Black Hills lion put down for attacking colt
Posted: Sat Oct 20, 2007 10:38 am
Anyone know who the houndsmen were?
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 6925&rfi=6
Two mountain lions killed in Hills
By Mark Watson, Black Hills Pioneer October 18, 2007
BLACK HILLS - Two mountain lions were killed recently in separate incidents.
The first, a 2-year-old male was killed on the evening of Oct. 11 when it was hit by a vehicle on Sturgis Road near Blackhawk.
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BLACK HILLS - Two mountain lions were killed recently in separate incidents.
The first, a 2-year-old male was killed on the evening of Oct. 11 when it was hit by a vehicle on Sturgis Road near Blackhawk.
The second, a 6-year-old male, was killed by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Friday morning when the department determined that it killed a young horse.
In the later incident, the horse owner, near Crook City, reported the incident to the GF&P at approximately 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Regional wildlife manager John Kanta responded and determined that the horse was indeed killed by a mountain lion.
"By our protocol, any time a lion takes livestock or pets we remove them," Kanta said.
"We don't give them any chances. If they cross the line and kill livestock or pets they automatically meet our policy for removal."
The horse was killed in an approximate 50-by-50-foot corral that butted up to "good stalking cover" potentially allowing the cat to sneak up close to the fenced area and then attack from there, he said.
Kanta directed the Northern Hills trapper set traps on the carcass. It was too late to turn hounds out that afternoon.
"When we came back in the morning the lion had snuck back in on us, and we missed it with the traps," he said. "We could tell that the lion came back to the carcass, so at that point I had my houndsmen release the hounds, We tracked it with the hounds and subsequently euthenized it."
In the past lions have killed lamas, sheep, geese, chickens, peacocks as well as cats and dogs in the Hills. Most recently police killed a mountain lion Oct. 4 on West Jackson Boulevard and Verdale Drive in Spearfish.
"The department does have an agreement with Game Fish and Parks that if the lion is in the city limits we can use our own judgment in killing the animal," Police Chief Pat Rotert said.
In this case, the mountain lion had been spotted in someone's back yard and later it ran across the road onto Verdale Drive and killed a domestic cat.
"Typically mountain lions don't take horses," Kanta said. "It is not a real common thing ... in this case we are dealing with a 250-pound colt, so it is smaller than a cow elk, so it would be reasonable for it to be looked at as a food source."
Kanta said the number of lions that have been killed by vehicles or the department this year has been "consistent as in previous years." He did not have the exact number as he was traveling.
"The mountain lions are doing very well," he added "We are as consistent as in recent years. Every indication is that the population is doing very well and probably still increasing."
©The Black Hills Pioneer, Newspapers, South Dakota, SD 2007
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?news ... 6925&rfi=6
Two mountain lions killed in Hills
By Mark Watson, Black Hills Pioneer October 18, 2007
BLACK HILLS - Two mountain lions were killed recently in separate incidents.
The first, a 2-year-old male was killed on the evening of Oct. 11 when it was hit by a vehicle on Sturgis Road near Blackhawk.
Advertisement
BLACK HILLS - Two mountain lions were killed recently in separate incidents.
The first, a 2-year-old male was killed on the evening of Oct. 11 when it was hit by a vehicle on Sturgis Road near Blackhawk.
The second, a 6-year-old male, was killed by the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks Friday morning when the department determined that it killed a young horse.
In the later incident, the horse owner, near Crook City, reported the incident to the GF&P at approximately 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 11.
Regional wildlife manager John Kanta responded and determined that the horse was indeed killed by a mountain lion.
"By our protocol, any time a lion takes livestock or pets we remove them," Kanta said.
"We don't give them any chances. If they cross the line and kill livestock or pets they automatically meet our policy for removal."
The horse was killed in an approximate 50-by-50-foot corral that butted up to "good stalking cover" potentially allowing the cat to sneak up close to the fenced area and then attack from there, he said.
Kanta directed the Northern Hills trapper set traps on the carcass. It was too late to turn hounds out that afternoon.
"When we came back in the morning the lion had snuck back in on us, and we missed it with the traps," he said. "We could tell that the lion came back to the carcass, so at that point I had my houndsmen release the hounds, We tracked it with the hounds and subsequently euthenized it."
In the past lions have killed lamas, sheep, geese, chickens, peacocks as well as cats and dogs in the Hills. Most recently police killed a mountain lion Oct. 4 on West Jackson Boulevard and Verdale Drive in Spearfish.
"The department does have an agreement with Game Fish and Parks that if the lion is in the city limits we can use our own judgment in killing the animal," Police Chief Pat Rotert said.
In this case, the mountain lion had been spotted in someone's back yard and later it ran across the road onto Verdale Drive and killed a domestic cat.
"Typically mountain lions don't take horses," Kanta said. "It is not a real common thing ... in this case we are dealing with a 250-pound colt, so it is smaller than a cow elk, so it would be reasonable for it to be looked at as a food source."
Kanta said the number of lions that have been killed by vehicles or the department this year has been "consistent as in previous years." He did not have the exact number as he was traveling.
"The mountain lions are doing very well," he added "We are as consistent as in recent years. Every indication is that the population is doing very well and probably still increasing."
©The Black Hills Pioneer, Newspapers, South Dakota, SD 2007
. I would love to see if my boys could do it.