SPOKANE, Wash. -- Washington state wildlife biologists have caught and tagged a 197-pound cougar. CBS affiliate KREM reports that the biologists tagged the massive cat on Monday north of Chewelah.
State carnivore research scientist Brian Kertson called the cat a "monster." He said it's so muscular that the first tranquilizer dart he shot at it popped out as the cat flexed. It took two full doses of tranquilizer to put the beast down.
“He looked big in the tree. But it wasn’t until we had him on the ground that we were gobsmacked,” Kertson said. “We knew we had a monster but when we weighed him that’s when we just sort of went, ‘Wow.’ ”
This lion below is from Alberta, and weighed 190 pounds, for comparison.
Kertson has caught a number of cats that weighed more than 170 pounds. On average, tom cougars weight between 150 and 155 pounds.
This animal was different.
“He almost looked cartoonish he was so big,” he said. “Like how a little kid would draw a cougar. Just extra swollen, I guess.”
Kertson is a big guy – 6-foot-2 and roughly 260. But he said the tom cat’s forearms made his arms look puny.
The second largest cat that Kertson has ever caught was 185 pounds. That cougar was caught in western Washington.
Those dogs are sayin "Glad you got him Dad! We don't want any part of that one."
ReplyDeleteThey're around where I'm located...sure hope they're not THAT HUGE!!
ReplyDeleteThat's a substantial lion.
ReplyDeleteIf you've never been up close to one, it can be hard to understand how big they can be. I saw one in the back of beyond in the back of a SSS pickup. It was really big.
ReplyDeleteProbably eating too many Poodles.
ReplyDeleteA 200+ lbs cat was hit and killed by a truck in Palo Pinto County, TX a few weeks back. It too was a mass of muscle. No wonder deer were scarce this year.
ReplyDeletethere are no slow deer and elk there. they were all lunch
ReplyDelete