Mountain Lion Prowls Salt Lake City Shopping Center

Some Salt Lake City, Utah shoppers got a little more than what they bargained for at a shopping center last Friday. A female mountain lion was captured by authorities after it was spotted walking around the outdoor mall.

Mountain Lion Captured in Salt Lake City

ABC News reported that the lion crossed a busy street around 8 a.m. and hid near a local restaurant. Many people came and went and never even noticed the large cat, but others stopped and took photos and video of it.

Eventually, the mountain lion decided to run and a police officer on the scene shot at the animal, but missed. The lion jumped a fence and hid in some brush near train tracks and wildlife officers were able to come in and tranquilize it.

 The area around Salt Lake City is known to have lion sightings fairly often, but they usually do not make it into the city. The wildlife officials think that this one followed a ravine or landscape into the city and didn’t realize it was so f

Mountain lion sightings occur fairly often in and around Salt Lake City, but it’s rare to see a cat travel so far into an urban area. The authorities think that this lion likely followed some landscape feature into the city and didn’t realize it was so far into an urban area. Scott Root, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources spokesman said that this lion weighed 100 pounds and was around two years old. The agency is going to release it back into the wild. 

Cougar Caught in Salt Lake City

Do you think that this cat should have been killed or released? Let us know. 

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