I’ve released plenty of cougars back into the wild, but all I had to do was thank them for a splendid evening, hand them cab money and open my front door. However, these brave souls attempt to release a real and very angry cougar, and it looks absolutely terrifying.
We take you to the beautiful wilderness of Utah in the Pine Valley Mountains. This is where this rightfully pissed off cougar got caught in a trap. The intense video shows trappers and an employee of the Division of Wildlife Resources attempt to figure out how to release the enraged animal without getting their face ripped off. Easier said than done. They devise a plan to use catch poles and a blanket to release the wild animal.
“If I wasn’t nervous or started to lack respect for the power of that animal, it could potentially be very dangerous,” DWR conservation officer Mark Ekins said. “I’m nervous and I’m extremely careful when doing it. … I’ve probably only done three in my career that were as big as the one you saw. That was a really big one.”
The cougar is set free and nobody was mauled. The cougar had minor bleeding on its front paw after, but is expected to be fine.
The traps are set for coyotes or bobcats, but this huge cougar got it’s paw stuck in the metal snare. It is illegal to intentionally trap a cougar in Utah, so when trappers find a mountain lion in their trap, they are legally required to release the animal and report it to DWR officials within 48 hours. Ekins said he often responds to help trappers release cougars. So he releases angry big cats regularly? Isn’t there some Division of Wildlife Resources job that handles only butterflies? I’d put in for a transfer to that division instead of possibly getting a razor-sharp cougar claws dragged across my face.
Let me just cross off Division of Wildlife Resources officer from my potential career list. Freeing bald eagles doesn’t look so dangerous.
[KSL]