A female mountain lion was relocated to the Salt River Range just southeast of Afton last week by Wildlife officials. The lion was taken from  a garage at a residence near Hoback Junction.
Wyoming Game and Fish received the call from a resident who reported the lion hiding under a  pickup truck in their garage.  When Game and Fish officials responded to the call, they realized that the cat had a radio-telemetry collar on it. The presence of the collar led the officials to believe that the lion was part of a mountain lion research project being conducted in the Jackson Hole area by Craighead Beringia South.
Initial attempts to haze the animal away were unsuccessful and it was decided to tranquilize the animal and relocate it away from development.
With the tranquilized cat in hand Craighead Beringia South researcher, Howard Quigley, identified the cat as F23, having been captured in November of 2006 near Alkali Creek in the Gros Ventre drainage.
“We don*t know exactly how old she is, but would estimate her to be about 8-10 years old,”  said Quigley.

The researchers hadn’t heard the cat’s radio signal in recent weeks.

“The last location we had gotten on her was in December near the confluence of Crystal Creek and the Gros Ventre River,” said Quigley. “This is approximately 20 air miles away and on the opposite side of the high peaks of the Gros Ventre Mountain Range. This cat seemed to have a well-defined home range in the Crystal Creek drainage. We’re not sure why she would make such a drastic move, let alone end up in a garage.”

Wildlife officials note that it could be related to the fairly severe winter conditions occurring across much of the West this year.
“With the increased snow pack this winter we’re seeing more wildlife at lower elevations and in developed areas,” said Doug Brimeyer, Jackson wildlife biologist for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. “With more deer and elk at lower elevations, it’s only logical that predators such as lions would follow them down.”
This is the second mountain lion to take up temporary residence near a home in a few weeks.  The other was at a private in holding within Grand Teton National Park near Moran.