{"id":793284,"date":"2019-02-20T13:00:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-20T20:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/?p=359864"},"modified":"2019-02-20T15:56:59","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T22:56:59","slug":"edwards-man-comes-face-to-face-with-mountain-lion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/edwards-man-comes-face-to-face-with-mountain-lion\/","title":{"rendered":"Edwards man comes face to face with mountain lion"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Homestead resident Sean LaFaver captured this image of a mountain lion in his yard Tuesday night.<\/strong>
\nPhoto courtesy Sean LaFaver<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

EDWARDS \u2014 Tuesday night, Sean LaFaver was loading up his car in anticipation of a Wednesday morning trip to Denver when he heard an unusual screeching noise.<\/p>\n

He walked around the corner of his Homestead house to investigate and got a big surprise. About 10 feet away, sitting in a tree, was a mountain lion.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a stare off for a moment or so,\u201d said LaFaver. \u201cIt was definitely an adrenaline rush.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I didn\u2019t want to hang out outside for too long,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

LaFaver didn\u2019t want to put himself in a dangerous situation, so he went back into his home and turned on his outdoor lights. He then captured photos of the animal, which was accompanied by a pair of cubs and dragging a dead deer.<\/p>\n

A decade ago, LaFaver\u2019s experience would have been very rare. But according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife District Wildlife Manager Craig Wescoatt, local mountain lion sightings have definitely increased.<\/p>\n

Out for a quick bite<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Mountain lion sightings are up in Eagle County, but wildlife officials are unsure if the cause is an increase in the population or the result of more human presence in backcountry areas.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Like other carnivores in the wild, mountain lions are always on the lookout for an easy meal.<\/p>\n

\u201cLions are definitely carrion eaters,\u201d said Wescoatt.<\/p>\n

That means a lion will pounce in for a quick meal when they spot roadkill, said Wescoatt. In addition to deer, lions prey on smaller mammals.<\/p>\n

\u201cRacoons are really high in fat content, so a lion gets a big bang for the buck for killing and eating a raccoon, at very low risk,\u201d said Wescoatt. \u201cThey are also learning that cats and dogs are a good, easy meal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such easy eating brings lions closer to humans. \u201cI don\u2019t think this is an issue with human safety, even with the numbers we are seeing,\u201d said Wescoatt. But, he added, it is always important to be aware that we share our environment with these predators.<\/p>\n

Wescoatt\u2019s first piece of advice is to always be aware of your surroundings. If you encounter a mountain lion, make yourself look as large as possible, don\u2019t turn your back on the animal and don\u2019t run away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the animal attacks, fight back with everything you have,\u201d said Wescoatt.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how a Front Range man survived a mountain lion attack<\/a> earlier this month.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Homestead resident Sean LaFaver captured this image of a mountain lion in his yard Tuesday night. Photo courtesy Sean LaFaver EDWARDS \u2014 Tuesday night, Sean LaFaver was loading up his car in anticipation of a Wednesday morning trip to Denver when he heard an unusual screeching noise. He walked around the corner of his Homestead […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-793284","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-13 19:24:25","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":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=793284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/793284\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=793284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=793284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=793284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}