Though the man was held at the airport while TSA agents check the validity of the cougar's Utah State Fish and Game tag, he was ultimately allowed to continue his journey. However, he did have to find a different way to ship the carcass.
"It is not a crime to transport game that is legal to possess via airlines," Metropolitan Police Lt. David Gordon told the Las Vegas Review-Journal Wednesday. "However, airlines reserve the right to tell passengers they do not want to transport certain items."
According to Doug Nielsen, spokesperson for the Nevada Division of Wildlife, the act of transporting a dead animal through an airport is in fact "fairly common" and legal as long as the hunter complies with state laws, gaming guidelines and TSA protocols.
"As long as that's a legally harvested animal, we don't have any problem with them passing through Nevada," Nielsen said.
Details as to where the man was traveling to were not released.
