Photo: Robert Sachowski // Unsplash
A hiker was killed by a mountain lion in the mountains of northern Colorado last week. The attack marks the first mountain lion-related fatality in the state in over 25 years.
The attack occurred in the mountains south of of Glen Haven, an unincorporated community near the eastern entrance to Rocky Mountain National Park. Just before noon, two hikers encountered a mountain lion near a woman’s body on the Crosier Mountain trail, northeast of Estes Park. As Colorado Parks and Wildlife representative Kara Van Hoose told AP, the hikers threw rocks at the animal to scare it away, then checked the woman’s body and did not find a pulse. Officials have not released further details on the nature of the woman’s injuries, only saying that she was believed to have been alone at the time of the attack.
In response, state wildlife and local law enforcement officers killed two mountain lions in the area. On Friday afternoon, they had spotted a third and were tracking it down.
“Mountain lions tend to be very territorial. So if they’re in the area, it’s possible they could be involved and we just don’t know,” Van Hoose told Colorado Public Radio. “We have to get all that could be involved.”
Necropsies will be conducted on the slain animals to determine if they were involved in the attack and whether they had any medical conditions that could have played a role, such as rabies. An autopsy for the victim is scheduled for next week, according to the Larimer County Coroner’s Office.
Despite the fact that mountain lion sightings are frequent in the area, attacks are rare. Colorado has recorded 28 mountain lion attacks in the last 35 years. The last fatal attack took place in 1999, when a three-year-old was killed.
