imperative to react quickly, according to Cavallaro.
“When there are carnivore confl icts, we have to be able to respond quickly in order to manage the public trust,” Cavallaro said. “When people feel there is recourse, it prompts tolerance. We followed our policy closely on this. The action was warranted.”
It was not until a week later, however, that the problem cat was harvested, and it was not by Fish and Game, though Green’s dogs were again used to tree the cat.
Tetonia resident Jared Hill encountered a large cat while snowmachining in the Jackpine Loop area near Felt during the second week of January. Judging by its size, this was not the same cat that Pittel or the snowmachiner had encountered in December.
“This bigger cat jumped right in front of my sled, I just about hit him,” Hill said.
After the encounter with the cat while snow machining, Hill and Green set out to harvest the bigger cat, and the two determined that there were two cats in the Bitch Creek area, in addition to fresh wolf tracks.
Green’s dogs successfully treed the smaller cat, weighing roughly 75 pounds. The animal was harvested by Hill and registered at a taxidermist in St. Anthony.
“That cat was starving,” Hill said. “She was likely trailing the bigger cat around.”
The larger cat that Hill encountered on a snow machine was estimated to be between 130 pounds and 150 pounds, judging by its tracks and stride.
Look for next week’s Valley Citizen to find out what you need to know about living in mountain lion country from Idaho Fish and Game Regional Conservation Educator Gregg Losinski.
