Forest campers kill mountain lion

Curiosity, someone said, killed a big cat on Friday.

That, and two men with guns.

A male mountain lion was shot after it ventured several times into a campsite near Miner’s Creek, about 30 miles north of Enaville off Coeur d’Alene River Road.

“It was a perceived threat,” said Phil Cooper, Idaho Fish and Game regional conservation officer.

Cooper said there was nothing illegal with the shooting of the cougar. The men, from Friday Harbor, Wash., reported that they scared it away three times with gunshots and yelling, but the cat continued to return. Following the shooting, they immediately called law enforcement.

“They did the right thing,” he said Wednesday.

Josh Stanley, Fish and Game officer who investigated the scene, said the cougar was shot three times at a range of about 10 feet. One of the men had a rifle, and one a handgun.

He reported it was clearly a case of self-defense.

Cooper said that the men reported the cougar didn’t act aggressively.

“I got the impression it was curiosity and it kept coming into the camp,” he said.

He added that Stanley commented that “curiosity killed the cat.”

Cooper said the 2-year-old cougar was in good health and weighed an estimated 60-70 pounds, which is normal for a cat of that age.

The campsite is not far from the Big Hank Campground. Cooper said there is a healthy population of cougars in that area of the Panhandle National Forest.

Mountion lion hunters with hounds hunt there regularly, he said.

He guessed the cougar was probably looking for a place to live and set up territory “where another male wouldn’t kill it.”

Cooper said it’s doubtful the cougar was planning to attack. He said that in his 30 years of experience, he has seen maybe a handful of cases involving people who had serious encounters with cougars.