Mountain lion that swatted 11-year-old girl’s cheek killed in Colorado

BUENA VISTA, Colo. — In Colorado’s mountains, an 11-year-old woman went to test at the circle of relatives’s chickens in their wood rooster area Wednesday most effective to discover a mountain lion that swatted at her face, leaving a small puncture wound on her cheek, in line with flora and fauna officers.

The woman was once handled and launched from the sanatorium, and Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials arrived on scene to search out the predator nonetheless in the cord mesh coop — the place they killed it.

This marks the twenty fifth time a mountain lion attacked and injured a human in Colorado since 1990. Three different assaults over the similar length resulted in human deaths.

In March, a mountain lion clawed a person in the top whilst he soaked in a scorching bathtub along with his spouse at a condo house. He escaped with superficial accidents. Officials imagine those do not constitute a development, simply unlucky coincidences.

The newest assault gave the look to be defensive, in line with officers. The kind of 30-pound (13.6-kilogram) feminine mountain lion did not seem to be stalking the younger woman as it did not mount a pursuit.

“This was a small mountain lion probably just looking for an easy meal in the chicken coop,” stated Sean Shepherd, Area Wildlife Manager, in a remark. “The victim likely surprised the lion. It probably felt threatened and it swatted at her as she entered.”

While assaults are uncommon, Shepherd endured, they are able to’t take any possibilities after an assault. The frame was once despatched to a lab to make sure it wasn’t diseased with rabies, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza or some other an infection.

The flora and fauna company encourages citizens to restrict hiding puts for mountain lions round properties, set up out of doors lighting fixtures, and stay pets and youngsters within at nightfall.