Mountain lion invades home in Colorado
I found this interesting story from Salida, Colo., on The Outdoor Wire.
An apparently malnourished young mountain lion entered a residence Thursday afternoon, killing one dog and briefly trapping a mother and her two children inside the house until Chaffee County Sheriffs Deputies evacuated them.
Colorado Division of Wildlife officers were able to tranquilize the lion, which appeared to be significantly underweight for its age, according to DOW Area Wildlife Manager Jim Aragon. After evaluating the lion’s condition, a decision was made to euthanize the animal.
It is highly unusual for a mountain lion to enter a building. “We will know more after we get the results of the necropsy, but this animal was not demonstrating normal behavior,” Aragon said.
The incident began just after 4 p.m. when the lion chased a small dog through a pet door into the home, which is located about nine miles northwest of Salida.
Michelle Bese and two children, ages two and five, were in the house when the lion entered. The two-year old was asleep in a bedroom, and the five-year old and Mrs. Bese were sitting at the kitchen table when the animal came in the house. There were also four other small dogs in the home.
Bese said that at first, she did not know if it was a coyote or lion until another dog confronted the lion and she could tell what it was. At this point, she took her five-year old and ran to the back bedroom where the two-year old was sleeping.
She shut the door behind her and called 911.
Chaffee County Sheriff’s deputies arriving at the scene and helped the woman and her children escape through a bedroom window. They also opened the home’s front and rear doors to provide the lion with an opportunity to leave.
However, when two DOW officers arrived a few minutes later, the lion was still in the house.
“I looked in a bedroom window and could see a dog which I believed to be dead,” Aragon said. “The lion was in the same room, so I pounded on the window and side of the house in an attempt to get the lion to leave through one of the open doors.”
After several other attempts to get the lion to leave, Aragon and Wildlife Officer Kim Woodruff, along with Chaffee County Sherriff’s Deputy Rod Lane, entered the house through the back bedroom window. The lion was in a room directly across the hall.
“We cracked the door open wide enough to see the lion and were able to shoot it with a tranquilizer dart,” Aragon said.
“We were able to locate four of the five dogs and get them transported to a vet clinic,” Aragon said. The fifth was later discovered hiding in the home.
All of the dogs, which included a Jack Russell Terrier and four Shih-Tzu, received wounds during the encounter. One dog eventually died, and two others were seriously injured.
The young male lion, which is believed to be about a year and half old, only weighed about 40 pounds. “A healthy lion of that age should be closer to 60 pounds,” said Aragon.
Its remains will be sent to a DOW lab in Fort Collins for analysis, which is standard procedure.
Wildlife officers say it is rare for a mountain lion to enter a building.
“We hope to learn more after we get the results of the necropsy, but this animal was not demonstrating normal behavior,” Aragon said.
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Comments
how about bass fishing on the oklahoma river – have bass pro sponsor a tournament – from feb. to june bass pro would offer so much per pound of fish stocked in the river by fishermen – tag some fish for prizes and have a bass tournament in june sometime – i know this sounds crazy but i believe it would generate a lot of interest – what do you think ??
Where would you get catchable-size largemouth bass to put in the river? And besides, the Wildlife Department would want to put largemouth bass in places where they would grow and thrive. That’s not the Oklahoma River. The Wildlife Department once stocked the Oklahoma River with 4 to 6-inch hybrids, hoping they would stay in the river and grow to catchable-size for anglers, but it didn’t work because the basins were drained so often.
Interesting. Makes me glad I don’t have a pet door!