SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 15, 2024 (Gephardt Daily) — Utah wildlife officials have shared one of the longest treks ever tracked of a GPS-collared cougar.
The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources posted the tale of cougar F66’s wanderings under the title “The Amazing Trace: Tracking the 1,000-mile journey of a Utah cougar” on its blog.
The young cougar traversed three states in five months.
The account, written by the division’s Southern Regional Biologist Morgan Hinton, details the workings of the cougar tracking program while sometimes delving into more literary flourishes about Ms. F66.
“On July 4, 2022 at 2 a.m., a two-year-old collared female cougar — designated F66 by the researchers — sat on the banks of the confluence bend of Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming. A little over 220 miles into her journey, she had a choice to make: turn around and return north or make a chilling plunge into the water.
“Shockingly, F66 chose the latter and swam at least a quarter mile across the reservoir to reach the other side and continue her travels south.”
Read the whole tale on the DWR’s blog: bit.ly/3OJFxih
“You can learn more about cougar F66 and a type of movement this species exhibits — called a dispersal event,” the DWR said. Spoiler alert, she dies, as happens in the wild.
