PARK CITY, Utah — Officials with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources said they had to euthanize a mountain lion after it showed aggressive behavior towards residents and lunged at a police officer.
A call came in Monday night that an aggressive mountain lion was in a Deer Valley backyard.
The home owner who called said their four grandkids were playing in the backyard when the animal was spotted.
The children ran in the house and tried to scare the mountain lion away by banging together pots and pans, but it did not work.
The mountain lion returned again on Tuesday night and the homeowner called Park City Police to help. The animal lunged at one of the officers and followed him to his vehicle.
At that point, experts with the DWR said they knew the animal was aggressive and habituated to the area and they had to euthanize it.
Although the animal did not hurt anybody, Scott Root, with Utah DWR said that if a mountain lion acts aggressive, is not afraid of people and is in a residential area, it has to be euthanized due to a threat of public safety. However, Root said DWR prefers to tranquilize and relocate animals.
The animal was tested for diseases at a veterinary lab in Nephi, however test results have not been made available yet.
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