May 21, 2012
Outdoor Report, Mountain Lion Questions Answered - Ralph Wall Reports
Mountain Lion Sightings in Nebraska
Kearney Police and Buffalo County Sheriff's Deputies were called to a Kearney neighborhood early Monday morning when residents reported seeing a mountain lion.
Just before 7:00 a.m. police and sheriff's deputies responded to reports of a mountain lion around 18th Street and 9th Avenue in southwest Kearney. Officers spotted the cat on 12th Avenue and started following it, keeping it contained to back yards. About 15 minutes later, the young male mountain lion came around a house located at 1330 12th Avenue, and Officer Jolissa May-Warner shot and killed it with a patrol rifle.
Chief of Police Daniel Lynch says some people are upset that the cougar wasn't captured alive, but he's proud of the way his officers handled the unusual situation.
"That's a young family neighborhood with a lot of children, and it's the time of day when people are leaving their homes, getting ready to go to school, go to work," he said. "This is not an animal that we wanted to have on the loose at that particular point in time, and for the officers, I know they didn't really want to destroy it, but they didn't really have any options, and I think they absolutely did the right thing."
The carcass was turned over to Nebraska Game and Parks officials. They say a necropsy, or animal autopsy, and DNA testing will be done to find out where the mountain lion came from, what he'd been eating, and if he had any diseases.
Lynch said he thought the cat probably came into town searching for food. He said that while it's not rare to hear about a cougar sighting in Buffalo County, and that sometimes deer or cattle wander into the city, this was the first time the police department had dealt with a big cat like that.
"Over the last couple years we've had several people report seeing what they believed to be a mountain lion," Lynch said. "I don't know out of all that how many were confirmed, but I do know that in the outlying areas we've heard of quite a few."
In fact, Lynch said a man near Elm Creek reported seeing a mountain lion on Sunday, but there's no way of confirming it was the same cat in Kearney. The Nebraska Game and Parks has a map of confirmed mountain lion sightings on their web site. There have been 14 confirmed sightings in central Nebraska, and 10 in north central Nebraska since 1991. Two of those were in nearby Dawson County just last year. Sightings are confirmed based on evidence like tracks, deer kills, photos, and bodies.
Mountain lions are mostly solitary creatures, and a home range for a single cat can be up to 100 square miles. Most sightings in Nebraska are in the panhandle area, but young males sometimes move farther east. The NGPC says a small population of cougars may live in the Pine Ridge area.
Lynch said officers tracking the mountain lion had to warn several people to go back inside their homes. He says people shouldn't approach any wild animals that wander into urban areas.
"These are not at any level safe," Lynch said. "An animal like a cat like that is just looking for something to eat. You need to get yourself secured so that animal can't get to you, whether that be in a car, in a home, or something like that. Don't contact it, don't confront it. Call us and we'll get there as quickly as possible."
The NGPC web site says that mountain lions rarely interact with humans and will likely flee if confronted, but there are a few things to know in case of an encounter:
-- Do not approach the mountain lion
-- Leave the animal an avenue of escape
-- Stay calm and move slowly
-- Back away safely if you can, but don't turn your back to the lion or start running
-- Raise your arms or backpack to appear larger
-- Lift up your children to prevent them from running
-- If you are attacked fight back. Mountain lions have been successfully driven off with bare hands. Use rocks, or whatever you can get your hands on. Try to remain on your feet or get back up if knocked down.
