A mountain lion.
© National Park ServiceA mountain lion.
Two dogs were apparently attacked by a mountain lion Thursday in Gimlet subdivision, south of Ketchum.

One of the dogs, a female Australian shepherd, died from its wounds. The other, a male yellow Labrador retriever, was treated at the Sun Valley Animal Center and is recuperating. The lion was trapped and released in a remote spot.

The Lab's owners, Wall Street residents Jan and Ed Cummins, said the 9-year-old, 80-pound dog, whose name is Barkley, went outside as usual after breakfast about 9 a.m. They said that when Barkley hadn't returned after about 20 minutes, Ed Cummins blew a high-pitched whistle and he came running, but didn't stop as usual, instead bolting straight into the house. They said Barkley was bleeding profusely from puncture wounds on his face and neck, and he immediately ran upstairs and hid.

The couple said Barkley's wounds had to be drained and partly stitched, and he spent one night at the Sun Valley Animal Center, but came home Friday. They said Barkley was returned to the vet Saturday to have an IV removed, and was put on a regimen of antibiotics and pain pills. Barkley also lost four teeth in the encounter.

"Barkley is doing OK. He is happy to be home and wagging his tail," Ed Cummins said.

Jan Cummins noted that Barkley "looks like he's going to survive, but he's not going to be the dog he was before."

According to the couple, Ed Cummins saw bloody snow, apparent cat tracks and animal feces that did not look like a dog's along Wall Street near their driveway.

"It was like a bloody crime scene there," Jan Cummins said.

Erin Pfaeffle, an owner of the Australian shepherd, named Pepper, said the dog went outside on her own around noon Thursday. When she didn't return after about half an hour, Pfaeffle and her husband, Jeff, started to look for her. Erin Pfaeffle said they found her lying dead just inside their garage, where an unknown person had apparently placed her after entering through the open garage door. Pfaeffle said that judging by the dog's wounds, it appeared unlikely that Pepper made her way to the garage on her own.

"She was mauled really badly," Pfaeffle said. "But we're grateful that someone brought her home to us."

Pfaeffle said she and her husband saw a cougar in their driveway Thursday evening, and later saw paw marks around a double-pane window, of which the animal had broken the outside pane.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game spokesman Kelton Hatch said the department set up a baited cage trap near the site at about 9 p.m. that night, and a cougar was caught in the trap about two hours later. Hatch said the lion was released Friday south of Twin Falls, just north of the Nevada border, "away from people."

Hatch said department personnel assume that the female lion caught was the adult of a group of three lions, the other two being year-and-a-half-old subadults, that had been seen near Gimlet this winter. He said there have been no reports of the other two in the area since the incidents last week. He noted that they are old enough to survive on their own.

Hatch said the trapped lion was thin but in healthy condition, and its presence in Gimlet, even during the day, is not abnormal.

"There's elk and there's deer that live all through that area," he said. "They're a primary feed source for mountain lions. That's just part of the Wood River Valley."

Sightings of mountain lions are common during the winter throughout the valley, when wild ungulates move into lower elevations, and one or more attacks on dogs are an almost annual occurrence.

Hatch said winter weather also prompts mountain lions to become more active, since they need more food to stay warm.

He advised people to not feed pets outside, as the food can attract lions and other wild animals.

"I don't think there's any reason for people to panic," he said. "They need to be aware, but I wouldn't change my activities."