A man who was camping in Colorado killed a mountain lion with a shovel on Sept. 25, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The man, whose identity has not been released, claimed self-defense, telling wildlife officials that he feared for his life when the adult female lion approached him and his dog in front of his RV. He said it was acting “unusual and extremely aggressive” and that he struck the lion with a shovel as it tussled with his dog.
CPW spokesperson Bill Vogrin tells Outdoor Life that the agency is unable to comment or provide further details about the incident, as it remains under investigation. According to a press release issued by the agency Wednesday, that investigation began on Sept. 26, when a wildlife officer went out to the campground, which lies west of Canon City in Fremont County. The officer arrived to find the dead lion — a 95-pound female — on the hood of the man’s Jeep.
Read Next: Shed Hunter Killed in California Mountain Lion Attack Died Protecting His Brother
“The man told CPW that he was sitting outside his recreational vehicle with his dog the previous night when a mountain lion approached them,” CPW explains in the press release. “The man said his dog, a husky, began growling and barking as the lion approached. When the lion got within about 10 feet, the dog engaged it and the man grabbed a shovel, which he used to strike the lion in the head, killing it.”
After hearing the man’s version of events and looking at the scene, the wildlife officer’s “preliminary finding” was that the man acted in self defense. The officer also noted that the mountain lion had an injured front right paw and scratches along its back, which could help explain its boldness; it’s not uncommon for sick or injured lions to be involved in human-cat conflicts. A full necropsy of the lion is being performed at a CPW animal health lab.
Officials say that because the animal never touched or injured the man, the incident is not considered a mountain lion attack. There have only been 25 instances of mountain lions attacking humans since 1990, according to CPW’s records. The two most recent attacks occurred in Chaffee County in 2023, according to Vogrin, and neither of those were fatal.
Read Next: A Big Cat Hunting Ban Would Cost Colorado More Than $60 Million, Study Shows
The state’s ongoing investigation into the killed lion comes just five weeks before Colorodans vote on Proposition 127, which would ban all mountain lion hunting in the state. The ballot measure is extremely controversial, and has been met with plenty of resistance from Colorado hunters, who view it as a disingenuous attempt to chip away at hunting rights and turn public perception against hunters by a minority group of animal-rights activists. They say that in addition to undermining the basic principles of science-based wildlife management, a lion hunting ban would lead to lower deer and elk densities and a higher number of conflicts between humans and cougars.