A young mountain lion was shot and killed at Genesee on Saturday by a resident of the small farming community.
Idaho Fish and Game conservation officer Mark Carson said the animal had been seen in the town multiple times.
“It didn’t seem to be afraid of humans, at all, which is never a good thing for sharp-tooth critters,” he said. “It looked like it was a young lion, probably just kicked off by Mom and sometimes they make poor decisions.”
Carson said the person who shot it reported the incident to Fish and Game and there are no law enforcement concerns. He said the animal being in a human environment could have led to serious problems.
“It was an area close to children and other things,” he said.
The agency sometimes captures and relocates animals that end up in cities or towns. Carson said those decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.
“We don’t have any shortage of mountain lions or bears,” he said, “so it’s not an animal we often relocate.”
He said the agency doesn’t want to risk releasing animals that have a history of tolerating the presence of humans in areas where it might once again find its way to developed areas and releasing them deep in wild country means they are being dropped within another cat’s territory.
“You put them in another unfamiliar territory, it may feel good,” Carson said, “but their chance of survival may have not increased at all.”
