State wildlife officials continue to keep a vigilant watch for a mountain lion –or several– in the Council Bluffs area. Conservation officer Doug Clayton, with the Department of Natural Resources in Pottawattamie County, looked over a horse that was attacked in the Underwood area.He says there were seven deep cuts, five of them were parallel to the ground along the animal’s ribs. Clayton says there have been several reports of people in that area seeing what they thought was a mountain lion, but only a few sets of tracks have been documented.One set of tracks was reportedly three-and-a-half inches across at the pad. Clayton says the mountain lion is -not- a protected species in Iowa, but he doesn’t recommend people try to shoot this animal as it could be very dangerous if it’s wounded and not shot dead on the first shot.

Radio Iowa