Mountain lion killed in Whitefish

Whitefish Police shot and killed a 100-pound mountain lion Dec. 26 that was seen looking into the window of a home on Glenwood Road.

Police killed the female lion with a single shot to the neck after consulting with officials from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The carcass was later turned over to FWP. The cat was reportedly two or three years old.

FWP wildlife program manager Jim Williams says Whitefish Police took the correct actions by killing the lion.

“They did exactly what they needed to do,” Williams said.

Mountain lions are typically found in areas where deer winter, he explained.

“Wherever there are deer, you also have those species that eat them,” he said. “It just so happens that there are often homes where deer winter. Where deer congregate in bunches, you also have lions.”

Glenwood Road is on the north side of Whitefish near the Whitefish United Methodist Church and Whitefish Lake.

Sometimes a lion will lose its fear of humans, Williams said, as was the case in the Whitefish incident.

“When you see them in the middle of the day, walking around looking in windows, it’s lost some fear of people. In this case, it was clearly not normal behavior.”

“Those are the ones we remove,” Williams went on. “We have plenty of lions on the landscape, so we don’t tolerate them where they shouldn’t be in order to maintain tolerance where they should be.”

“Still, it’s always regrettable to destroy such a beautiful animal.”

Lions have a large home range, Williams explained, and males can roam up to 150 square miles. It’s not uncommon to see tracks in the snow, which are typically just cats moving through town, Williams said.

Cats hunt during dawn and dusk, but if residents see one mid-day in a neighborhood or behaving oddly, that’s the time to call authorities, Williams said.

“Our game wardens and Whitefish police work together closely,” Williams said.