Young mountain lions removed from Seeley Lake

SEELEY LAKE – Since July 6, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks has removed four mountain lions that were living in Seeley Lake around the high school. FWP Wildlife Conflict Specialist Eli Hampson believes they were orphaned siblings, between eight and ten months old. He said their removal was necessary for public safety.

One June 16, a Seeley Lake resident on Spruce Street reported that his dog was taken by a mountain lion after it was let out in the middle of the night. Hampson said in mid-June there were also reports of a large group of mountain lions, ranging from five to seven, hanging around the airport.

Since that incident, Hampson said there have been several reports of missing house cats and mountain lion sightings from Tamarack Drive east along Morrell Creek to Hauser Drive off Airport Road including reports of the young lions on someone’s porch. There were other reports on the Double Arrow Ranch that he feels are unrelated to this group.

“That is the thing about Seeley, it is such great habitat. There are so many lions it often gets hard to keep track of it all,” said Hampson. “Timing since the initial dog was taken, reports of the numbers of lions and the sizes, it all added up and especially this certain area that they were spending time in.”

While Hampson is not sure if the mom was killed or left because she couldn’t feed them, the four young lions exhibited behavior that they had been orphaned.

“They were really just dumb around people, for lack of a better word,” said Hampson. “They were clueless, complacent. They had been seen several times under and on people’s decks, in a shed and one person had one on a front porch looking in a window.”

This complacency around people is what concerned Hampson the most as well as how poor their physical condition was. He spoke with other professionals in his field and explained the situation. He was told that that was the exact same size and condition of the mountain lion that killed the five-year-old boy in Evaro, Montana in 1989.

“That always has to be in the back of our mind, human safety is the priority,” said Hampson.

Depending on the situation FWP will try conditioning on lions that are doing the right thing but they are just too close to developed areas. But in Montana they do not relocate and human safety is the priority.

Hampson said they brought in hound dogs to track the lions to make sure they got the right one.

“The dogs follow the scent and tell the story,” said Hampson.

While Hampson recognizes Morrell Creek as a great wildlife corridor, he said once mountain lions start coming up on people’s porches and looking through the window that they become a threat to human safety. Hampson said one night that FWP removed one of them, they were just lying near the high school. There were two kids just walking down the trail and there were other kids playing basketball.

“When it becomes the potential of a human safety issue, we go to removal,” said Hampson.

FWP dispatched the first of the four July 6 at the top of Tamarack Drive. The second was a week later and the last two were removed July 17.

Hampson said the reports of the two lions reported in Dog Town July 15 fit the description of the two that were recently removed. He also feels confident that one of the lions from this group was responsible for taking the dog in mid-June.

“There is always a chance that there are some other youngsters that are orphaned and running around,” said Hampson.

Hampson said there will always be lions in and around Seeley Lake. He recommends people keep pets in at night and keep young children close. It is also imperative that people report any unusual lion behavior.

“If there is a lion going through your back yard, in the creek bottom, or cruising through the woods, that is just part of living in Seeley Lake,” said Hampson. “But anything unusual like a lion on your porch, watching you while you are out playing basketball or something like that, please report it.”

Missoula Bears reported the removal of the lions and added another area of caution, “Do not feed deer and other wildlife. This can unnaturally concentrate deer and elk in locations and bring mountain lions in.”

Along with mountain lions in the area, bears continue to exist in Seeley Lake getting into uncontained garbage and bird feeders.

There is a young sub-adult grizzly bear that has been feeding on huckleberries but tipped garbage cans in the Big Larch Campground. Hampson said the garbage can does not automatically close and users are not ensuring it is latched after dumping their trash. The bear has figured this out and tips over the can. FWP is working with the Forest Service to monitor his activity and they are working with Republic Services to fix the can.

Missoula Bears asks the public to, “Please be diligent about containing attractants to keep additional bears from getting into conflicts.”

For more information and updates on bears and lions in the area visit missoulabears.org.