Idaho Fish and Game kills mountain lion near Hailey, the 4th cougar killed this year
The Idaho Department of Fish and Game on Tuesday killed a juvenile mountain lion that officials say killed a domestic goat in Blaine County, marking the fourth mountain lion the agency has killed in the area this year over human conflicts.
In a news release, Fish and Game said residents south of Bellevue contacted Magic Valley Region officers Monday after finding a goat carcass cached in one of their outbuildings. Mountain lions will cache, or hide, their kills to return to later.
Officials set a trap out for the mountain lion Monday evening. Fish and Game said the decision was made to trap the animal “because it had preyed on livestock in proximity to a residential area.” The agency also noted there have been multiple mountain lion sightings and at least one resident encounter in the area in recent months.
The following morning, Fish and Game officers killed an 18-month-old male mountain lion that was caught in the trap.
“We’ve been learning from other states and Canadian provinces that juvenile or sub-adult mountain lions are more commonly involved in human-wildlife conflicts,” Regional Wildlife Manager Mike McDonald said in the news release. “Based on anecdotal information we’ve gained from the number of reports and sightings throughout the Wood River Valley, we suspect we have a healthy population of juvenile lions throughout the area.”
This is the fourth mountain lion Fish and Game has killed in the Wood River Valley since March. A female mountain lion and cub were killed after frequenting a backyard, where the adult lion hissed and bared her teeth at a resident while feeding on a kill. Another juvenile was killed in April after it entered a residential chicken coop.
Fish and Game said it has received nearly 60 reports of mountain lion sightings in Hailey and Bellevue since the start of the year. The area has had frequent mountain lion conflicts in recent years, particularly during the winter months when the predators follow prey to lower elevations.
Officials said in the news release that “euthanizing” a predator is often the most humane option when it poses a public safety risk. The agency has previously said it has been unable to find zoos or other accredited facilities to house trapped mountain lions.
“As wildlife biologists, we dedicate our careers to managing healthy and robust wildlife populations, and the last thing we want to do is euthanize an animal,” Magic Valley Regional Supervisor Craig White said in the news release.
