May 13, 2016

Nice Kitty! Hold Still Now!


I don't know the backstory — someone might have found the mountain lion in the trap and alerted Utah Wildlife. Two game wardens arrive to free the cat, and what happens next is a class in Catchpole 101, with a naturally very angry Puma concolor.

If you were wondering, you will find Utah trapping regs here. I wonder if this trap was indeed "marked or tagged with the trap registered number of the owner."

2 comments:

Woody Meristem said...

Why on earth wasn't the cat sedated? Between the stress and the potential damage to the foot/leg held in the trap, it's hard to believe the cat wasn't injured. Not to mention that the one individual appeared to be terrified of the cat and therefore not really capable of dealing with the situation.

Chas S. Clifton said...

Woody: Good question, but I can think of several possibilities. Maybe time was of the essence, and rather than wait for someone to make a long trip to fetch a tranquilizer gun, they decided that it would be less stressful to act with what they have. That's just a guess.

My favorite wildlife rehabilitator, who has cared for several mountain lions, says that it is difficult to tranquilize them — to get the dosage right.

Personally, I identified with warden #2: maybe he had never done that before and did not want to mess up. :)