Biologists conducting wildlife research in the northeast corner of Washington trapped and captured the largest mountain lion documented in the state. It is just a few pounds shy of the 200-pound mark.
“You could tell he was a big cougar. A couple of the guys had got to the tree before I did. But then when I got up there, I did look at it and think, ‘Wow that’s a pretty big cat,’” Brian Kertson, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife carnivore research scientist, told KREM-TV. “A hundred to 150 pounds is normal, he was 197.2 pounds according to the digital scale. I estimate him to be about 9-years-old.”
The goal of the research is to gain insights by monitoring interaction between mountain lions and wolves that prey on elk and deer.
(Video source: KREM-TV)