Bernalillo County Animal Care Services can add mountain lions to the list of deceased animals the agency has handled.
“Bear cubs, alligators, other exotic animals, we get a lot of deceased badgers,” Tiffany Chamblee, Engagement and Outreach manager told KOB. “This is the first mountain lion that we’ve had in our facility.”
Chamblee believes the mountain lion was hit by an automobile near Tijeras. The state Department of Game and Fish wasn’t able to get to the area to transport the animal, so the county’s animal care services handled the animal.
“I mean it’s devastating that unfortunately, it was deceased,” Chamblee said. “But it’s something that you don’t see every day.”
The lion is thought to be fairly young. The team photographed and cataloged its paws, claws, and teeth. “I was told that it’s possible that it was still a juvenile, but it was still larger than most of the dogs we get in here,” Chamblee said.
Darren Vaughan, Communications Director for the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish, said large cats normally fear being close to the public.
“They can be drawn into those urban areas a little bit when there’s the presence of a human-created food source,” Vaughan said. “If people are feeding deer and things like that then obviously the deer themselves become a food source for those mountain lions to come into town.”
If you are confronted by a mountain lion be careful of their fear changing to aggression. There are some precautions to take.
“Just generally try to appear as large as possible, then if it continues to approach you start yelling you can throw rocks or sticks at it to try and scare it off,” Vaughan said. “The best way to avoid these kinds of encounters is to avoid hiking or walking alone at dawn or dusk.”