Wildlife

PARK CITY -- Wildlife officials killed a family of three mountain lions that attacked a pair of dogs in a mountain community about 17 miles west of Park City.

JACKSON — A dart loaded with tranquilizer makes a “whap” as it connects with the haunches of an unsuspecting bighorn sheep near the base of Miller Butte.

The sheep, a 3-year-old ewe, gets wobbly within a few minutes. She fades into a sleep and biologists Doug Brimeyer and Jessica Jennings-Gaines approach.

The ewe is drooling as Brimeyer and Jennings-Gaines fit a hood over her eyes and spread her jaws. “Say ‘ahh,’” Brimeyer says as he holds the animal steady.

Jennings-Gaines picks unchewed grass off the ewe’s tongue before taking saliva samples from her tonsils and gums.

SALT LAKE CITY -- A Salt Lake City woman has issued a warning to pet owners after her dog was attacked and killed by a coyote on a popular hiking trail near the city.

At Foothills Park in Palo Alto, Calif., a mama deer and her family emerged from the woods and grazed in the meadow just beyond a crowded picnic area. They paid no mind to the dozens of onlookers.

In Marin County, on the slopes of Mount Burdell at Olompali State Park, many hikers had similar encounters. A multitude of deer, almost tame, were everywhere.

Yet on the western slopes of the high Sierra, you could go days and never see a deer.

WEST HAVEN — Those who love Utah’s wilderness, and a step back into history to go along with it, may want to explore Weber County’s best-kept secret.

The portion of the Centennial Trail through West Haven and Marriott-Slaterville is a 31⁄2-mile stretch between the two cities. With the recent paving of the final mile, the trail is nearly completed.

The Centennial Trail is a 27-mile trail in Weber County that follows the Ogden and Weber rivers and the Bonneville Shoreline Trail connecting Ogden and Weber canyons.

Dozens of desert bighorn sheep from Nevada are getting a new home in southern Utah.

Wildlife officials used a helicopter this week to capture 50 of the iconic big game animals from the mountains of southeastern Nevada and moved them to Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Western states often swap animals to restore or boost their local populations.

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah officials are awaiting the results of a rabies test on a coyote that attacked a guard at a Kennecott Utah Copper site in Salt Lake County, calling the attack rare.