GREEN RIVER – The Wyoming Game and Fish Department will begin monitoring mountain lions in the Green River Region.
Monitoring efforts will include the capture and tracking of mountain lions as well as other survey components. Game and Fish hopes these efforts will bring a better understanding of population dynamics and help in mountain lion management strategies in Wyoming.
“Data gathered from these efforts will provide information to better understand our local mountain lion populations and evaluate mountain lion management strategies and monitoring criteria,” Large Carnivore Biologist Justin Clapp said in a press release. “The timing is also advantageous because the Game and Fish can collaborate with the University of Wyoming on research being conducted on deer and elk in the same areas. It is our intent that these efforts complement each other and our understanding of wildlife population dynamics in the region.”
The Green River Region includes the towns of Green River, Rock Springs, Farson, Kemmerer, Cokeville, Evanston, Mountain View, and Baggs.
Mountain lions are not strangers to the region and have even been spotted in residential areas. The video below shows a mountain lion captured on security cameras in Mountain View in mid-December. Kevin Graham awoke to find the large cat’s prints, and reviewed his footage to find that the cat wondered through his property in the early morning hours of Dec. 15, 2015.