Human DNA was found on all four paws of a 1-year-old male mountain lion after it killed a 46-year-old hiker in northern Colorado on New Year’s Day, officials said Monday afternoon.
An autopsy performed by the Larimer County Coroner’s Office also confirmed Kristen Marie Kovatch’s injuries were consistent with a mountain lion attack. Her death marks the first fatal attack by a mountain lion in Colorado in more than 25 years.
Following the attack, Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers euthanized two mountain lions. The other lion, a 1-year-old female, did not have any DNA on its paws, the agency said.
Kovatch, 46, was hiking alone along a remote section of the Crosier Mountain trail, which is on a national forest south of the community of Glen Haven. The area is a known home for many mountain lions and five reports were made to the agency, including attacks and sightings, in the nine weeks before Kovatch was killed, CPW said.
Her brother posted on social media Monday that Kovatch, who was from Texas and lived in Fort Collins, “died doing something she loved deeply, hiking and taking in the beauty of Colorado and its public lands.”
Two hikers encountered the mountain lion near Kovatch’s body and threw rocks at the animal to scare it from the immediate area so they could try to help her, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. One of the hikers was a physician who attended to the victim but did not find a pulse.
The coroner’s office listed Kovatch’s cause of death as asphyxia due to “external neck compression.”
Wildlife officers were searching for a third big cat, but called off the search after staff and houndsmen with trained dogs searched for more than 72 hours and found no fresh tracks or scents, the agency said.
The agency suspects the mountain lions were part of a family group due to “multiple lions present at the attack and evidence found at the scene.”
“It is very unlikely that these lions were in such close proximity to the scene by coincidence,” Mark Leslie, regional manager for CPW’s Northeast Region, said in a statement. “This is not a decision we take lightly. CPW is charged with protecting human safety. Given the gravity of this situation and the rarity of this type of behavior, this was a necessary, if unfortunate action.”
Crosier Mountain Trail is back open to the public, the agency said, adding that permanent signage warning of lion activity and how to act if you encounter a big cat while hiking has been in place on the trail for years.
Since late October, five mountain lion sightings in the Glen Haven area have been reported to Colorado Parks and Wildlife:
- On Oct. 28, a mountain lion attacked and killed a dog that was hiking with its owner off-leash in Estes Park. The attack was reported to CPW on Nov. 20.
- On Oct. 29, a woman was hiking with her dog off-leash on West Creek Road in Larimer County when a mountain lion appeared and took her dog. The incident was reported to CPW the next day. A CPW officer went to the area but could not find any lions.
- On Nov. 11, a man was running on a Crosier Mountain trail when a mountain lion approached him. The runner hazed the mountain lion with a tree branch and threw objects at the cat. The incident was reported the same day and CPW officers who went to the scene could not find any lions. CPW placed signs of increased mountain lion activity, but the signs were removed after a few weeks, the agency said.
- On Nov. 30, a man and a woman were hiking near the Crosier Mountain trail summit when they saw two mountain lions — one in front of them and one behind. No physical contact was made. They reported the sighting to CPW on Dec. 1 and CPW officers were unable to find lions on the trail. A temporary sign warning of mountain lion activity was placed at the trailhead.
- On Dec. 23, a man living off County Road 43 in Glen Haven found a mountain lion attacking his dog in his yard. He killed the 3-year-old adult male lion and reported the incident to CPW the following day. CPW investigated and no citations were issued. A necropsy showed the adult male lion did not have abnormalities and because of its age, CPW biologists do not think it was a parent to either of the lions euthanized on Jan. 1.
Any mountain lion sightings or conflicts should immediately be reported to CPW by contacting either the Denver office at 303-291-7227, the Fort Collins office at 970-472-4300 or Colorado State Patrol at *CSP (*277).