Jan 2 (Reuters) - A woman was killed in a suspected mountain lion attack while hiking alone in Colorado's Rocky Mountains on Thursday in what could be the state's first fatal attack by one the big cats in over 25 years, authorities said.
The woman was found unresponsive by other hikers on the Crosier Mountain trail northeast of Estes Park around noon on Thursday in the secluded forest area some50 miles (80 km) northwest of Denver.
The hikers saw a mountain lion near the woman's body and scared it away by throwing rocks. A doctor was among the hikers and attended to the woman but found no pulse, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose told reporters.
Nearby trails were closed while CPW officers responded to the scene and shot dead two lions in the area. It is not known whether one or multiple animals were involved in the suspected attack, the agency said in a statement.
“There were signs that this was consistent with a mountain lion attack,” Van Hoose told a press conference.
Mountain lion attacks on humans in Colorado are rare, with 28 reported to CPW since 1990. The last fatal attack was in 1999.
CPW pathologists are performing necropsies on the dead animals to check for abnormalities and neurological diseases like rabies and avian influenza, as well as human DNA, Van Hoose said.
CPW policy mandates the killing of any mountain lion involved in an attack on a human so as to prevent repeat incidents. If human DNA is not found on either dead lion, authorities will continue to search for animals that may have been involved, Van Hoose said.
Larimer County Coroner will release the identity of the victim and cause of death, she said.
Colorado has a healthy mountain lion population, estimated byCPW to bebetween3,800 and 4,400 adults. Conservation efforts have brought the species back from near extinction in the 1960s due to bounty hunting.
The animals go down to lower elevations in winter in the Front Range area of Colorado's Rocky Mountains in search of prey like deer and elk, increasing chances of encounters with dogs and humans.
"Because mountain lions are really common in this area we do expect to have conflicts," Van Hoose said.
(Reporting by Andrew Hay in New Mexico; Editing by Alistair Bell)
