Stanford University is considering whether to send hunters into the hills surrounding the campus to kill a mountain lion that may have mauled two horses on university land.

Stanford is designated as a game preserve with no hunting or fishing allowed, so the university may not be entitled to the usual permits to shoot animals that attack humans, livestock or pets. The university would have to obtain a depredation permit.

In the latest attack on Saturday, an older gelding, apparently fleeing a lion, broke through a barbed wire fence. State Fish and Game Lt. Dennis Baldwin said a tuft of fur like that of a mountain lion was found caught in the broken barbed wire.