This photograph of a mountain lion was taken by an Indiana Department of Natural Resources motion-sensitive camera in Greene County on May 1, 2010. (Courtesy photo / DNR)
At a glance
Anyone who sees what they think may be a black bear or mountain lion can report it to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources online at www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8497.htm. Getting photographs of the animal from a safe distance or a photo of tracks, with an object next to help show the size, is requested.
If anyone does encounter a mountain lion, they should:
- face the animal
- maintain eye contact
- raise your arms and make yourself look as large as possible
- yell, in a firm voice
- pick up children by squatting, without bending over, and hold the child high to make yourselves look bigger
- stay in a group
Lions, tigers and bears — in Indiana? Well, not tigers.
While the Downey Hill paw print was identified as a dog’s by state mammalogist Brad Westrich, paying attention to tracks and possible wildlife is important when hiking, riding bikes or horses or scouting for the morel mushrooms that will soon be popping up as the ground warms.
“We do receive mountain lion reports,” Westrich said. “Most have come to us without any evidence, and they weren’t in the area of the (recent) attack.”
Westrich said the incident on March 11 involving the cat is still under investigation. No clear tracks of a mountain lion were found in the area by conservation officers who reached the scene after the incident was over.
Although mountain lions’ current range is listed as being in the western United States, Westrich said, mountain lions have wandered into the Midwest, with one being confirmed as having traveled through Greene County in 2010. One male mountain lion from South Dakota traveled throughout the Midwest and all the way to Connecticut, where it was killed by a vehicle.
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