SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A young mountain lion was let go back into the wild Monday a day after roaming into a Salt Lake City neighborhood and forcing dozens of families to stay inside their homes for nearly five hours.
No people or pets were injured, but the hunt for the 2-year-old cougar caused quite a commotion in the east side neighborhood just a few miles from the base of the Wasatch Mountains, Division of Wildlife Resources spokesman Scott Root said.
“For some people, it’s pretty traumatic. Other people get excited when a cougar visits town,” Root said. “It depends on your perspective.”
After the cat was first spotted at 3 p.m., wildlife officials and police set up a perimeter around four blocks of homes, and a Reverse 911 call went out telling people to stay inside as they searched for the cougar. Officers searched backyards and talked to residents about what they had seen.
Three hours later they still hadn’t been able find the cat – until a resident called to tell them he saw it on a neighbor’s driveway. Officials spotted it there, but it still took them nearly two hours to finally hit it with a tranquilizing dart.