Camper’s Shovel Showdown With Aggressive Mountain Lion in Colorado

In a recent incident in southern Colorado, a man faced a harrowing encounter with a mountain lion while camping with his dog. The event took place at a campground west of Cañon City in Fremont County, where the man was forced to take drastic action to protect himself and his husky.

According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW), the man, who has not been identified, reported that the mountain lion approached him and his dog aggressively. The situation quickly escalated when the lion began to attack his husky.

In a desperate act of self-defense, the man used a shovel to strike the mountain lion on the head, resulting in its death.

When CPW officers arrived on the scene the next day, they found the deceased mountain lion on the hood of the man’s SUV. The animal, a 95-pound female, had reportedly exhibited “unusual and aggressive behavior.”

Despite the aggressive encounter, CPW guidelines do not categorize the incident as an attack since the man remained uninjured and there was no direct physical contact with the mountain lion.

The preliminary investigation by CPW supports the man’s actions as self-defense. The mountain lion’s body is scheduled for a necropsy to determine if any underlying health issues may have contributed to its behavior.

As the investigation is still ongoing, CPW has refrained from making additional public statements regarding the incident.

This confrontation is a reminder of Colorado’s ongoing challenges with its mountain lion population. Over the past 34 years, the state has documented 25 mountain lion attacks on humans, three of which were fatal.

Just last year, a young mountain lion was euthanized after injuring an 11-year-old girl in Chaffee County, and another incident involved a man being clawed while sitting in a hot tub in the same county. Both individuals survived their encounters.

In a notable 2019 case, a jogger in Larimer County managed to kill a mountain lion that attacked him by suffocating it during a struggle.

The recent event in Fremont County underscores the unpredictable nature of wildlife encounters in Colorado and the potential dangers posed by its mountain lion population.

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