Posted in Utah
June 11, 2016
You May Forget To Breathe When Watching This Footage Taken In Utah
The life of a Utah Game Warden is never boring, but some days are definitely more exciting than others. The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources estimates that anywhere from 2,500 to 4,500 cougars live in Utah. Sometimes a cougar gets caught in a trap meant for coyotes, and then there’s a big problem.
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It’s not legal to trap cougars, so ranchers or trappers are required by law to immediately release them - not such an easy task when you’re staring down an extremely angry, very large cougar with razor-sharp claws. Instead of trying to release the huge cougar in this video, the trapper called the Division of Wildlife Resources for help.
The Division usually tries to tranquilize a cougar before releasing it from the trap. On December 17, 2015, when this video was shot, conservation officer Mark Ekins didn’t have immediate access to the locked case when the tranquilizer darts are kept. When he arrived on the scene in Pine Valley, he got a good look at the cougar (the largest one he’s ever seen) and decided this rescue would definitely be film-worthy.
Officer Ekins and the trapper approach the cougar with catchpoles. Here, Officer Ekins has the cougar caught around the neck. Imagine standing on a steep mountainside with a super angry mountain lion thrashing around on the other end of the short pole you’re holding!
Check out this video posted on YouTube by MrCordoniz to see what happened next.
The cougar had some minor bleeding on its paw, but seemed to be just fine when it took off, and Officer Ekins found his catchpole a few hundred feet away.
The conservation officers at the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources are so brave! Would you dare to catch a cougar on the end of a catchpole and then release him?
