DOW Kills Mountain Lion Near School

[liontracker]

Colorado Department of Wildlife officials killed a mountain lion at Park Elementary School on Monday morning after a woman in the neighborhood called police.


"We don't want mountain lions in the town," DOW spokesman Joe Lewandowski said. "So, we had our officer shoot and kill the mountain lion on site."

He said the Durango Police Department responded to the scene after a woman called and said she had spotted a mountain lion in the area. The police department then called the DOW immediately to take care of the mountain lion that was hiding in the courtyard of the school, he said.

The wildlife official then shot the mountain lion.

"This is standard protocol for a mountain lion," Lewandowski said. "When a mountain lion has set up shop where there is lots of human activity, we have no choice. They are difficult to trap, and then once we trap them, they are difficult to release. It's unfortunate, but this is our only option."

Lewandowski said the mountain lion was a 2-year-old male and weighed about 75 pounds.

"That is the age when the mother kicks them out," he said. "So we find that young male lions seem to get themselves into trouble."

Although the call came from a resident of the neighborhood, most residents of the area did not see the lion.

In July of last year, two mountain lions were killed inside Durango city limits, with one killed at a home on east 11th Street and the other near the Ninth Street bridge. Both were adolescents - about 1 to 2 years of age and weighed about 50 pounds each.

Lewandoski said full-grown mountain lions can weigh 150 pounds or more. He said sightings of mountain lions are a weekly occurrence.

The DOW would like to emphasize that if residents see a mountain lion in city limits to report it.

DOW officials also would like residents to know it is OK to yell at the animal and throw rocks at it to make it feel unwelcome.

To report a sighting of a mountain lion, residents can call the DOW office at 247-0855.

[Mike Leonard]

Lewandoski said full-grown mountain lions can weigh 150 pounds or more. He said sightings of mountain lions are a weekly occurrence


Did he mean sighting in Durango were a weekly occurence? If that is the case and normal protocol is to kill the lions on site then they are whacking and stacking a bunch they don't report? Maybe?

[arizonabeagle]

Lewandoski said full-grown mountain lions can weigh 150 pounds or more. He said sightings of mountain lions are a weekly occurrence


Did he mean sighting in Durango were a weekly occurence? If that is the case and normal protocol is to kill the lions on site then they are whacking and stacking a bunch they don't report? Maybe?

i think the reason he said that was to justify his statement that the only choice was to kill the mountain lion..
i mean, i'm no expert, but how hard could it be to tranqualize a 70 pound animal and release it in the wild?...seems like its done alll the time

we used to have mountain lion sightings at the elementry school i went to and never once do i remember the police or CA fish&Game come..we just werent allowed outside and if we were we couldnt go play the baseball feild that bordered the mountains....

[FullCryHounds]

I just finished reading a very good book that is about the lions here along the front range and specifically the city of Boulder. I highly recommend every houndsmen read it. It is call "The beast in the Garden" by David Baron.

This book is the true story of what happened here in the late 80's, early 90's when the deer population sky rocketed in and around the city of Boulder. Two gentlemen took it upon themselves to track lion sightings and the info they gathered was very iteresting. They tried to get the DOW to do something about the growing problem but their response by Kathi Green was "Lions don't bother people, there is no risk" Well within about a year and a half, and almost 400 sightings/incedents later, in the town of Idaho Springs, just up the road from Boulder, 18 year old high school student Scott Lancaster was attacked and eaten by a 2-3 year old Tom.
This promted the DOW to take a little bit different stand on lions here in CO. Very interesting read.

Should have mentioned, you can buy this book from Amazon for about $5 delivered.

[liontracker]

Mike, yes you read that right - inside the city limits. Part of the problem is "my" favorite female lives in an area surrounded by the city and hunts with her cubs up at the college. Her offspring become completely accustomed to people. When they grow up and disperse, they move through town to disperse to a new area. They are wacking a bunch they don't report.

Their reason for not tranq. and relocate is the drug has very different affects on each animal. They are affraid of the drug not acting fast enough and the lion causing damage.

I think the biggest reason is they do not want hounds pursueing and treeing in the city limits because of political fallout. Besides killing is way more easy and out of sight is out of mind.

The real point is - do you think we have enough lions now to raise the kill quota?
I think so! Especially when this same female is killing deer in my backyard not 80 feet from my kennel and bringing the cubs to feast!

[high desert hounds]

Any lion, in any state, any where that is in close proximity to any residence should be killed. They are mountain lions they are not a one of a kind unicorn. The fact that they don't kill them in California doesn't surprise me at all.