Colorado Parks And Wildlife Provides Update On Deadly Mountain Lion Encounter In Larimer County
Colorado Parks and Wildlife has officially ended the active search for a third mountain lion following the fatal attack of a woman on the Crosier Mountain Trail in Larimer County.
CPW pathologists performed necropsies on two mountain lion captured following the attack, one 12-month old male subadult and one 12-month old female subadult. Both were in very good body condition and showed no signs of organ abnormalities. All four paws of the male subadult lion had human DNA on them, while no human DNA was found on the female subadult. Both lions tested negative for rabies.
CPW officers, federal agency staff, and houdsmen with trained dogs searched the attack are thoroughly for a third lion, but no fresh tracks or scents were detected. The Crosier Mountain Trail has been reopened to the public and mountain lion signage will remain in place.
“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. This is a terrible tragedy. This hiker did what many people did on New Year’s Day. She went out in nature on the first day of a new year, and the fact that she did not return to her family and friends is nothing short of heartbreaking. We encourage the public to have compassion and empathy for her and her loved ones.” – Mark Leslie, Regional Manager for CPW’s Northeast Region.
Several other incidents of mountain lion activity have been reported in the Glen Haven area in the past several months. On October 28th, a man was hiking with a dog off-leash when a mountain lion attacked and killed the dog in the 2000 block of McGraw Ranch Road in Estes Park. On October 29th, a woman was hiking with her dog off-leash on West Creek Road when a mountain lion appeared and took her dog. You can read about further incidents here.
Mountain lion sightings or conflicts should be immediately reported to Colorado Parks and Wildlife either by contacting the Denver office at 303-291-7227, the Fort Collins office at 970-472-4300 or Colorado State Patrol at *CSP (*277) to reach an on-call officer.
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