![]() ![]() The Arizona Game and Fish Department usually has a list of what species live in certain areas. Five things to do when in lion countryįirst, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with what's on the landscape. When you go hiking or move into a new area, you're stepping into their home, Neils said.Ī mountain lion, photographed at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson. Neils and other carnivore experts offered a few suggestions on how to be a good neighbor to cougars while recreating or living near wild areas. There are a few things you can do to deescalate the situation. In those cases, you should feel really lucky that you've seen one of these majestic animals in the first place." "There's been several instances where I've fortuitously snuck up on a preoccupied cat then you're both a bit startled. "If you're spending time in the backcountry, you've likely had a puma encounter, you've just never known about it because that cat steered clear of you," said Neils, who studies the cats in southern Arizona. People can momentarily entice a cat’s natural curiosity and it’s in these scenarios that it's helpful to know how to react to deescalate an encounter. On the contrary, it's usually a scared cat that just wants to get away.Įxtinction declarations: As more wildlife species vanish worldwide, here are 6 in Arizona that face extinction Aletris Neils, executive director of Conservation CATalyst, a Tucson-based wild cat research organization. More often than not, the cat is neither stalking, lurking nor ready to pounce, said Dr. But when they do happen, it doesn't always mean certain death. In the last year, AZGFD has seen at least half a dozen human-mountain lion encounters and received countless more reports, though a great deal of them ended up being bobcats. With a robust population of just under 3,000 in the state and the widespread use of personal cameras, sightings, while still rare, are on this rise. In 2021, hunters killed 297 lions in the state. Signs they’re in the area include paw prints with no claws, food caches, and large cat scat.Īs a species that isn’t listed as threatened or endangered, mountain lions are subject to an annual hunting season. ![]() While they prefer mountainous regions, mountain lions can be found across Arizona, the agency says. After receiving word from the National Park Service that she should leave the campsite, Foster made her exit. In the end, a group of scrub jays successfully ushered the cat away. ![]() The 10-minute clip shows a frightened cat in the top of a tree, above Foster's campsite, while she tries to scare it off. She recorded the encounter and posted it on YouTube. News reports say Welch eventually bagged and removed the coyote carcass, and the cat has not been seen since.Įarlier this month, Tiffany Foster, another Pima County resident, faced a similarly close encounter with a mountain lion while camping in Saguaro National Park. Stunning both Welch and his wife, the cat returned that evening to dine on a dead coyote it left under their porch. In the wee hours of the Monday before Christmas, the security camera outside Jack Welch's house north of Oro Valley recorded a mountain lion crossing the yard. A mountain lion, photographed in 2016 at the Southwest Wildlife Conservation Center in Scottsdale.Īs many Arizonans were preparing holiday feasts, one Pima County resident noticed a feast of another kind taking place in his backyard. ![]()
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