An unusual incident is under investigation in the Centennial State. According to a Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) press release, a game warden responded to the report of an aggressive mountain lion on September 26 near Cañon City, Colorado.
“The CPW officer found the man [who reported the incident] with a dead lion on the hood of his Jeep in a campground west of Cañon City, in Fremont County,” explained a CPW spokesperson. The man said he was sitting outside of his RV the night before with his husky when a mountain lion approached them.
The lion reportedly came to within ten feet of the man and the dog. At that point, the dog “engaged” the lion, while the man “grabbed a shovel, which he used to strike the lion in the head, killing it.”
The game warden initially found that the man was acting in self-defense when he killed the aggressive lion, which was a 95-pound female. According to the agency, “further inspection of the lion revealed it had an injury to its front right paw and scratches along its back. The lion’s body was shipped to a CPW animal health lab for a necropsy.”
CPW says that the investigation into the incident is ongoing and has declined to provide any further comments on it. Additionally, the agency said that it does not consider the event an actual “mountain lion attack” because the man suffered no injuries and was never touched by the lion.
Mountain lion attacks are uncommon in Colorado. The state is home to around 4,000 mountain lions but has only recorded 25 mountain lion attacks on people since 1990s.
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The incident comes as the state’s citizens are mulling a controversial ballot proposal that would outlaw mountain lion hunting in the state, as well as predator trapping for other species. Hunting-oriented conservation groups unanimously oppose the ballot initiative, arguing that it runs counter to the proven success of the North American Model of Wildlife Management.
