iStockphoto / John Pitcher
- A family in Boulder, Colorado were alerted to the presence of a large and angry mountain lion hiding out underneath their porch
- Authorities were able to tranquilize, remove, and relocate the mountain lion and they captured tense footage in the process
- Read more stories about Mountain Lions right here
It’s not fair to say the city of Boulder, Colorado has been overrun by mountain lions recently but there have been a LOT of sightings. According to a press release from Colorado Parks & Wildlife, there have been 17 reported sightings and encounters with these large cats since January 15th. Portions of the latest encounter were captured in the tense footage below.
According to the press release, homeowners at 23rd Street and Panorama Ave discovered a mountain lion was hanging out and possibly living underneath the porch of their house after their dog went nuts. There was only about 1ft of clearance between the deck and the ground so it wasn’t much room for the mountain lion to move freely. But it’s possible this confined space also gave the large cat a sense of security.
CPW Wildlife Officer Tyler Asnicar arrived on the scene within a few hours and was able to successfully tranquilize the mountain lion. After that, the cat was slowly removed from under the house and then safely relocated to a remote nearby area away from the city.
I looked up those cross streets on Google Maps and from what I can tell it’s basically in the middle of Boulder and not at all near the treeline. This large cat weighed somewhere between 115 and 120 pounds which is about the size of a Great Dane dog. Here’s footage of the large cat being removed from the house…
Tense Footage Shows Mountain Lion Being Removed And Relocated
In the press release, CPW Wildlife Officer Tyler Asnicar says there had recently been “several pets taken in town.” They had a working theory there were siblings in North Boulder and it’s possible this cat that was removed from under the house was one of them.
It’s not uncommon for mountain lions to be spotted in Boulder, Colorado this time of year. They move to lower elevations hunting mule deer as the deer move closer to town to escape heavy winter conditions at the higher elevations.
How Common Are Attacks From These Giant Cats?
There are a LOT more mountain lions in this country than I ever suspected. According to the most reliable data, there are an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 mountain lions spread out across the Western United States (primarily across 10 states, give or take a handful). So let’s call it roughly 30,000 mountain lions in the USA.
With 30,000 cougars in the USA, there are probably a lot of attacks on humans every year, right? Wrong.
There have only been 27 fatal attacks recorded in North America in the past 100 years. The most recent one occurred in Mount Hood National Forest in 2018 and it was the first-ever fatal cougar attack recorded in Oregon.
Stunning Mountain Lion Footage Captured By Trail Cam
The caption of this video posted to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife Instagram account says mountain lions are very rarely seen feeding on their prey. They feed in secret and often return in the middle of the night to feed. A motion-activated trail camera captured this stunning footage of one returning to its prey under the cover of night.
Pro tip: if you are going to be somewhere/anywhere with mountain lions in the area you should educate yourself on what to do in an encounter (make yourself as big and loud as possible).