Mary Jo Dawson and Dewey Fisher noticed their dogs kept nosing around a spot in a culvert on their property next to the main Garden Valley School driveway. When they investigated, they found one of their lambs had been killed and buried.
Having seen two small cougars in the vicinity, they called the USDA Forest Service for permission to shoot the culprits. The cougars returned to the scene of the crime three times. On Monday, the property owners lay in wait for them in the grass. One female cougar was shot with a 30.06 high-powered hunting rifle. The second cat was caught with a snare.
Garden Valley School Superintendent Mike Tomlin said one of the dead cats was donated to Mr. Foote's science class. Tomlin remarked, "What an opportunity to dissect and see the organ system and musculature of an animal like this, rather than the rats we have to purchase."
Dawson said, "After we shot it, we just looked at it. We were curious--we never see cats and they were incredibly beautiful."
