The dead mountain lion found last week along Interstate 80 hasn't even been autopsied yet, but it already has a home waiting at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The 6.5-foot-long cat, which weighed 115 pounds, could be added to a University of Nebraska State Museum exhibit highlighting the Niobrara River, which lacks any animal specimens, said Priscilla Grew, director of the museum housed in Morrill Hall.
Grew said she sent a letter to the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to officially make the request for the lion's remains.
According to the commission's rules, the State Museum is first in line to receive any discovered animal remains. Next in line are other accredited museums, followed by any research institution or educational organization interested in the specimen.
Grew said she wasn't sure how soon the museum would receive the lion and what purpose it would serve. Grew's first choice for the lion would be taxidermy – prepared, stuffed and mounted – and displayed in a diorama in the Niobrara exhibit.
She said if the cat's hide wasn't in good enough condition for display, then it would go to the university's research collection to be preserved for educational or research purposes.
Tom Labedz, collections manager for zoology for the State Museum, said he would be in charge of coordinating the display or preservation of the lion as soon as it is received.
Labedz said the lion could arrive in the next week or two, depending on the busy schedule of Game and Parks.
"Everyone in Game and Parks is working in deer season," he said. "When they get back, we'll figure it out."
