US EditionMan fought off a mountain lion weeks before a suspected fatal Colorado attack
Two mountain lions were euthanized after a fatal attack on a solo hiker on New Year's Day, with Colorado Parks and Wildlife investigating potential links to earlier encounters.
- On Thursday a suspected mountain lion attack on the Crosier Mountain trail near Glen Haven around 12:15 p.m. left an unidentified woman dead; two hikers saw her body about 100 yards away.
- In recent weeks, neighbors said they saw a female mountain lion and her cubs crossing toward a stream, and Gary Messina fought off a mountain lion on the same trail during a dark November morning.
- Colorado Parks and Wildlife tracked down and euthanized two mountain lions—one at the scene and another nearby—while a necropsy will determine involvement and a reported third mountain lion is being sought Friday.
- Friday trails near Crosier Mountain remained closed as investigators and Colorado Parks and Wildlife kept hikers away; officials had posted and removed warning signs and urged hikers to carry deterrents and travel in groups.
- Colorado has an estimated 3,800 to 4,400 mountain lions, attacks on humans are rare with the last suspected fatal encounter in 1999, and about 15% of attacks are fatal.
29 Articles
29 Articles
Denver Post
Greeley TribuneMan fought off a mountain lion on the same trail weeks before a fatal attack near Estes Park
Weeks before a 46-year-old Fort Collins woman was killed in a mountain lion attack near Estes Park, a Glen Haven resident fought off a lion on the same trail. Gary Messina, an ultra marathon runner who frequented the Crosier Mountain Trail, said he was on a run the morning of Nov. 11 when he spotted two glowing eyes approximately 40 feet in the distance. “I didn’t know what it was because it was dark, but my headlight gave off a little bit of li…
Before Suspected Mountain Lion Attack, Another Encounter
A Colorado runner says he had his own harrowing encounter with a mountain lion on the very trail where a woman was found dead weeks later in a fatal attack. Gary Messina tells the AP he was out before dawn on the Crosier Mountain trail in Larimer County in November...
‘It just really bothers me’: Mountain communities react to suspected mountain lion attack
News of a suspected fatal mountain lion attack in Larimer County is rippling through mountain communities where living alongside wildlife is part of everyday life — but deadly encounters are almost unheard of.
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