Suspected mountain lion attack in Northern Colorado leaves woman dead; officers euthanize 2 animals

A woman who was hiking on a trail in Colorado's Larimer County was found dead on Thursday after what appears to have been a mountain lion attack. If further investigation by state officials determines the animal or animals are responsible, it would be the first fatal mountain lion attack on a human in Colorado in almost 30 years.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose said several people who were hiking on the Crosier Mountain Trail south of Glen Haven at 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 a news conference. "One of the hikers is a physician and did not find a pulse."

The identity of the woman has not yet been revealed.   

First responders including CPW wildlife officers and dog teams responded to the scene and searched for mountain lions in the area. Two were found and both wound up being euthanized but it's unclear if both mountain lions 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.

It's CPW policy to kill any wild animal involved in a human attack. Mountain lions are common in the area.

It's not the first recent episode involving a mountain lion 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," said Messina.

He says he has a lot of respect and understanding of lions.

"I don't see them as a threat. They're peaceful animals, we're in their territory, he said."

Messina was running on the trail at daybreak, using a headlamp when he spotted eyes on the trail ahead. At first he thought it was a skunk or other animal, but as he drew close, it was not moving. He went off trail to go around it.

"And that was when I noticed the eyes were following me and before I even knew what it was, it ran at me," he recalled. "For about two minutes I was scared for my life because the cat was kind of circling me and trying to pounce on me."

He bent down to try to pick up something to frighten the cougar off, but that too seemed to incite it.

"In the attempt to bend over and grab something it tried to pounce a couple times and so my reaction would be to just like get big and yell at it more," he said. "I could tell it wasn't even going to let me back away."

He reached behind him and found a branch coming out of the ground and grabbed it. "I just took a stick and swung and hit it across the face, which made the cat kind of snarl and kind of run off a little bit. … I just was afraid to run because I knew that it was triggered by my movements so I just backed away slowly and I was able to start throwing stuff towards it and try to keep it away from me," he said.

That included his phone on which he had snapped a photo of the lion. He went back later in the day to retrieve it.

"It was definitely a big cat. I've seen adolescent cats before and this thing certainly seemed a big healthy size."

Messina says he spread word in town of the attack and called wildlife authorities to let them know about it.

Word of the death of a woman Thursday was upsetting.

"Just the thought of anybody getting attacked and what that must be like, my heart breaks for the family and for the hiker who had to be the unfortunate victim," said Messina.

"CPW pathologists will conduct necropsies on the animals looking for any abnormalities or any neurological disease like rabies and avian influenza," said Van Hoose.

Van Hoose said the mountain lions will also be tested for human DNA to confirm the ones euthanized were the mountain lions that attacked.

Van Hoose said there are only 28 reported attacks of mountain lions on humans since 1990 and there hasn't been a fatal attack since the late 90s.

That attack was also in Larimer County. The death of 3-year-old Jaryd Atadero was listed by the coroner as a "probable mountain lion attack." Atadero wandered off from a church group hike in Poudre Canyon. No remains were ever found, only some of his clothing and shoes, years after he disappeared.