Idaho authorities euthanize cougar wandering near daycare

Coeur d’Alene authorities say they euthanized a male cougar that was wandering across a parking lot near a daycare center.

On Monday, Idaho Fish and Game officials and the Coeur d’Alene Police waited until the cougar settled in a tree to dart and euthanized the cougar.

Idaho Fish and Game Biologist Jim Hayden says the male cougar was likely looking for “a place to settle down.”

He estimates the cougar was 2 years old.

Chip Corsi, Fish and Game’s regional manager in Coeur d’Alene, says they take a zero tolerance approach to urban lions, and chose to euthanize it instead of freeing it into the wild.

Hayden says cats tend to return to places where they have been captured and the safety of humans takes precedence.