Cougar Captured in Arizona

State wildlife biologists captured a mountain lion Friday in Sabino Canyon using a snare set near a recently killed deer, an Arizona Game and Fish Department spokesman said.

The animal was captured in a wash in the canyon about a half-mile northeast of a middle school and a quarter-mile from a home.

The lion, a female 2 to 3 years old and weighing 80 pounds, was sedated and transported in good condition to the Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center in Scottsdale, department spokesman Bob Miles said.

Wildlife biologists are confident the animal is the same one seen March 18 in a parking lot outside Esperero Canyon Middle School, Miles said.

That confidence was based on the animal’s size and tracks, “but more importantly, just the location,” noting its capture close to the school, he said.

Miles said biologists believe the animal was continuously using the area where it was caught because of the deer kill, which probably occurred Tuesday or Wednesday.

The lion was anesthetized at the capture site, then carried to a waiting truck and placed in a transport trailer for the drive to Scottsdale, Miles said.

The lion will remain in captivity, Miles added.

Biologists began efforts to capture the lion Wednesday after a U.S. Forest Service employee discovered a deer freshly killed by a lion near the school.

The canyon was already open to visitors Friday when the animal was caught around 6:30 a.m., and one jogger running nearby watched, Miles said.

Forest Service officials had closed Sabino Canyon for three weeks in March while trying to capture mountain lions in the national recreation area.

Game and Fish officials originally announced that they would track and kill three or four potentially threatening lions they believed were behaving abnormally.

But they instead decided to capture and move the lions to a rehabilitation center in Scottsdale after widespread criticism from members of the public, conservation groups and Gov. Janet Napolitano.