At least two people have recently reported mountain lion sightings to the Department of Fish and Game in or near the Starweather subdivision, halfway between Hailey on Ketchum. And when I called F&G recently on behalf of my friend, Leslie (one of at least two women at who saw a cougar at Starweather on or around Aug. 1), I was told there were "several" cougar sightings in Croy Canyon last summer. One of those lions eventually had be captured and re-located.
About six years ago, an adult cougar just south of Ketchum (on Topaz Street, I think it was) had to be killed by F&G. While officers were in the process of trying to load their tranquilizer rifle, it suddenly charged them.
The Wood River Valley is not a "petting zoo" and cougars (as well as moose, for that matter), especially, are very territorial and, more often than not, will attack humans if you are in "their" territory. Type "humans killed by mountain lions" into your search engine if you don't believe me and see what it shows (there were two mountain bikers in California who were jumped by cougars as they rode by them years ago; one person was killed, the other severely mauled.)
And if you see any cougars, please report it to F&G (324-4350) as soon as possible because more than likely F&G won't know about them unless you tell them.
John Pluntze
Ketchum