By Roger Lanse
Saturday, Nov. 5, about 7 p.m., a mountain lion was sighted by a resident on the 2000 block of N. Silver Street, in the ditch, sitting in plain view, according to a Grant County Regional Dispatch Authority blotter entry and was confirmed by New Mexico Department of Game and Fish personnel. In another GCRDA blotter entry, on Sunday, Nov. 6, about 8 p.m., the cougar was spotted again by the resident in the same location walking in the ditch.
According to Silver City Police Chief Ed Reynolds, on Monday, Nov. 7, around 7 p.m., officers located the cougar in the ditch area east of Silver Street and north of 19th Street, behind the Mormon Church. Aided by a flashlight, an officer fired two shots with a .223 caliber rifle, Reynolds said, killing the big cat. Reynolds said NMDGF personnel picked up the animal.
Officers reported seeing a second mountain lion running north.
Mike Matthews, Chief of the Southwestern District for the NMDFG said they worked closely with SCPD regarding the killing of the mountain lion.
“Studies in the past on trapping and releasing (of mountain lions) outlines that it just doesn’t work very well,” Matthews told the Beat. “They typically will come back. Even if you take them a couple hundred miles away. They’ll come back to their home range and once they’ve been habituated and they get used to living in town and they’re not afraid of people, it’s (trapping) just not a good situation.
“The deer are there because people feed them plus there’s lots of water and forage available in the form of ornamental plants which are nice food for deer. The biggest thing to keep predators from following deer into town is don’t feed the deer. We’re always going to have deer in Silver City, but we don’t want to increase their numbers.
“In past years we have trapped deer in Silver City and relocated them in an effort to reduce the number of deer in town. That wasn’t done this year but it’s not out of the question next year or the year after.”
In an attempt to reduce the deer population in town, Matthews said, antlerless doe hunts in the Silver City area will continue for the fourth year in 2018, in areas 23 and 24, from Jan. 16 through Feb. 5, for hunters who drew an archery tag but didn’t fill that tag. These hunts are still being evaluated with regard to reducing the number of deer in town, Matthews stated.