A young male mountain lion (cougar) was killed in the city limits of Yankton, South Dakota.  Yankton is not that far away  (84 miles to the west of us)  and on this side of the Missouri River.  This is the second young male cat to have been recently killed in this area, the first being the cat shot last October 9 miles west of Sioux Center and 5 miles north of Ireton [ the Ireton Cat] (Mahaffy, 2003).   Necroscopies of both cats indicate that they were feeding on local wild life.  Raccoon in the case of the Ireton cat and deer and several small mammals in the case of the Yankton cat. Porcupine quills in the chest and right shoulder of the Yankton cat  (necroscopy report) indicate some contact [feeding] on porcupine perhaps before the cat dispersed.  While this does not prove an origin in the Black Hills it is consistent with a cat coming from that area where porcupine is an important part of the cougar diet.

The Sioux Falls off ice of the SD Game, Fish and Parks was kind enough to send me their press release that can be found by clicking here.  There is also a good write up on the incident in the local newspaper (Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan), which I have linked to with their permission. 
 
 

Web page designed by James Mahaffy on July 21, 2004