KETCHUM, Idaho (AP) — An airplane approaching a central Idaho airport had to abort its initial landing after a mountain lion was spotted on the runway.

Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials said a conservation officer later killed the mountain lion in order to keep the public safe.

The Delta flight from Salt Lake City to Friedman Memorial Airport in Hailey on Saturday night was delayed about 20 minutes because of the mountain lion, the Idaho Mountain Express reported.

“We were on an approach for landing and all of a sudden the pilot pulled up,” said Diane Cordes, a Hailey resident on the flight. “After a couple of minutes, he came on the loudspeaker and said the tower called and we had to pull up because there’s a cougar on the runway.”

After the mountain lion was spotted, airport manager Chris Pomeroy said workers attempted to corral the animal. The airport does have a plan in place for wildlife management, he noted.

“We thought we had it contained but it did spring loose and walk across the runway when the Delta flight was several miles out,” Pomeroy said.

Pomeroy used a car to chase the cougar into a fenced-off section surrounding the control tower, he said.

The conservation officer shot the lion as there was no way to safely trap it in a timely manner, said Kelton Hatch, a spokesman for the fish and game department. The mountain lion was less than a year old, he said.

The officer did not have access to a tranquilizer gun, and the department does not typically relocate large predators that have become accustomed to being near people, said Mike McDonald, the department’s regional wildlife manager.

JARBIDGE, Nevada (AP) — The reward has grown to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest of a suspect of suspects in the illegal killing of a moose near the Nevada-Idaho line.

Nevada game wardens announced earlier this month that Operation Game Thief was offering a $1,000 reward after a citizen discovered the beheaded moose carcass Dec. 25 about 20 miles southeast of Jarbidge.

Jelindo Tiberti, an avid Nevada sportsman and longtime member of the Fraternity of the Desert Bighorn, and his wife, Sandee, upped the ante with a $2,500 donation.

State wildlife officials said Tuesday Nevada Bighorns United have contributed an additional $4,000 and the fraternity kicked in another $2,500.

Game warden Fred Esparza says it’s the third moose-poaching case in Nevada in the last three years. Wildlife biologists estimate there’s between 25 and 40 moose now living in Nevada.

CODY, Wyo. (AP) — A Wyoming city decided to continue to kill off its urban deer herd as part of its deer population management program.

The Cody Enterprise reports Cody City Council on Tuesday voted to go ahead on a motion directing local police to continue its plan to harvest 50 female deer from the roughly 241 deer living within city limits by Feb. 15.

Police implement the program under a Wyoming Game and Fish Department Chapter 56 Permit, which allows the “lethal taking” of in-town deer under detailed conditions to prevent property destruction and protect human health and safety.

Police will follow the same plan developed for Cody’s first culling of 50 deer in 2017. The process includes baiting deer to safe locations and using night vision equipment if warranted.

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Information from: The Cody Enterprise, http://www.codyenterprise.com

ST. GEORGE, Utah (AP) — Both Zion and Bryce Canyon national parks have reported a record number of visitors for 2017.

The Spectrum reported Thursday that Zion National Park saw more than 4.5 million visitors last year, which is up 5 percent from 2016. While Bryce Canyon National Park recorded 2.6 million visitors — a 9-percent increase.

The figures come just as park service officials are considering a controversial fee hike and a potential online reservation system for Zion.

The National Park Service released a plan this fall recommending that entrance fees more than double during the peak season at some of the nation’s most popular parks.

The idea has been controversial, however, with opponents arguing it would price out lower-income Americans and make only a small impact on a growing maintenance backlog.

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Information from: The Spectrum, http://www.thespectrum.com

JACKSON, Wyo. (AP) — Grand Teton National Park recorded its busiest year in 2017 — the fourth consecutive year of record attendance.

According to the National Park Service, the western Wyoming park had more than 4.9 million visits last year, a 3 percent increase from the prior year.

Officials say the park had 3.3 million recreational visits last year, a count that excludes most traffic on the highways running through the park.

