Colorado Camper killed the mountain lion with a shovel while fighting his husky

According to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, a man camping in Colorado killed a mountain lion with a shovel on September 25. The man, whose identity has not been released, claimed self-defense and told wildlife officials he feared for his life when the adult female lion approached him and his dog in front of his camper. He said the lion was behaving ‘unusually and extremely aggressive’ and he hit the lion with a shovel as it struggled with his dog.

CPW spokesman Bill Vogrin says Outdoor living that the agency cannot comment or provide further details on the incident as it is still under investigation. According to a press release issued by the agency On Wednesday, that investigation began on Sept. 26, when a conservation officer went to the campground, which is west of Canon City in Fremont County. The officer arrived and found the dead lion – a 95-pound female – on the hood of the man’s Jeep.

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“The man told CPW that he was sitting outside his recreational vehicle with his dog the night before when a mountain lion approached them,” CPW explained in the news release. “The man said his dog, a husky, started growling and barking as the lion approached. When the lion came within about 10 feet, the dog tackled him and the man grabbed a shovel, hitting the lion in the head, killing him.

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 right forelimb and scratches on its back, which could explain its boldness; it is not uncommon for sick or injured lions to be involved in human-cat conflicts. A complete necropsy of the lion will be performed at a CPW animal health laboratory.

Officials say because the animal never touched or injured the man, the incident is not considered a mountain lion attack. According to CPW data, there have been only 25 cases of mountain lions attacking humans since 1990. The two most recent attacks occurred in Chaffee County in 2023, according to Vogrin, and neither was fatal.

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The state’s ongoing investigation into the lion slaying comes just five weeks before Colorodans vote on Proposition 127, which would ban the hunting of all mountain lions in the state. The ballot measure is extremely controversial and faces strong opposition 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 a ban on lion hunting would not only undermine the basic principles of science-based wildlife management, but would also lead to lower deer and elk densities and increased conflicts between humans and pumas.