Overview
- Hikers on the Crosier Mountain trail near Glen Haven reported a mountain lion near a woman’s body around 12:15 p.m. on New Year’s Day and scared it away by throwing rocks.
- One hiker, a physician, checked the victim and found no pulse, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife began treating the case as a suspected mountain lion attack.
- Wildlife officers, deputies, local police, volunteer firefighters, houndsmen, and an aerial CPW biologist joined the search; two lions in the area were tracked and euthanized.
- CPW pathologists will conduct necropsies and test for human DNA and diseases such as rabies and avian influenza, with further searches possible if no DNA link is found.
- If confirmed, it would be Colorado’s first fatal mountain lion attack since 1999, with CPW recording 28 attacks on people since 1990; the coroner will release the victim’s identity and official cause of death.