Search ends for mountain lions after solo hiker fatally attacked on Colorado trail

The search for mountain lions along a remote trail in Colorado where a solo hiker was fatally attacked ended Monday after authorities killed two of the predators — including one with human DNA on its paws — but could not find a third.

The victim of the New Year’s Day attack was identified as a 46-year-old woman from Fort Collins, about an hour’s drive from the attack site on the Crosier Mountain trail, east of Rocky Mountain National Park. It was the first fatal mountain lion attack in Colorado since the late 1990s, and the fourth killing in North America over the past decade.

Victim Kristen Marie Kovatch died of asphyxia due to having her neck compressed, the Larimer County Coroner’s Office said in a statement Monday. The injuries were “consistent with a mountain lion attack” and Kovatch’s death was ruled an accident, the coroner’s office said.

Two hikers found Kovatch’s body on a trail southeast of the community of Glen Haven, Colorado, at around noon on Jan. 1, state officials said. A mountain lion was nearby and they threw rocks to scare it away. One of the hikers, a physician, attended to the victim but did not find a pulse.

Later that day, two mountain lions located in the area were shot and killed by wildlife officers.

A necropsy revealed that one of those animals, a male, had human DNA on its four paws, Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Kara Van Hoose said Monday. The other lion killed did not have signs of human DNA, she said.

The search for a third mountain lion spotted in the area stretched over four days with no further sign of the animal, officials said. Hiking tails in the area were closed while the search was ongoing.

Mountain lions — also known as cougars, pumas or catamounts — can weigh up to 130 pounds (60 kilograms) and grow to more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) long. They primarily eat deer.

Colorado has an estimated 3,800 to 4,400 mountain lions, which are classified as a big game species in the state and can be hunted.

A Glen Haven man running on the same trail where Kovatch was killed encountered a mountain lion in November. He said it rushed him aggressively but he fought it off with a stick.

It was one of several mountain lion encounters east of Rocky Mountain National Park in recent months, according to Van Hoose. In two of those cases, the predators killed dogs being walked by their owners, she said.