Colorado authorities are investigating a woman’s death from a suspected mountain lion attack on Thursday — the state’s first fatality of such kind in more than two decades.
Hikers reported the attack around 12:15 p.m. on the Crosier Mountain trail in unincorporated Larimer County, an area roughly 20 miles west of Fort Collins, Colorado Parks and Wildlife said Thursday.
The hikers, who were approximately 100 yards away from the lion, saw it near the woman lying on the ground. As the hikers approached, Colorado officials say, they threw rocks at the animal and scared it away. One of the hikers was a physician who did not find a pulse on the woman, CPW spokesperson Kara Van Hoose said in a news conference Thursday.
Van Hoose said the situation showed signs “consistent with a mountain lion attack” but deferred to the Larimer County medical examiner to release the victim’s identity and manner of death. Officials think the woman had been hiking alone.
Mountain lion attacks are considered extremely rare in Colorado, with 28 previous attacks reported since 1990, Van Hoose said. The last fatal attack occurred in 1999.
After Thursday’s report was called in, Van Hoose said CPW officers, a CPW biologist, local law enforcement and volunteer firefighters, and houndsmen launched an aerial and ground search for mountain lions in the area.
Officers shot one lion at the scene, which initially ran from the area but was later tracked down and euthanized. A second mountain lion in the area was also euthanized.
“We’re not sure if it was one or more lions that could have been involved in the suspect attack, so we have to be sure,” Van Hoose said.
Both animals will undergo necropsies to inspect for irregularities and neurological diseases like rabies and avian influenza, Van Hoose added.
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