Mountain lion kills llama in Alta, Wyo.
A second llama is still missing, owner asks for help finding the animal.
By Cory Hatch, Jackson Hole, Wyo.
December 30, 2009
A male mountain lion attacked and killed a llama at a private residence off State Line Road in Alta during the weekend before the owner shot the cat dead Monday as it fed on the llama’s carcass.
Another llama is missing, and the owner is asking people for help with finding the animal.
Alta resident Lou Centrella said he found his roughly 10-year-old llama “Grayson” dead, and another llama “Frito” missing, at about 9 a.m. Sunday. Centrella called a deputy from the Teton County Sheriff’s Office, and they concluded that a mountain lion had killed the llama from the tracks, which showed an animal that appeared to be leaping.
“That’s how we concluded it was a lion,” said Centrella from his home in Alta. “What else jumps 10 feet?”
At 7:15 a.m. Monday, Centrella said he received a call from one of his neighbors that there was a mountain lion in his front yard feeding on the llama carcass. “My heart was going nuts,” he said. “I walked into the kitchen and, sure enough, there he was. I had one shoe off and no underwear.”
Centrella said he called the sheriffs office for guidance.
“The deputy called back and said ‘Shoot it,’ ” Centrella said. “The cat was prone, eating on the llama. They had the same colored fur. When I put the scope on him, I couldn’t tell them apart.”
Centrella said he eventually did get off a successful shot, but he wasn’t happy that he had to kill the animal. He said he was worried that the cat now had a taste for llama, and that he wouldn’t be able to raise the pack animals at his home anymore.
“It hurt me to shoot that guy,” he said. “He was gorgeous. He was a big male. All he was trying to do was make a living. It’s Wyoming. It’s wild. It’s why we live here.”
Wyoming Game and Fish Jackson Area Game Warden Jerry Longobardi retrieved the cat’s carcass. The cat, he said, appeared healthy, was two- to four-years-old and about 120 pounds. Longobardi said Centrella had every right to shoot the animal.
“Under state law, the landowner can take a mountain lion or a black bear causing damage,” he said.
Another Game and Fish official said Centrella likely would be compensated for the loss of at least one llama.
Centrella said he’s asking the public for help finding Frito, and said the remaining llama, Miss Philip, is “freaked out” and misses the companionship of the other animals.
“[Frito] is a black llama with a white forehead,” he said. “It doesn’t answer to anything.”
“Back in Peru, the mountain lion, they’re called pumas, that’s [a llama’s] worst enemy,” Centrella said. “I think there’s some kind of atavistic thing. I think that the presence of the lion sent all three of them nuts.”
Anyone with information on Frito can call the Jackson Hole News&Guide at 732-7067.
