According to
Gawker, shoppers originally thought the Mountain Lion was a big dog. It had been roaming freely through the parking lot, according to reports from eyewitnesses.
According to the Gawker article, the Salt Lake Tribune reported Sandy police Sgt. Dean Carriger said police officers are trained to determine who or what their bullets could hit before using their guns, and it was determined “there was a concern of imminent danger to the public."
The big cat never awoke from its sleep.
'Wildlife deaths can occasionally occur during tranquilization," Scott Root, a DWR outreach manager told the
Salt Lake Tribune. "The fact that this cougar was in a highly populated area suggests that something may not have been normal with this animal."
Police and wildlife officers arrived to see the animal cross 9400 South after receiving a 911 call about the female Mountain Lion at 7:50 a.m. Friday. The animal was ambling into the mall area and lied down near a Ruby River Steakhouse.
The animal went from there east of the mall onto TRAX light-rail lines. It then once more bedded down once more, under some bushes near 9100 South and 150 East at about 9:30 a.m.
The DWR tranquilized the big cat about 15 minutes later and removed it on a stretcher. Because the animal had not been violent, the DWR had planned on releasing it into the wild, before it died.
An examination of the animal has been scheduled for Monday at the Utah Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, according to
AOL.
