The Park City Police Department in late January was told of a sighting of two mountain lions, but it was not clear to wildlife officers whether the two animals are the cubs that had been with an adult that was euthanized days earlier.
The police at a little bit before 11:40 p.m. on Jan. 31 received the report of the two mountain lions. They were “walking together” in the area of the intersection of Solamere Drive and Sun Ridge Court, public police logs said. The logs did not provide additional information.
The locations of the earlier sightings included one on Solamere Drive on Jan. 22. The state Division of Wildlife Resources and the Police Department received a series of reports of mountain lions in January. By the middle of January, the division wanted to scare the mountain lions off, indicating there was a concern for public safety.
Conservation officers and biologists from the Division of Wildlife Resources eventually attempted to scare the mountain lions out of the area by firing what was described as a “loud cracker shell” toward them. The division said the round struck an adult female mountain lion, injuring a leg.
The three mountain lions left together, but the one that had been injured returned to a neighborhood with the leg still wounded. State wildlife officers euthanized the animal.
The Division of Wildlife Resources said at the time “the two cubs are old enough that they will be able to survive on their own without the adult female cougar.”
The Division of Wildlife Resources in the middle of the week said it had fielded one report of two mountain lions that were together, but it could not “confirm at this time if they are the same cougars.”
The Division of Wildlife Resources requests anyone who sees the two mountain lions to contact the division’s office in Springville. The phone number is 801-491-5678.
Mountain lion sightings are rare in Park City, but the animals can pose a threat to people and pets. Park City and the surrounding area provide habitat for mountain lion prey animals like deer and elk.