Authorities are persevering with the seek for a 3rd mountain lion Friday after a lady was killed Thursday afternoon in what officers are investigating as a possible mountain lion assault on a path close to Estes Park, in line with officers.
Hikers noticed a mountain lion close to a lady who was mendacity on the bottom at round 12:15 p.m. on the Crosier Mountain Trail in unincorporated Larimer County, south of Glen Haven. One of the hikers, a doctor, examined the lady and couldn’t discover a pulse.
Woman killed in suspected mountain lion assault in Colorado
In an emailed assertion Friday, a spokesperson for the Larimer County Coroner’s Office stated the lady’s id and reason behind dying could be introduced subsequent week.
Two mountain lions close to the scene had been euthanized Thursday, however the search continues for a 3rd mountain lion, stated Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose.
“We saw it at the incident area,” Van Hoose stated, including that canine will help within the search, however helicopters is not going to be used, not like Thursday. “We know that there’s a third lion in the area and that’s what we’re searching for.”
Hikers noticed mountain lions on the identical path Nov. 30 and reported the encounter the subsequent day to Colorado Parks & Wildlife, Van Hoose stated, including that officers went to the realm, however didn’t discover any lions. Van Hoose was unable to substantiate what number of lions had been seen, however the hikers reported that they noticed a household.
“When we spoke to the people who reported it, we gave them more mountain lion education, like we would with any of these reports,” Van Hoose stated.
Glen Haven resident Gary Messina stated he encountered a mountain lion on the path on Nov. 11, in line with The Associated Press. He advised The Associated Press that, primarily based on the aggressiveness of the lion, he believes it could possibly be the identical one which killed the lady on New Year’s Day. He stated he threw his telephone on the lion, kicked filth and yelled, however the lion stored circling behind him.
“I had to fight it off because it was basically trying to maul me,” Messina advised The Associated Press. “I was scared for my life and I wasn’t able to escape. I tried backing up and it would try to lunge at me.”
Before Thursday’s deadly incident, Colorado Parks and Wildlife had recorded 28 mountain lion assaults on people since 1990.
Three-year-old Jaryd Atadero disappeared whereas mountain climbing with a church group in 1999 within the Comanche Peak Wilderness Area west of Fort Collins. Wildlife officers by no means confirmed if Atadero was attacked by a mountain lion, however investigators speculated that’s how he died.
In 1997, a 10-year-old boy from Lakewood, Mark David Miedema, was attacked and killed by a mountain lion on the North Inlet Trail on the west aspect of Rocky Mountain National Park whereas mountain climbing together with his household. This assault marked the primary deadly encounter with a mountain lion within the park’s historical past.
Most not too long ago, a mountain lion injured a Larimer County sheriff’s deputy and a civilian in an assault within the Riverview RV Park & Campground, west of Loveland, in 2020.
The suspected assault on Thursday occurred throughout Colorado’s mountain lion looking season, which runs from November to March. Quotas on what number of lions could be hunted per space are set by Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Van Hoose stated, including that the apply is used to handle mountain lion populations and as sport.
However, Van Hoose was unable to say how the looking season impacts the variety of mountain lion assaults per yr.
“Science doesn’t give us a good answer on that,” Van Hoose stated. “… It’s tough to say that if a hunter went into an area that had an open quota and took a lion, that that was the lion that was causing problems.”
Wayne Pacelle, the president of Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy, stated mountain lion looking season may very well have the alternative impact than its intent.
“That intensive pressure to kill 500-600 animals a year will have the effect of changing the age strata of the population,” Pacelle stated, including that hunters often go for bigger lions, which are sometimes older, versus youthful lions, which usually tend to prey on people. Animal Wellness Action and the Center for a Humane Economy had been two of the organizations on the forefront of the Prop. 127 marketing campaign to outlaw the trophy looking of mountain lions that was rejected by voters in 2024.
Pacelle did acknowledge that looking could instill sufficient concern in mountain lions to steer clear of people, however stated the argument wasn’t compelling sufficient to justify the apply due to the results looking has on altering the age of mountain lion populations.
“You’re basically creating a population that’s going to be much more inclined to have human encounters and every once in a blue moon, that encounter is going to be fatal,” Pacelle stated.