PREDATORS -- A few people pooh-poohed my Friday post about recent sightings of a mountain lion at Mount Spokane State Park, including one that circled the  Quartz Mountain Lookout several times in the daylight while campers were inside (photo above).

OK, fine.  I agree that cougars are among us often. 

But it's worth reminding people that small children who stray from the group are especially vulnerable.

Shortly after my Friday post, a related drama was playing out in eastern Idaho, as this report today from Idaho Fish and Game spokesman Gregg Losinski describes.

A family camping near Green Canyon Hot Springs east of Rexburg, Idaho, saved their four-year-old daughter from being dragged away from their campfire by a mountain lion on Friday evening.  The family had seen the lion in the vicinity earlier in the day, which in itself is highly unusual.  

When the cat appeared later in the evening and attempted to snatch the child, the family began yelling at the cougar and it dropped the girl and fled.  According to the family, the child was physically unharmed, except for a few scratches. 

After the incident, the family packed up and took the child to the Eastern Idaho Medical Center in Idaho Falls to be checked over.  Idaho Fish & Game Senior Conservation Officer Andrew Sorensen enlisted  the aid of local hound hunter  Mike Pimentel  to immediately attempt to track the lion. 

At 2 a.m. this morning, a young female lion was treed by the hounds a few hundred yards from the camp.  The cat was dispatched by deputies from the Madison County Sheriff’s office. Other campers in the area were notified of the ongoing situation.