A mountain lion that attacked a 7-year-old boy was tracked down and killed several hours after the animal injured the child, authorities said Sunday.
The baying of two black-and- tan coon hounds led their handler and a Colorado Division of Wildlife officer to a large Ponderosa tree about a half-mile from the site of the attack on Flagstaff Mountain, division spokesman Tyler Baskfield said.
The hounds picked up the scent near the parking lot where the boy was mauled Saturday evening and chased the female mountain lion to the tree where she was found.
A single shot killed the big cat about midnight Saturday, Bask field said.
“I’m very confident this is the same cat,” he said.
The animal weighed 80 pounds and was about 1 or 2 years old.
The Department of Wildlife hired a private houndsman and his dogs, who are trained to find mountain lions. The hounds didn’t pick up the mountain lion’s scent at the scene, probably because it was a few hours after the attack and because of the dry conditions, authorities said.
But the dogs did pick up a “hot scent” not far from the area and took off, Baskfield said.
Soon after, using a distinct baying, the dogs signaled that they had found the cat, Baskfield said. Shooting the mountain lion was necessary because she was a threat to public safety, he added.
“This is a very rare type of incident. … We have very few lions that have confrontations with people,” he said.
There are many mountain lions that share the foothills west of Boulder with people, Bask field said. If they had a proclivity to attack people, there would be many more reported attacks, he said.
In the 20 years the division has kept records, this is the first reported attack on a human by a mountain lion in Boulder County. In that time, there have been only two people confirmed to have been killed by the big cats in Colorado.
The boy, who was not identified, was walking with his father near the Crown Rock trailhead Saturday around 6 p.m. when the mountain lion grabbed the child by the head and dragged him toward the woods.
Family members shouted and chased the animal, and she released the boy.
The child was bitten on his jaw and suffered injuries to his legs from the back claws of the lion, Baskfield said.
The boy was first taken to Boulder Community Hospital for treatment and later transferred to Children’s Hospital. His condition was not available because his family members asked for privacy, a spokeswoman at Children’s said.
Baskfield said a necropsy would be performed on the cat this week to see if she had an injury or disease that may explain her aggressiveness.
He noted that mountain lions are most active at dawn and dusk, and praised the family’s response when the lion attacked.
“They were doing everything correct that they should do,” Baskfield said. “It’s just an unfortunate incident.”
Boulder officials restricted access to the area while the mountain lion was in the vicinity, but they haven’t decided whether the attack will change how the trailhead is managed, said Dean Paschall, division manager of visitor environmental services for the city of Boulder.
“We will meet tomorrow morning and discuss it,” he said Sunday.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
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Recent fatal lion attacks
Oct. 2, 1999: Jaryd Atadero, 3, disappears while hiking in the Comanche Peak Wilderness Area west of Fort Collins in what some say was a lion attack (wildlife officials haven’t confirmed it). His clothes are found in June 2003, scattered on a steep incline above the trail where he was last seen.
July 17, 1997: A lion kills 10-year- old Mark David Miedema of Lakewood, who was hiking with his family on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park, the first fatal mountain-lion attack in the park’s history. The attack takes place about 2 1/2 miles up the North Inlet Trail, a popular hiking route.
Jan. 14, 1991: Clear Creek High School senior Scott Lancaster is attacked and killed while jogging alone near Idaho Springs.
