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Mountain lion claw marks9/12/2023 ![]() ![]() We’re not going to protect a lion that’s causing harm to livestock or that’s putting people at risk by trying to live in town.” There has to be something there to justify spending state money. We have pursued a hunch, but it has to be a strong hunch. “We look for physical evidence-tracks, hair, claw marks, scat. I will not shirk duties if a lion is involved, but I’m going to look for all possible sources, not just focus on one,” Kintigh said. We set up and after a few days we removed a lion. We had a calf up by Newell that we confirmed was killed by a lion. If we show up and say ‘yes, it was a lion’ we take action that has been very conclusive. We’ve demonstrated this time and time again. “We are very good at responding to lions. Kintigh said they do their best to investigate every claim of a threat or attack by wildlife. It’s a pretty short chase for anything they catch.” We sometimes get a report that a mountain lion was chasing horses, but there really isn’t any running. “They’re pretty efficient on the ground, and it doesn’t take much to hide one. They have to have somewhere to hide,” Alexander said. What do the surroundings look like? “Mountain lions are ambush animals. Kintigh said they’ve gotten calls about bite marks on the lower legs, but in those cases they’re almost always caused by a domestic dog or a coyote.ĥ. It’s up around their ears and the back of their neck and the mountain lion mugs them down by the nose.” The cause of death in a mountain lion attack is usually a broken neck, Alexander said. “Very seldom are there big scratches on an animal, even on big elk. They make a living killing things and they aren’t going to get injured trying to do it,” Alexander said. Where are the injuries located? “A lion isn’t going to attack anything from the back. A mountain lion bite will have two puncture marks from the canine teeth, spaced at least two inches apart.Ĥ. Kintigh said it’s usually fairly straightforward to determine if a bite mark is made by a mountain lion. “The marks stay vertical as the lion is going down with the animal.” ![]() Gravity pulls the lion down, so you don’t get a lot of horizontal cuts on anything,” said Alexander. ![]() “Usually if the cuts are horizontal and lower on the chest or shoulder, it’s a wire cut. Kintigh added that when there are claw marks, there are almost always at least three parallel marks. They grab ahold and hang on, so there really aren’t any claw marks on it.” ![]() You very seldom see them actually claw anything. When they hook that claw in, they’ll just bite them up behind the ears, on top of the head, then they’ll drag them down that way. Usually that’s just under the hide-they don’t get deep enough to get into the meat. “A lot of times it’s just under the skin and it looks like a three-cornered snag, in kind of an L-shape. What is the nature of the injuries? “A lion will grab and hold on with one claw, what we call a catch claw, “ Alexander said. I’ve seen them kill full-grown elk, but I’ve only confirmed one full-grown horse that had been attacked by a lion, years ago,” he said.ģ. Not much does get away if it’s attacked by a lion. Is the animal alive? “Mountian lions are pretty efficient animals. ![]()
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