Police kill mountain lion in town

Whitefish Police shot and killed a mountain lion outside a home on West 6th Street Sunday night.

Police Chief Bill Dial said the lion was a young female and weighed about 100 pounds. Officers responded to a family who had just returned home to find the animal wandering around their yard and driveway. The lion was probably looking for food, and did not appear to be scared of people, Dial said.

Dial said officers’ immediate response isn’t to kill the animals, but once the lion turned and started back toward the officers it was shot.

“The cat was not afraid of anything,” Dial said. “When you get a cat that habituated and used to people, that can be dangerous.”

“We’re not out hunting them, but if we get a bad kitty like that, that kitty’s got to go.”

Police last shot and killed a mountain lion in 2014 after spotting an 80-pound male lion on Marina Crest Lane.

Wildlife Management Specialist Eric Wenum told the Pilot in 2014 that it’s not uncommon for lions to pass through town.

“They’re everywhere,” he said. “Subdivisions on the outskirts of town can be prime habitat. If a lion is making a living in someone’s backyard, something is likely to go wrong,” Wenum said.

If approached by a lion, Wenum says to keep eye contact with the animal, stand upright and make yourself look big. Try to slowly back away, he said.