Bike ride brightened by lion in tree

A mountain lion in downtown Columbia Falls? For the past 19 years I've heard stories about such happenings, even stories about cougars taking small pets and stalking young children after hard winters.

Like many stories one hears over the years, I've always taken them with a grain of salt. After all, I've lived in the area since 1990, and have spent my share of time in the mountains, where such sightings are more likely, but I've never seen a mountain lion myself. That is, until this past Saturday.

Saturday afternoon I went for a short bike ride around the block with a friend. As we made the turn from 12th Street onto Fifth Avenue West, I looked up into a tree that I have always admired. This time I nearly wrecked my bike, and was nearly run over by my friend, as there was a large mountain lion stretched out on a branch — about 30 feet high, basking in the warm afternoon sun.

Amazingly, it quietly dozed there while we rushed to get our camera equipment and returned for photos. The lion peacefully watched us, one eye closed, the other carefully monitoring our movements, unalarmed.

Jim Dowling, of the Martin City Fire Department called the sighting in to dispatch, which in turn called Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. Soon, FWP warden Chris Crane drove up with his family; he was off duty, but being in the area, he came to verify the report. Chris called in Erik Wenum, who is a bear and lion specialist with FWP.

The big cat was still peacefully resting, unconcerned, half an hour later, when Wenum arrived on the scene. With one well-placed shot, Wenum tranquilized the lion. Within minutes the effects were evident, as the mountain lion lost his grip on the branch and began to fall.

Normally, lions — and even bears — are found on vertical trunks and branches, and, as Wenum explained to us, the slow effect of the tranquilizer allows the animal enough control to work their way down the tree to safety before being completely tranquilized. This time, however, the lion was on a nearly horizontal branch, and, after making a heroic-like effort to regain his position after nearly falling off, he remained there, limply draped over the branch.

Now, how to get him down?

Fortunately for him, and for us, the Columbia Falls Fire Department took delivery of a ladder truck just last Tuesday, so they were called in to rescue the cat from the tree. Fire Chief Bob Webber was next on the scene with Shawn Bates and Scot Hoerner. This was their very first run with the new truck. They used the boom to bring the cat down out of the tree, where Erik and Chris conducted a routine vetting of the cougar, checking heart rate, respiration and temperature, and taking other measurements. Erik estimated the cat to be about 22 years old, weighing around 125-150 pounds.

Editor's note: This story is Columbia Falls resident Fay Burns' account of a mountain lion that she photographed lounging in a tree in Columbia Falls. The lion was later euthanized by a veterinarian. FWP attempted to locate an accredited zoo, but were unsuccessful. FWP policy does not allow for release back into the wild in occupied lion habitat because of public safety and because the habitat in Northwest Montana is already occupied by other lions, which is the likely reason for this lion showing up in town.