A Colorado camper is claiming self-defense after killing a mountain lion last week. On Sept. 26, state wildlife officials responded to a report of an aggressive mountain lion at a campground west of Cañon City. When they arrived, they found a man with a dead mountain lion on the hood of his Jeep, according to a news release from Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW).
The man, still unidentified by authorities, said he was sitting outside his vehicle with his dog the night of Sept. 25 when he noticed a mountain lion approaching. His dog, a husky, attacked the lion when it was about 10 feet away. At this point, the man grabbed a shovel and killed the mountain lion with strikes to the head, according to the release.
The CPW officer investigating the incident described the lion as a female weighing about 95 pounds. Further inspection revealed the lion had an injury to its front right paw and scratches along its back. Wildlife officials said the incident was likely a case of self-defense and will send the lion’s body to an animal health lab for a necropsy.
The case remains an open investigation, officials said.
“Because the man suffered no injuries and was never touched by the lion, this incident does not qualify as a mountain lion attack under CPW guidelines,” officials said in the release.
Mountain Lions Coming to Colorado Ballot
According to officials, mountain lion attacks on humans are rare in Colorado. CPW has recorded just 25 lion attacks on humans since 1990. However, other cases have been reported in recent years, including a man “clawed in the head” in 2023 while sitting in a hot tub near Nathrop, Colo.
However, this feline predator has also become a source of political division in Colorado. This November, the state’s residents will vote on a ballot measure intending to ban all state-managed hunting of mountain lions. The ballot initiative began with a petition from a group called Cats Aren’t Trophies, which claims that Colorado’s current hunting program results in “needless killing” and is a “cruel, unjustifiable practice.”
The group claims that mountain lion hunters only kill the animals to obtain “trophies” and that hunters aren’t harvesting the meat, as required by state law for a legal hunt.
GearJunkie’s own Hunting Editor Rachelle Schrute took issue with that assessment, as “mountain lions are my favorite meat,” she said. In the same editorial, GJ’s Editorial Director Sean McCoy argued against the ballot measure, which “erodes the fundamental pillars of conservation and removes a viable, healthy food source,” he wrote.
Colorado voters will decide the future of the state’s hunting program during next month’s election.
In the meantime, Colorado wildlife officials have tried to steer clear of the debate, stating that they stand behind their current management plan. And if you’re worried about mountain lion attacks, they ended their statement about last week’s attack with some tips about how to avoid conflicts with these dangerous animals.
Learn more about “living with mountain lions” on the Colorado Parks & Wildlife website.
