After over eight months since 36M’s capture, our team here has been itching to catch a new puma. Over the weekend, we tried to catch an uncollared animal using a cage baited by some road kill deer. While we succeeded in luring the animal into the trap, s/he managed to escape before the cage-door came down fully. Check out the video and make sure to watch the whole thing to see the events unfurl.
Luckily, we had a second chance to catch a puma three days later, and this time our capture went flawlessly. We’d like to introduce you to 37M! This 6 year old 128 lb adult male was caught at 9:30 P.M. on February 18th near Loch Lomond. 37M was lured into the trap by road kill deer (the gateway meat), and made no joke about his affinity for the delicacy. Even as he began to get sleepy from the drugs, he laid his head on the deer for a few licks before his work-up.
37M still sleepy from tranquilizers held up for a photo by Justine Smith
37M is now sporting his new GPS collar just east of Highway 9. Given a lot of territory shuffling by other collared males near his capture site, we are interested to see how 37M fits into the mix.