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!
The mountain lion had rabies, which probably caused the abnormal behavior. 🙁 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Folks, you cannot ever fix stupid!
What does “stupid” have to do with being attacked by a rabid mountain lion, Mike? —Diane at RVtravel.com
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.
Unfortunately, Donald, it tested positive for rabies. 🙁 —Diane at RVtravel.com
Some tree huggers think rabies is not fatal
I don’t think that stupidity is limited to tree huggers.
It was a young healthy female she probably had babies
Read the update, it had rabies, not babies!
law enforcement not trained in ‘corralling’ wild life or livestock. Only thing they’re trained in is firearms. d**n! 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.
Cat tested positive for Rabies! so law enforcement did the humane thing it turns out. It was not normal for a big cat to do this so before placing blame get the rest of the story first!
Cougars do not normally behave like this. If one attacks a human out of the blue, it’s likely they do have rabies. There was another incident of a rabid cougar attacking someone in this same area about a week ago, so there could be an outbreak of the disease there. Infected animals will attack anything, no matter what the size, and without regard to their own safety. I love these cats, and tame ones can be as sweet and friendly as house cats, but if anything attacks you, including a human being, you have every right to fight back.
This was a sudden attack on a person. No time to call in for tranquilizers or professionals. More concern for cat than people attacked.
Tree huggers who have no idea about nature except what they read in their tree hugger magazines.
Have you ever been a Cop? Watching a lot of Joe Forester are you? You apparently know nothing about modern Law Enforcement other than Antifa talking points.
Spent 42 years in law enforcement, both urban and rural environments. Training was very extensive and on going and one thing from day one, use of a firearm is a last resort. Worked in mountainous as well as high desert areas, which were occupied by black bear, mountain lions, as well as large big game animals, which can also be dangerous to humans. Conclusion for Madeline you know nothing about L.E. so please just STFU, thank you.
There’s always got to be at least one in the crowd.