This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Wildlife officers had to euthanize a cougar in Summit County after it reportedly killed a dog and wounded a second.
About 8 a.m. Sunday, a Summit Park resident found one of their dogs, a black Labrador Retriever-Pointer mix, was hurt and that the other dog, an Australian Shepherd, was missing, said Scott Root, outreach manager for the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources' Central Utah district.
After hiking up a hill behind their home, the resident spotted a cougar, which hid under the deck of a neighbor's home. Wildlife officers responded and noticed that the cougar was on top of the body of the resident's missing dog, Root said.
Officers used a shotgun to put down the cougar. Root noted that it was "a quick kill."
Cougar sightings tend to be more common in winter, when the predators follow the deer to lower elevations, Root said. Sightings in mountain communities like Summit Park "kind of comes with the territory" as well, he noted.
Still, wildlife officers only euthanize cougars one to three times a year, Root added.
Root directed anyone concerned about cougars and other wildlife to visit wildawareutah.org and wildlife.utah.gov.
mmcfall@sltrib.com Twitter: @MikeyPanda