By Russ and Tiña De Maris
Things got a bit exciting in a Loveland, Colorado, RV park Wednesday, when a cougar turned up in the park and attacked two people. A series of dramatic photos, lifted from a brief video, show a responding sheriff’s deputy take a short but heart-stopping tussle with the big cat.
Authorities were called to the Riverview RV Park & Campground when a report came in that someone had been injured by a mountain lion. Deputies tried to corral the big cat on arrival, but it was having nothing to do with it. It immediately jumped a female deputy, who one witness suggested may have suffered serious injuries or worse had she not put up an arm to fend off the fractious feline.
Yelling at park residents to shelter in their rigs, deputies first shot and wounded the big cat, and it took off, running under RVs in an attempt to escape. Eventually a game warden cornered the critter, firing a fatal shot. Both the deputy who was attacked, and another individual who took the hard side of the cat’s bad attitude, were shuttled off to a hospital. Their injuries were not life threatening.
The cougar, estimated at some six feet in length, was sent off for a necropsy.
All photos lifts from video footage via mercurynews.com.
For those of you who are whining that the cat was put down, it attacked 2 people. It had attacked one before the deputy’s arrived. This cat had something wrong. There was no option. Even if they could have trapped it, the cat would have been put down for an unprovoked attack. Time to understand nature!
Folks, you cannot ever fix stupid!
The update on the story says the cat had rabies. There was no saving it.
I agree with Madeline Ryan. I think the outcome could have been avoided. This mountain lion could have been sent to a sanctuary.
It was a young healthy female she probably had babies
law enforcement not trained in ‘corralling’ wild life or livestock. Only thing they’re trained in is firearms. Damn! Another wild cat lost! Next time go prepared to capture, relocate. Call in profressionals with tranquilizers. Shut down RV campground, if necessary and find the intruder. So many other options; believe this could’ve been prevented.