Officials say the visitation in June, August, September and October hit monthly records with an extra boost in August due to the total solar eclipse. In that month, the park had 65,000 more visits than the record set for the month the year before.

Park managers say the eclipse weekend was estimated to be the busiest period in the park’s history.

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. (AP) — The National Park Service says it found some of the 52 bison that escaped from holding pens in Yellowstone National Park after someone cut the fence.

The bison were found in the Mammoth Hot Springs area on the northern end of the park. However, the Park Service says no effort will be made to recapture the bison unless they return to the holding facility.

Park staff discovered Tuesday that 52 bison had escaped the Stephens Creek facility near Gardiner, Montana, when someone cut the fence.

The bison were being isolated to assure they were free of brucellosis, a disease that can cause livestock to miscarry. Bison confirmed to be free of the disease were eventually to be set free on tribal land.

The Park Service has opened a criminal investigation.

On the morning of January 16, 2018, park staff discovered 52 bison, held at the Stephens Creek facility for possible quarantine, had been released from the pens. The National Park Service has initiated a criminal investigation of this incident at the Stephens Creek facility in Yellowstone National Park.

Currently, park staff are making an effort to locate and recapture the bison. At this time, none of the animals have been located.

The missing bull bison were being held in two separate pens. A group of 24 animals have been in confinement since March 2016 and the other group of 28 animals, since March 2017. These animals were being held and tested for brucellosis at Stephens Creek as part of a plan being considered to establish a quarantine program. The purpose of that program would be to augment or establish new conservation and cultural herds of disease-free plains bison, enhance cultural and nutritional opportunities for Native Americans, reduce the shipment of Yellowstone bison to meat processing facilities, and conserve a viable, wild population of Yellowstone bison.

“This is an egregious criminal act that sets back bison conservation. It delays critical ongoing discussions about a quarantine program and the transfer of live Yellowstone bison to tribal lands. The park is aggressively investigating this incident,” said Yellowstone National Park Superintendent Dan Wenk.

“I am absolutely heartbroken for the Fort Peck Tribes who have been working with the park, the state of Montana, and Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service for years to repatriate these bison,” said Secretary Zinke. “The criminals who broke into a national park facility to release these bison put at risk the safety of the animals that are now at risk of being culled and our park rangers who are rounding them up. I will be working with Secretary Perdue to see if we can get back on track to transfer the brucellosis free bulls to the tribe this year.”

The Stephens Creek facility is closed permanently to the public.

Anyone with information about this incident is encouraged to call the Yellowstone National Park Tip Line at 307-344-2132 or email Yell_LEO@nps.gov. For more information, visit http://go.nps.gov/tipline.

THE DALLES, Ore. (AP) — A remote camera picked up two gray wolves in Oregon’s northern Cascade Mountains, marking the first time multiple wolves have been documented in the area since the species returned to Oregon more than a decade ago.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife said Tuesday the animals were spotted in the White River Wildlife Area and in Mt. Hood National Forest, as well as on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

Single wolves have been spotted in Wasco County twice before in 2013 and 2015.

Gray wolves are a federally protected species in western Oregon.

Wolves crossed into Oregon from Idaho in the early 2000s after being driven to extinction in the state decades ago.

Officials are currently updating a wolf management plan to address changes in population.

OGDEN, Utah (AP) — Authorities rescued a hiker who spent a frigid night stranded on a cliff in northern Utah.

The Standard-Examiner in Ogden reports that Cache County Sheriff Chad Jensen said the hiker was hoisted out of Logan Canyon Monday morning. He wasn’t injured.

The 19-year-old Max Susman had called for help Sunday night after he hiked into a cliff area and couldn’t get down.

Rescue teams were unable to land a rescue helicopter that night and instead dropped supplies to get him through the night. That included a sleeping bag, food and a kit to start a fire.

Members of the rescue team hiked to the spot to spend the night with the Utah State University student as temperatures dipped below freezing.