Cougar kitten reunited with littermates
Published: October 20, 2005
A cougar kitten taken in early last week by a Weiser man who found the baby animal crying on the porch of his Cove Road home has been reunited with two littermates, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game officer confirms.
Weiser’s Bill Shanahan and Jackie DeCroo reported last week that they had discovered the lion cub, believed to be only two to three weeks old, on Shanahan’s porch after they heard the kitten’s distressed cries around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 10. They brought the wild animal indoors and provided it care until IDFG Conserva-tion Officer Mark Sands came by to pick it up on Wednesday morning, Oct. 12.
In an interview yesterday, Sands confirmed recent media reports that the kitten had been reunited with two littermates and that the three kittens had been orphaned when a hunter shot their mother in Washington County.
Sands said the hunter, a Meridian man, was stalking deer Oct. 10 in the Mill Creek area outside of Cambridge when he had a sudden and unnerving-ly close encounter with the adult cougar, whose three kittens were trailing her. “The hunter thought it was going to jump on him. It was only about 10 feet away,” Sands said. “I could see where he did fear for his survival.”
Sands said the encounter was apparently a chance event; there were no indications that the cougar had been stalking the hunter, who has been cleared in the incident. Sands said the man took the three kittens he had orphaned, but grew concerned over the health of one early in his drive home to Meridian. He dropped it off on
Shanahan’s porch, apparently hoping the young animal would fare better in the Weiser man’s care.
The hunter’s brother reported the incident to Fish and Game authorities the following day, Tuesday, Oct. 11, and arranged for the two kittens brought to Meridian to be picked up.
Sands said Fish & Game plans to raise the orphaned cubs. The cats will have to spend their lives in captivity.
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