May 20, 2008 9:11 pm US/Mountain
Mountain Lion Makes Return Trip To Boulder
Another Encounter For Big Cat Could End In Euthanizing
BOULDER, Colo. (CBS4) ―
For the second time in a week, the same mountain lion was tranquilized and removed from a Boulder neighborhood.
The 2-year-old male cat was discovered Tuesday on Pleasant Street near the University Hill neighborhood.
Brian Dunn watched from inside his home as wildlife officers tried to contain the big cat.
"He hops out of the drainage ditch he comes running across the lawn here, and then that way and that's when we lost him," said Dunn.
Nearby Flatirons Elementary School was placed on a lockdown.
Officers were able to hit the mountain lion with a dart and eventually contain him.
"It was breathtaking, just to see him just bound across here it just took your breath away," Dunn said.
The same cat was caught last Thursday at a home nearby.
At that time, he was fitted with a tracking collar and was added to the Division of Wildlife's Front Range mountain lion study. Researchers are looking for more options other than relocating or euthanizing the animal.
"We'd like to find out if there's other tools we can use as far as having a negative conditioning event that may prevent the lion from wanting to come back in near people," said Jennifer Churchill of the DOW.
The 138 pound mountain lion hasn't shown any aggression toward people, which is why he's being relocated again.
A third trip into a populated area will present wildlife officers with a tough choice.
"Even if the lion is eating its proper prey, if it's doing it that close to people it's something we really can't have," Churchill said.
The cat was put through negative conditioning before it was released again. That means it was hit with a rubber buck shot or bean bags to discourage him from returning to the neighborhood.
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