Big cat cruises through city speed check, outruns dogs

By Kevin Woster, Journal staff | Friday, January 11, 2008

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A state Game, Fish & Parks Department trapper and his dog pack trailed a mountain lion through western Rapid City on Thursday evening, after a Rapid City police officer saw the big cat crossing Canyon Lake Drive.

Senior officer Joe Bittner said Friday he was sitting in his patrol car in an empty lot along Canyon Lake Drive "running radar" about 8:40 p.m. when he saw the lion.

"I saw the cat coming up Evergreen (Drive), running toward the church," Bittner said. "It was going pretty fast, but as soon as it got across Canyon Lake Drive it started walking. That's when I hit it with the spotlight."

Bittner got a good look at the cat, which he estimated at about 80 pounds. Then he called police dispatch, which notified local officers for the Game, Fish & Parks Department. GF&P regional supervisor Mike Kintigh called in state trapper Jack Alexander, who trailed the cat for about four hours with his pack of lion hounds.

Initially, the dogs were on a "pretty hot track," but scent conditions deteriorated as the temperature dropped and frost began to form, Kintigh said.

"We tracked it over close to Stevens (High School). It probably ended up on the National Guard property out there," he said. "Based on the way the hounds were acting last night, this lion was moving pretty quick. We're, I guess, confident that it moved its way out of the city."

If the dogs had located the lion, it likely would have been killed, Kintigh said.

"I've made it clear to my staff that lions within the city limits of Rapid City will be removed," he said. "We'll make every effort we can to get them."

Kintigh said "lions slip into town fairly frequently." Tracking them down with the dogs is more complicated in an urban setting, he said.

"It's extremely difficult. There are all kinds of other scents, pets, other dogs barking at them and distracting them. It's not an easy situation," he said.

Bittner described the cat as being about the size of a German shepherd, only longer and slender. Kintigh said it was probably a young male lion on the move in search of its own territory.

Bittner didn't see a collar on the cat, and a GF&P frequency check did not indicate that any radio-collared lions were in that area, he said.

GF&P has fitted dozens of mountain lions with transmitter collars as part of a research study in cooperation with South Dakota State University in Brookings.

Bittner said it was the first time he had seen a mountain lion outside of a zoo.

"It was pretty cool," he said.

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com