Mountain Lion Climbs Saguaro

In Arizona: Mountain Lion Photographed Atop Giant Cactus.

It was no doubt a painful climb for the mountain lion up a 30-foot saguaro full of prickly spines. Wildlife experts said the animal looks like an adult male, weighing between 75 and 100 pounds. They believe it was chased by hunting dogs.
"There was a houndsman out trailing mountain lions and treed that mountain lion -- caught up with it -- and that was the only place for it to go to get away from the hounds,” said Babb. “Mountain lions in that situation typically climb a tall tree, and in the absence of tall trees in the area, I guess the saguaro just had to do."
Babb said that while mountain lions are typically the top of the food chain in most of Arizona, it’s not unheard of for one to get chased up a tree by a pack of wolves or javelina, or even another lion.
It is legal in Arizona for hunters to buy a permit and kill one mountain lion a year.

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