Multiple pre-dawn mountain lion sightings just five miles northeast of downtown Cheyenne sent law enforcement scrambling Saturday morning to track down a predator wandering through a residential neighborhood.
“It repeatedly crossed property lines, went beneath porches, and moved near children and livestock,” the Laramie County Sheriff’s Department said in a Saturday statement. “With no safe opportunity to contain it, deputies had to euthanize the animal.”
The sheriff’s announcement drew immediate backlash online, with critics questioning why deputies chose lethal force over tranquilizer darts and arguing that humans are encroaching on natural predator territory.
Sheriff’s deputies and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department responded to the report, the statement said. Neither department responded to Cowboy State Daily by publication.
For nearby property owners, however, the risk felt immediate.
‘Easy Food’
Lexi Hock owns a horse-training business less than a mile from where the mountain lion was spotted by police.
“I was down the road,” Hock told Cowboy State Daily. “It scared me when I found out because I have baby foals running around.”
Those foals, Hock said, are valuable and would have been quick prey for a hungry mountain lion.
“It would have been very easy for a mountain lion to get, because it’s just sitting there,” Hock said of one foal. “I’m very glad they did euthanize it because it would have been back in a couple days.”
Having grown up in a rural area, Hock said she’s familiar with mountain lions and their behavioral patterns. Residential developments often carry higher risks, she said, because trash, pet food, and domestic animals naturally attract wildlife.
While relocation might sound like the ideal solution to the public, Hock said safely trapping and moving an apex predator is rarely that simple in practice.
“It’s got all the easy food and knew exactly how to go,” Hock said. “They can relocate them, but they have to relocate them very far away. They’re different from bears.”
While she didn’t see the mountain lion, Hock said she spent the days leading up to the incident dealing with another wildlife threat.
“There’s a coyote pup the size of a little house dog,” Hock said. “It came two times in one night to try to get my foal, which is kind of crazy.”
Even after Hock and her own dog chased the pup away, it returned twice in the same night. For Hock, this underscores how the search for easy food draws wildlife into neighborhoods.
“It’s kind of odd to have a very hungry coyote pup that’s trying to take down a whole foal, and then mountain lions two days later,” Hock said.
‘Got To Be Pretty Hungry’
Just half a mile from where the predator was spotted, horse-boarding stable owner Justin Henderson said the situation on his property remained quiet.
“It didn’t cause any trouble to us,” Henderson told Cowboy State Daily. “Not yet, anyway.”
Deputies said Saturday that a second female mountain lion was spotted nearby after the first was put down. Still, Henderson said he isn't overly concerned about the second lion causing trouble.
“My guess is they’re just passing through,” Henderson said. “It’s not like I got horses bouncing off the fence because they can smell a cat.”
While mountain lion encounters are a known reality in Wyoming, smaller animals bear the brunt of the danger. In September, a Cody man had to fight off a juvenile mountain lion after the big cat attacked his dog, and in 2023, a 15-pound terrier in Crook County lost an eye surviving a lion attack on a front porch.
When it comes to full-grown equine livestock, however, attacks on horses are a rarity. Because of their size and defensive capabilities, adult horses present far too much risk for most mountain lions, which typically target smaller, easier prey, Henderson said.
“A mountain lion’s got to be pretty hungry and on the hunt to want to take down a horse,” he said.
Henderson said he’s divided on law enforcement's decision to euthanize the big cat. While he believed the animal was likely just passing through and might not have needed to be put down, he emphasized that deputies had to make a real-time judgment call.
Had it been him, he said he might have made the same call himself.
“If I see a cat in here chasing my horses, am I going to shoot him? Yes,” Henderson said. “If I see him stalking a kid am I going to shoot him? You’re damn right.”
Prevention and Survival
According to the Wyoming Game and Fish’s mountain lion management plan, wildlife officials evaluate interactions on a case-by-case basis, with responses ranging from no action to lethal removal.
When reviewing these incidents, managers weigh specific factors, including whether a big cat has preyed on pets or livestock, its proximity to residential areas and children, and whether its behavior indicates bold or habituated patterns rather than casual transit.
Fatal mountain lion attacks are extremely rare in Wyoming.
According to the department, proactive prevention remains the best defense for residents living in lion country because a sudden encounter leaves little time to react.
“If a mountain lion attacks you, fight back and defend yourself,” the department’s website says.
Emma Jane Jackson can be reached at emma@cowboystatedaily.com.
