{"id":21186,"date":"2020-01-30T09:19:58","date_gmt":"2020-01-30T16:19:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skyhinews.com\/?p=62769"},"modified":"2020-01-30T09:19:58","modified_gmt":"2020-01-30T16:19:58","slug":"cpw-kills-mountain-lion-responsible-for-killing-goats-in-dillon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/local-news\/cpw-kills-mountain-lion-responsible-for-killing-goats-in-dillon\/","title":{"rendered":"CPW kills mountain lion responsible for killing goats in Dillon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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If you encounter a mountain lion, make noise, make yourself appear larger and don\u2019t approach it. If a lion behaves aggressively, throw objects at it and fight back if it attacks.<\/strong>
File Photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DILLON \u2014 Colorado Parks and Wildlife was forced to kill a mountain lion this week that had become habituated to residential areas in Summit County, according to officials with the organization.<\/p>\n

On the morning of Jan. 26, wildlife officers with Colorado Parks and Wildlife responded to a residence off of Ptarmigan Trail Road near Interstate 70 in Dillon. Sometime the night before, a mountain lion killed three domesticated goats in one of the resident\u2019s yards.<\/p>\n

According to CPW Spokesman Mike Porras, officers identified the lion as the same animal that had been seen in the area a number of times before, and made the decision that because of it\u2019s apparent habituation to the area, it had become danger to human health and safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not something that anybody likes to do,\u201d said Porras. \u201cOur officers didn\u2019t get into this business to kill animals. But we had a young, male lion hunting in a residential area \u2014 where there are people, and kids and pets around. The more comfortable a predator like this is around people, the more dangerous it is. At that point there\u2019s nothing we can do to relocated, or to rehabilitate it to stay away from people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porras said that once a lion becomes habituated to a residential area they\u2019re almost impossible to relocate. He noted that due to the territorial nature of the animals, any efforts to relocate the cat would likely result deadly conflict with another lion, seeing the cat return to Dillon where it knows there\u2019s a food source, or continuing to wander into residential areas near wherever it\u2019s relocated.<\/p>\n

On Monday, officers with CPW tracked down the lion with the help of dogs, and killed it. Porras noted that the animal\u2019s meat would be donated to local people in need.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this case, and typically how lions are hunted, they are treed and put down as humanely as possible,\u201d Porras said.  \u201cWe feel confident this is the lion involved. It was seen several times in the area.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even for lifelong residents, the chances of spotting a mountain lion are relatively slim. According to CPW, lions are generally calm, quiet and very elusive, preferring to avoid conflict with humans whenever possible. Though, as mountain communities continue to grow, sightings are becoming more common.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo keep things in perspective, there\u2019s a good chance you could live here your entire life and never see one,\u201d Porras said. \u201cBut we have more people, and more neighborhoods growing into lion habitats, and the chances of encounters and conflicts are increasing.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to CPW, when walking in lion country, you should travel in groups and try and make plenty of noise so that you don\u2019t surprise a lion. If you do run into a mountain lion you should stand your ground, and never run. If the lion acts aggressively, or continues to approach, raise your hands over your head to try and appear bigger, yell loudly, and throw stones or whatever you can grab without turning your back on the animal. If a lion attacks you, fight back as aggressively as possible to try and drive it away. For more information on living in mountain lion territory, or for navigating lion encounters, visit CPW\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important that community members do their best not to encourage mountain lions to enter residential areas. Porras said that feeding smaller animals, or especially lions\u2019 natural prey like deer, might be driving some lions to make their way into neighborhoods in search of easy meals. As a rule, feeding wildlife is never a good idea<\/a>, and is even illegal in many cases.<\/p>\n

Residents should also contact CPW immediately if they spot an aggressive lion, or one hunting in residential areas. Porras noted that if wildlife officers are able to find the animal before it gets habituated, they may be able to relocate it in lieu of killing it. To report a mountain lion sighting, call the northwest region CPW office in Grand Junction at 970-255-6100.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the responsibility of anyone who lives or recreates here to know what to do or what not to do when it comes to wildlife,\u201d said Porras. \u201cLions are apex predators, and can be extremely dangerous when they\u2019re near people. \u2026 It\u2019s important for folks to know that these conflicts can be something that happens. If you live in this state, you can anticipate that it could happen to you. So getting education is key.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Sky-Hi News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you encounter a mountain lion, make noise, make yourself appear larger and don\u2019t approach it. If a lion behaves aggressively, throw objects at it and fight back if it attacks.File Photo DILLON \u2014 Colorado Parks and Wildlife was forced to kill a mountain lion this week that had become habituated to residential areas in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-21186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-17 16:08:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KRKY Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/krky\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}