A woman hiking along a trail in Colorado’s Larimer County was found dead Thursday following what appears to be a mountain lion attack. If state officials confirm through further investigation that the animal or animals were responsible, it would mark the first fatal mountain lion attack on a human in Colorado in nearly 30 years.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose said several people were hiking on the Crosier Mountain Trail south of Glen Haven around 12:15 p.m. when they saw a person lying on the ground and a mountain lion nearby. They said they were about 100 yards away.
“As they started to get closer, they started to scare the lion from the area by throwing rocks at the animal and it eventually went away, but they found an adult woman lying on the trail,” Van Hoose said at a news conference. “One of the hikers is a physician and did not find a pulse.”
The woman’s identity has not yet been released.
First responders, including CPW wildlife officers and dog teams, arrived at the scene and searched the area for mountain lions. Crews located two animals, and both were euthanized, though it remains unclear whether both were involved in the suspected attack.
“There were signs that this was consistent with a mountain lion attack but we can’t say for sure,” Van Hoose said.
CPW policy requires officials to kill any wild animal involved in a human attack. Mountain lions are common in the area.
This was not the first recent mountain lion encounter on the Crosier Mountain Trail. Glen Haven resident and trail runner Gary Messina told CBS Colorado he had a frightening encounter with a mountain lion on the trail a little over a month ago.
“It definitely frightened me to my core when it happened,” Messina said.
He said he has a great deal of respect and understanding for lions.
“I don’t see them as a threat. They’re peaceful animals, we’re in their territory, he said.”
Messina said he was running on the trail at daybreak using a headlamp when he noticed eyes on the path ahead. At first, he thought it was a skunk or another animal, but as he got closer, it did not move. He then went off the trail to go around it.
“And that was when I noticed the eyes were following me, and before I even realized what it was, it ran at me,” he recalled. “For about two minutes, I feared for my life because the cat was circling me and trying to pounce.”
He bent down to grab something to scare the cougar away, but that movement appeared to provoke it further.
“When I tried to bend over and pick something up, it attempted to pounce a couple of times, so my reaction was to make myself look bigger and yell at it even more,” he said. “I could tell it wasn’t going to let me back away.”
Messina said he reached behind him and grabbed a branch sticking out of the ground. “I took the stick and swung, hitting it across the face, which made the cat snarl and back off a little. … I was afraid to run because I knew my movements triggered it, so I backed away slowly and started throwing things at it to keep it away from me,” he said.
Those items included his phone, which he had used to take a photo of the lion. He later returned to retrieve it.
“It was definitely a big cat. I’ve seen adolescent cats before, and this one clearly appeared large and healthy.”
Messina said he warned people in town about the encounter and contacted wildlife authorities to report it.
News of the woman’s death on Thursday deeply upset him.
“Just thinking about anyone being attacked and what that must be like, my heart breaks for the family and for the hiker who became the unfortunate victim,” Messina said.
“CPW pathologists will conduct necropsies on the animals to look for any abnormalities or neurological diseases such as rabies or avian influenza,” Van Hoose said.
She added that the mountain lions will also be tested for human DNA to confirm whether the euthanized animals were responsible for the attack.
Van Hoose said there have been only 28 reported mountain lion attacks on humans since 1990, and there has not been a fatal attack since the late 1990s.
That fatal incident also occurred in Larimer County. The death of 3-year-old Jaryd Atadero was classified by the coroner as a “probable mountain lion attack.” Atadero wandered away from a church group hike in Poudre Canyon. His remains were never found, and only some of his clothing and shoes were discovered years later.