Whitefish officers shoot bold mountain lion
Whitefish Police shot and killed a full-grown female mountain lion Sunday night after members of a family off Sixth Street reported they were too scared to get out of their car because the cat wouldn’t leave the yard.
Police Chief Bill Dial said while the lion wasn’t aggressive toward the family, it didn’t hesitate to hang around when the family pulled into the driveway just before 11 p.m.
“The fact the cat was obviously not afraid of people, my guys made the decision it had to be destroyed,” Dial said.
Dial said he backed the officers’ decision to kill the animal.
“Once they become habituated like that, they do present a pretty significant danger to pets and to small children,” Dial said.
He said the young, roughly 100-pound cat was still in the neighborhood yard when two night patrol officers arrived. Instead of running away at the sight of more people, the animal climbed a tree near the home.
Assistant Chief Mike Ferda said it was the second mountain lion officers have killed in roughly three years.
He said in recent years, there has been a slight increase in night calls about mountain lions in Whitefish. But the typical caller gives a report of a lion crossing an empty street at 3 a.m. or a lion that’s running away from people.
“They live among us, and fortunately we don’t have a lot of contact with them,” Ferda said. “But when we do, we handle it a little bit differently than when we hear about black bears because [mountain lions] tend to stalk and can be very dangerous.”
He said when the department receives reports of wildlife getting too close for comfort, its reaction is typically based on an individual basis. Often, that means a call to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks to trap and relocate the animal.
But mountain lions are primarily nocturnal animals that tend to hunt their prey. Ferda said in the Sunday night case, the young lion wasn’t acting like it was hunting when officers arrived — but the fact it didn’t run away caused concern.
“It could have grown up close to town or was young and stupid and didn’t know to avoid humans, but the fact it didn’t see the people and leave, that kind of puts us on edge,” he said. “And we respond a little more aggressively in a case like this.”
He said the animal’s body was handed over to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks so its characteristics such as age and size could be documented.
Ferda said anyone who sees a mountain lion in city limits should call police. He said from there, officers will respond, often in collaboration with Fish, Wildlife and Parks.
Ferda said there’s not a textbook way for officers and residents to respond to wildlife in their backyards.
“I don’t want to run around putting down animals in Whitefish, but we’re here to protect the people,” Ferda said. “It’s unfortunate, but I think this situation ended like it needed to.”