Colorado Puma Facts: What you need to know about the predator
Mountain lions thrive in Colorado, with an estimated adult population of about 4,000.
Colorado wildlife officials have ended the search for a mountain lion along a hiking trail where a woman was killed in a mountain lion attack on New Year’s Day. The incident was the first fatal shooting in the state since 1999.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department launched a large-scale search for the mountain lions involved in the attack, and two were spotted in the area of Crozier Mountain Trail on January 1st. Both animals were euthanized in accordance with agency policy, Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department spokeswoman Kara Van Hoose told USA TODAY Network’s Coloradoan.
On January 5, state wildlife officials announced they had ended an active search for a third mountain lion in the area. The agency announced that the trail has reopened to the public and advised visitors to report mountain lion sightings or incidents to wildlife officials.
“(Colorado Parks and Wildlife) staff, federal agents, and hunters with trained dogs conducted an extensive search for more than 72 hours,” the agency said in a news release. “No new footprints or scents were detected.”
Two hikers discovered the woman’s body around noon local time on the Crozier Mountain Trail just south of Glen Haven in Larimer County, the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department said. This trail is approximately 110 miles northwest of Denver.
Van Hoose said the climbers, including the doctor, saw the mountain lion lying on top of the woman from about 100 meters away. They threw stones as the animal approached, and the puma got scared and ran away.
“When the two men saw it, it was acting to protect that person,” Van Hoose said, adding that doctors examined the woman but found no pulse.
Local coroner identifies victim killed in mountain lion attack
The Larimer County Coroner’s Office said it responded to the Glen Haven Fire Department on January 1st to investigate the death of a 46-year-old woman. The coroner’s office has confirmed that a woman was the victim of a fatal mountain lion attack on Crozier Mountain Trail and was transported to the Glen Haven Fire Department for safety reasons.
On January 5, the coroner’s office identified the woman as Kristen Marie Kovatch of Fort Collins, Colorado. Kovacs died of asphyxiation due to neck compression, the coroner’s office said in a statement.
The coroner’s office said her injuries were “consistent with a mountain lion attack” and her death was ruled an accident.
“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department Northeast Regional Manager Mark Leslie said in a statement. “This is a terrible tragedy. This hiker did what so many people did on New Year’s Day.”
“She went out into nature on the first day of the new year and the fact that she did not return to her family and friends is nothing short of heartbreaking,” Leslie continued. “We encourage the public to have sympathy and empathy for her and her loved ones.”
Autopsy reveals human DNA in euthanized male mountain lion
After two hikers spotted the victim and called 911, state wildlife officials said troopers arrived on the scene and observed a male mountain lion approaching the area. The mountain lion was shot by the police and fled.
Wildlife officers and hunters later tracked down the mountain lion, which had been injured by the officer’s gunfire, and euthanized it, the department said. A second mountain lion was also found near the scene and was euthanized by wildlife officials.
Shortly afterward, a third mountain lion was spotted by a police officer in the area and chased by hunting dogs, authorities said. However, wildlife officials were unable to track and locate the mountain lion.
“Due to the presence of multiple lions at the attack scene and evidence found at the scene, (Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department) officials suspected a family group of perpetrators,” the agency said in a news release.
Initial necropsy results, released on January 5, showed that the two euthanized mountain lions were part of the same family group, consisting of an approximately 1-year-old male and a 1-year-old female.
A necropsy showed human DNA in all four legs of the male mountain lion, the agency said, but no human DNA was detected in the female mountain lion. Both mountain lions tested negative for rabies.
“It’s hard to imagine that these lions just happened to be in the immediate vicinity of the site,” Leslie said. “This is not a decision we make lightly…Given the gravity of this situation and the rarity of this type of action, this was an unfortunate but necessary action.”
How rare are fatal mountain lion attacks?
Before the Jan. 1 attack, Van Hoose told The Coloradan there had been 28 attacks on humans by mountain lions in Colorado, three of which were fatal. The last incident, which was not fatal, occurred in 2023 near the mountain town of Buena Vista, more than 275 miles southwest of the Crossier Mountain Trail.
The state’s last fatal mountain lion attack occurred in October 1999, when 3-year-old Jarryd Atadero went missing while hiking with a group on the Big South Trail in the Roosevelt National Forest in Larimer County. His body was discovered by two hikers in June 2003 near where he was last seen. This incident was widely reported in domestic and international media.
Since 1868, about 30 fatal mountain lion attacks have been reported in North America, according to the nonprofit Mountain Lion Foundation. A 2011 study found that mountain lion attacks are relatively rare, with about four to six attacks per year in the United States and Canada.
In 2025, a 4-year-old girl was bitten by a mountain lion in Washington state, and an 11-year-old girl was attacked by a mountain lion outside her home in California. In 2024, a California man died in a mountain lion attack for the first time in 20 years after he was killed and his brother injured in a remote area west of Lake Tahoe.
Contributor: Jeanine Santucci, USA TODAY. Miles Broomhart, Fort Collins, Colorado
