EDEN, Utah (AP) — The recent killing of a cougar near homes in a Utah mountain town has spurred debate among residents about how to live in the same habitat as the predators.
The Standard-Examiner reports the big cat was killed last month by a hunter after it had been lurking around neighborhoods in Eden.
State Division of Wildlife Resources Conservation Officer Trevor Doman says the guide for the hunter told him that the animal was “causing havoc” in the area by killing deer and dragging them near homes.
Resident Sean Healey says the area’s concerns about the cougar might have been overblown, noting that the big cats should not “all be killed just because they’re near us.”
Doman says encounters with cougars will continue because people are building homes where they live.
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