Nebraska mountain lion’s long walk comes to an end in Indiana

The Nebraska-born mountain lion rolled into its new Indiana dwelling Friday afternoon like a rock star — with an entourage.

Three Illinois conservation officers. An Illinois state biologist. Two federal hunters.

“He was introduced right here by fairly a caravan,” stated Joe Taft, founding father of the Unique Feline Rescue Heart in Heart Level, Indiana.

Earlier that day, that they had sedated the younger male lion after it overstayed its welcome in Springfield, Illinois. And now they had been delivering it to Taft’s 260-acre sanctuary — and ending the large cat’s 700-mile seek for a mate.

Its journey had began not lengthy after Nebraska Sport and Parks Fee biologists match it with a monitoring collar in November 2021, within the Niobrara River valley. The animal was judged to be a few yr outdated, roughly the age younger males disperse to discover a mate and their very own territory.

The lion began transferring south and east, and biologists may observe its progress via periodic indicators from its GPS-enabled collar.

In June, it moved via Lincoln, and was captured on a yard safety digicam close to Northwest 56th and West Adams streets.

The lion was certainly one of 19 GPS-collared animals the state was monitoring, however the first to go away Nebraska. By early October, it had crossed the Missouri River, walked throughout most of Iowa and was nearing the Mississippi River. Two weeks later, Nebraska officers instructed their counterparts in Illinois the animal was in McDonough County.

It saved strolling, arriving in Springfield — 85 miles to the southeast — on Oct. 26. However then it stopped. And that turned an issue.

It was tracked and noticed in residential and industrial areas for a number of days earlier than state wildlife officers and Springfield police decided it “posed an imminent menace to residents and property and due to this fact wanted to be eliminated,” in accordance with a information launch from the Illinois Division of Pure Assets.

The massive cat may have come again: Illinois officers provided to ship the mountain lion dwelling, however Nebraska biologists declined.

Nebraska’s lion specialists weren’t accessible Monday, however a Sport and Parks spokeswoman pointed to a few insurance policies that may prohibit the lion from returning.

First, as soon as an animal — whether or not deer, elk, lion or different creature — leaves Nebraska, it turns into managed by the state it’s moved into. And Nebraska’s mountain lion-specific protocol prohibits the discharge of a lion farther than 100 yards from the place it was captured, and doesn’t enable for the discharge of a mountain lion from one other state.

So after officers with the U.S. Division of Agriculture’s Wildlife Providers sedated the mountain lion at about midday Friday, they drove it to Indiana.

Taft opened his sanctuary in 1991, and it homes about 120 large cats — principally tigers, but in addition lions, leopards, servals and bobcats. It’s rescued animals from 24 states, from individuals who owned exotics illegally, or may now not look after them, or from zoos and different animal points of interest that closed voluntarily or misplaced their licenses.

He plans to immobilize his latest arrival Tuesday, to present it a radical checkup, however he already seen indicators of an damage on its again — an extended, straight scar.

“Like he had one thing dragged throughout him,” he stated. “Or any person took a shot and grazed him.”

He and his workers are shoring up an enclosure that used to deal with three captive-born mountain lions, as a result of he believes the wild-born Nebraska native will problem each inch of it, on the lookout for a means out.

He finally plans to construct a brand new enclosure — 1 to 1.5 acres — for the animal to reside out its life. However not like a number of the sanctuary’s captive-born animals, the Nebraskan won’t ever be on public show.

“We’ve had wild cougars right here earlier than, they usually’ve by no means been snug round individuals. My assumption is that’s the way in which he’s going to be.”