Problem lion killed by GF&P

| Tuesday, October 28, 2003

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Kevin Woster, Journal Staff Writer

HOT SPRINGS - State Game, Fish & Parks Department officers have killed a mountain lion they believe was killing domestic sheep and goats.

Mike Kintigh, GF&P regional supervisor in Rapid City, confirmed Monday that a department conservation officer and trapper shot the lion, a 138-pound male, near Hot Springs on Thursday morning.

Kintigh said officers put specially trained dogs out at the location of two dead goats. The dogs tracked and treed the lion about a mile from the site. The officers killed it with a single shot.

The goats belonged to Roland Piper of Hot Springs. It's likely the lion was the same one that previously killed at least two sheep belonging to Hot Springs campground owner Joe Allen.

"They're sure that's the one that got the goats," Kintigh said. "And we're pretty sure this is the same lion that caused Joe Allen problems. His sheep were just over the ridge."

GF&P biologists estimate the lion was 2 to 3 years old. Kintigh said males of that age often wander until they establish their own territory. Sometimes, they turn to domestic livestock as prey.

Some lion advocates want such animals to be tranquilized and released elsewhere. But Kintigh said there was no place to take the lion in the Black Hills region and that state zoos don't want them.

"We could move the lion. But once it has gotten a taste for livestock, the chances of it continuing that way are pretty high," Kintigh said. "To move the lion elsewhere and cause problems for somebody else isn't something we want to do."

Dr. Sharon Seneczko, a Custer veterinarian and president of the Black Hills Mountain Lion Foundation, said it was unfortunate the lion had to be killed. But GF&P probably made an appropriate decision, she said.

"I'd have to agree with that. We don't have vast wilderness areas. And if we dump this lion off where there's already a big resident male lion, he may get bumped off anyway," she said. "This lion apparently established that he's choosing the wrong prey, and that's a problem. We can't have them eating things they shouldn't."

Seneczko said that the lion foundation already had decided to compensate Joe Allen for part of his losses. Allen had estimated his loss for two registered Columbian ewes and a lamb at $650 and sent a bill to the state Game, Fish & Parks Department.

GF&P doesn't reimburse landowners for such losses, however. Seneczko said the foundation hopes to provide such reimbursement when donations are available and the losses can be proved to be from lions.

A GF&P trapper found the lamb and one of the ewes and confirmed that they were killed by a lion. Another ewe disappeared, and Allen believes the lion killed it.

Seneczko said the foundation could provide compensation only for confirmed kills.

"We can't compensate for missing animals. I know we won't be able to make everybody happy, but we'll do the best we can," she said.

Along with compensation for losses when possible, the foundation will encourage livestock owners to do what they can to protect their animals. With small herds of sheep and lambs, that could include moving them into pens closer to the house at night.

"Unfortunately, sheep and lambs are about the easiest game in the world. They don't have many defenses," she said.

Seneczko said most lions hunt deer and other wildlife and don't cause problems for livestock. Those that do should be identified and killed, she said, rather than opening a season on lions overall.

The lion population in the Black Hills seems to have increased in recent years and now is estimated at somewhere between 100 and 150. The state Legislature this year removed the mountain lion from the threatened-species list. The GF&P Commission could establish a lion season, but a decision on that could be months or even years away.

Seneczko said the foundation, which was formed last summer, would work to help humans learn to live with lions.

"It would be a sad world not to have them," she said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com