A woman was killed in an apparent attack by at least one mountain lion, and possibly two, on a hiking trail in Larimer County, Colorado, on Thursday.
The woman, whose identity hadn’t been released Friday, was found dead along the Crosier Mountain hiking trail near Fort Collins at about 12:15 p.m., with a mountain lion nearby, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW).
Mountain lion experts told Cowboy State Daily that attacks on humans are extremely rare, but the Colorado incident was tragic.
There have been no officially documented fatal mountain lion attacks in Wyoming.
Two Mountain Lions Shot
The woman’s body was discovered by hikers, who spotted her and the mountain lion from about 100 yards away, CPW reports.
They drove the mountain lion off by throwing rocks at it, the agency reported at a Thursday press conference about the attack.
One of the hikers was a physician, who checked on the woman, but found no pulse, according to CPW. It’s thought that she was hiking alone when she was attacked.
CPW is investigating the woman’s death as “a suspected fatal mountain lion attack."
That same day, wildlife agents shot and killed one mountain lion near the site, and another in the same general area.
Necropsies will be performed on the animals’ carcasses to test for diseases such as bird flu or rabies, according to CPW.
The last fatal mountain lion attack in Colorado claimed the life of Jaryd Atadero, 3, in October 1999, after he went missing during a church group hiking trip in the Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest.
A Tragic Event
Wyoming Game and Fish Department large carnivore specialist Dan Thompson said mountain lions rarely attack people, but the woman’s death in Colorado is still a terrible loss for her loved ones.
“First and foremost, this is a tragic situation for the people and family involved,” he said. "Fortunately, mountain lion attacks on humans are extremely rare, but that doesn't really matter if you were the person involved."
Byron Weckworth, chief conservation and advocacy officer for the Mountain Lion Foundation, also described the woman’s death as a “tragedy” in a statement to Cowboy State Daily.
“First and most importantly, our thoughts are with the victim's family and community. Any loss of human life is a tragedy,” he stated.
Though mountain lions are common in several regions around the country, they almost never attack humans, Weckworth stated.
“Fatal mountain lion attacks are extremely rare,” he said. "Across the United States, encounters resulting in serious injury or death are statistically uncommon given the millions of people who recreate and live in mountain lion habitat each year.
"That rarity is an important part of the context, though, understandably, this detail offers little comfort in those rare moments of loss."
As development spreads into mountain lion territory and more people take up outdoor recreation, encounters with mountain lions are becoming more common, Weckworth added.
“As more people live, work, and recreate in areas that overlap wildlife habitat, interactions can increase, not because mountain lions are becoming more aggressive, but because potential exposure is growing,” he stated.
Man Fought Wyoming Lion With Chainsaw
Although there have been no documented fatal mountain lion attacks in Wyoming, there have been some tense encounters.
One of the wildest ones happened in July 2009, when a man used a chainsaw to fight off a mountain lion in the Shoshone National Forest.
Windsor, Colorado, resident Dustin Britton, then 32, told authorities he was cutting firewood near his campsite when he saw the mountain lion “staring at him from some bushes,” The Guardian reported at the time.
Britton said he raised his chainsaw just as the mountain lion pounced.
"It batted me three or four times with its front paws, and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away," he told The Guardian.
The mountain lion suffered a gash on its shoulder and fled, The Guardian reported. It was later tracked down and killed by game wardens.
Other Attacks In California, Colorado
Other recent mountain lion attacks include the killing of Taylen Robert Claude Brooks, 21, in a remote area of El Dorado County, California, in March 2024.
He and his brother, Wyatt Jay Charles Brooks, 18, were hunting shed antlers when they were attacked just after 1 p.m., according to reports.
Taylen was pronounced dead at the scene, while Wyatt suffered severe facial injuries, was hospitalized and underwent multiple surgeries.
Wardens from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife agency later found and killed the mountain lion, which was reported to be a 90-pound male.
And in a September 2024 Colorado incident, Andrew Johnson told Cowboy State Daily that he had no choice but to kill a mountain lion with a shovel when it came after his husky in a campground.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
