Search ends for mountain lions after hiker fatally attacked on Colorado trail
The search for mountain lions along a remote Colorado trail where a lone hiker was fatally attacked ended Monday, after authorities killed two of the predators last week but were unable to find a third.
The victim of the New Year’s Day attack was identified as a 46-year-old woman from Fort Collins, about an hour’s drive from the scene of the attack on the Crosier Mountain Trail east of Rocky Mountain National Park.
Victim Kristen Marie Kovatch died of asphyxiation due to neck compression, the Larimer County Coroner’s Office said in a news release Monday. The injuries were “consistent with a mountain lion attack” and Kovatch’s death was ruled an accident, the coroner’s office said.
Two hikers saw Kovatch’s body on a trail southeast of the community of Glen Haven, Colorado, around noon Jan. 1, state officials said. A mountain lion was nearby and they threw rocks to scare it away. One of the hikers, a doctor, tended to the victim but did not find a pulse.
Later that day, two mountain lions in the area around the attack were shot by wildlife officers. The search for a third lion detected in the area stretched over four days with no other signs of the animal, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said.
Mountain lions – also known as cougars, pumas or catamounts – can weigh 130 pounds (60 kilograms) and measure more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. They mainly eat deer.
Colorado has approximately 3,800 to 4,400 mountain lions, which are classified as a big game species in the state and can be hunted.
A Glen Haven man running on the same trail where Kovatch was killed encountered a mountain lion in November. He said it rushed him aggressively, but he fought it off with a stick.
