Ranchers shoot mountain lion

A mountain lion was spotted mulling about Graham County Sheriff P.J. Allred's ranch in the Black Hills on Monday night and his ranch hands sprung into action. Mountain lions are synonymous with Arizona and are found throughout the state from the snowy mountains in the north to the deserts in the south. They are specialized top predators whose food preference is deer, elk, javelina, bighorn sheep and livestock; It is the last food preference that usually gets the big cats in trouble with ranchers and necessitates their removal. The hands were pumping some water when they encountered the male mountain lion. The animals maintain spatial separation from one another and use considerable skill in executing their stalks and killing large prey species. Males typically weigh between 80 to 150 pounds. Because mountain lions stick to their own hunting areas and Allred had recently lost several of his calves to a mountain lion, it was a safe bet the one the ranch hands observed was responsible for the killed cattle. A call went out to a specialized lion hunter whose dogs found and treed the lion by the next morning. Allred's son, Laine Allred, then carefully took aim with a pistol and felled the beast in one shot...more