On June 3 Alaska Wildlife Troopers obtained discover {that a} mountain lion had been shot and killed on Wrangell Island, which lies within the southeastern a part of the state close to the border with British Columbia. This wouldn’t be such stunning information aside from the obvious undeniable fact that mountain lions don’t technically dwell in Alaska. The large cats aren’t native to the state, and so they’re not often seen by hunters and different outdoorsmen. Within the state’s 65-year historical past, there have solely been two different recorded cases of mountain lions being killed there.
The June incident continues to be being investigated, in response to the Alaska Division of Public Security, and a spokesperson with the DPS says no additional info is straight away out there. It’s subsequently unclear who killed the cat and the occasions main as much as its demise. The lion was discovered on U.S. Forest Service land, so the USFS is concerned within the investigation and has the animal in its possession. The company’s Wrangell Ranger District Workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Alaska Division of Fish and Sport public info officer Riley Woodford couldn’t share any additional particulars about the newest incident (he says the company hadn’t been conscious of the incident till Out of doors Life‘s inquired about it). He did, nevertheless, level to some info on the 2 different lions that have been killed inside state strains greater than 20 years in the past. In 1989, a mountain lion was shot close to the town of Wrangell, Woodford explains in an ADFG article. And in 1998, a mountain lion was caught and killed in a wolf trapper’s snare on South Kupreanof Island.
South Kupreanof Island is to the northwest of Wrangell Island however in the identical shut proximity to the mainland. Each are a part of the Alexander Archipelago, a 300-mile stretch of islands in southeastern Alaska.
“We get sporadic experiences, possibly two or three a yr. Often there’s one report, then phrase will get out and there’s a rash of sightings that aren’t substantiated,” ADFG wildlife biologist Wealthy Lowell defined in that article. “It’s nearly like Sasquatch.”
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Due to Wrangell Island’s proximity to British Columbia, which is house to an estimated inhabitants of 5,000 to 7,000 mountain lions, it’s seemingly that the mountain lion wandered over from there. It’s fewer than 30 miles because the crow flies from the japanese fringe of the island to the worldwide border.
A slender channel separates Wrangell Island from the skinny strip of mainland Alaska bordering B.C., which implies the lion would have needed to swim to get there. This may appear a limiting issue, however mountain lions are shockingly good swimmers. Vancouver Island, which is separated from the B.C. mainland by a number of straits, is house to a well-established cougar inhabitants.
Many of the mountain lion sightings and kills which might be recorded in B.C. are concentrated within the decrease third of the province nicely south of Wrangell Island, which makes the June discovery much more uncommon. In accordance with the B.C. Wildlife Federation, nevertheless, the species’ vary is regarded as increasing northward,