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Wildlife Officials Eliminate 5 Mountain Lions Threatening Residents

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (CBS4) -- Attacks on neighborhood pets and reports of alarming behavior toward humans spurred a trapping operation by Colorado Parks And Wildlife officers in January. Five mountain lions as a result were captured and euthanized, the agency announced last week.

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The cats included a mother and her three adult kittens, CPW Area Wildlife Manager Perry Will told the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent.

Wildlife officials had suspected the mother and her young of responsibility, at least in part, at the time that CBS4's Matt Kroschel visited the area in mid-January.

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Resident Kirby Wynn's dog was attacked in its back yard. Wynn ran outside and kicked at the cat which eventually let go of the dog and ran off. The dog suffered minor injuries.

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Mountain lions were blamed for a separate attack on a dog that killed the pet.

Will said CPW also received a report of a lion following a man who was walking his dog in the middle of the day.

"When we hear of those lions and that kind of behavior, we remove them for human health and safety," Will told the Post-Independent. Predatory animals become nuisances or, worse, threats to residents' well-being the less the animals fear interacting with humans.

The mother cat in this case was teaching her young behavior that could not be rehabilitated, Will added. Relocation would only threaten people in the cats' new area.

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Wildlife managers believe the cats are following deer and elk into the populated areas due to heavy snow in the higher elevations.

CPW officers believe they've caught the mountain lions causing the problems. No more trapping operations are planned.

Several people pleaded with wildlife officials to spare the mountain lions, the Post-Independent reported.

 

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