Cat Captured, Kittens Unconfined

Biologists from Bridger Teton National Forest in cooperation with Wyoming Game and Fish Department have trapped the mountain lion that has been active in the area of the Cache Creek Trail Head just east of Jackson.  However, Game and Fish Spokesman Mark Gocke says the cat’s two 7-month-old kittens have still not been rounded up.  Gocke says traps were set out for the cat Monday and by Monday night, she had been captured.  Gocke says it is a priority to keep the family together, and once the kittens are captured, the three will be located somewhere outside Lander in an area with enough game to support them, but also where there aren’t other cats to have to compete with.  Gocke says efforts to capture the kittens will likely involve the use of dogs to find and tree the young cats so they can be tranquilized and unite them with their mother. Failing that, he says game officials may return to the area with traps the same way the mother was captured – and they may even bring the trap containing the mother back in an attempt to entice the kittens in.