{"id":44010,"date":"2021-10-28T18:31:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-29T00:31:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorado-sees-increase-in-mountain-lion-sightings\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:17:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:17:04","slug":"southwest-colorado-sees-increase-in-mountain-lion-sightings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/southwest-colorado-sees-increase-in-mountain-lion-sightings\/","title":{"rendered":"Southwest Colorado sees increase in mountain lion sightings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure class=\"wp-block-image naviga-inline-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/imengine.public.prod.dur.navigacloud.com\/?uuid=86c159c4-de6a-4507-ba4e-77c7e781bb5c&amp;function=cover&amp;type=preview&amp;source=false&amp;width=2000\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" alt=\"Southwest Colorado has recorded more mountain lion sightings than any other area in the state this year, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.\" class=\"naviga-image\" loading=\"lazy\"><figcaption><span class=\"caption\">Southwest Colorado has recorded more mountain lion sightings than any other area in the state this year, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.<\/span><span class=\"credit\">du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n<p>Southwest Colorado has seen a spike in mountain lion sightings this year, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/cpw.state.co.us\/aboutus\/Pages\/News-Release-Details.aspx?NewsID=7985\" id=\"link-b41c17b796a1c206ea8cb0c7f538420c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Colorado Parks and Wildlife<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In CPW Area 15, there have been 110 sightings as of Wednesday, said John Livingston, public information officer in CPW\u2019s southwest region. In 2020, there were 72.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMountain lions are rarely seen but are common throughout western Colorado,\u201d CPW Senior Wildlife Biologist Jamin Grigg said in a news release. \u201cThey prey primarily on deer and elk and are likely to be present anywhere deer and elk are abundant. They are generally shy around humans but are also very curious, similar to house cats.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"naviga-pdf-embed\"><iframe class=\"article-pdf\" src=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/f0DwLKSp-f9UdBQfwG5s1zpEPnE.pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:500px;border:1px solid #ddd\" loading=\"lazy\">\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/f0DwLKSp-f9UdBQfwG5s1zpEPnE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CPW Areas.pdf (Download PDF)<\/a><\/p>\n<p><\/p><\/iframe>\n<p class=\"naviga-pdf-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/dur-prod-public-pdfs.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/f0DwLKSp-f9UdBQfwG5s1zpEPnE.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CPW Areas.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Area 15 includes Montezuma and La Plata counties, as well as most of Dolores, San Juan and Archuleta counties and parts of Hinsdale and Mineral counties.<\/p>\n<p>Seventy-eight sightings were reported in La Plata County, 13 in Montezuma County, 18 in Archuleta County and one in Dolores County.<\/p>\n<p>La Plata County\u2019s 78 reported sightings led all counties in the state, Livingston said. Boulder County, which lies in Area 2, which includes sizable parts of Larimer and Weld counties, was second with 67 sightings, the release said.<\/p>\n<p>A sighting of a single lion in a populated area might result in multiple reports. A mountain lion spotted this summer near the Animas River in Durango neighborhoods resulted in multiple calls, Livingston said.<\/p>\n<p>Five of the 110 sightings were considered \u201caggressive,\u201d behavior that includes growling or backing hikers off a trail, Livingston said.<\/p>\n<p>For example, a mountain lion might exhibit \u201cbluff-charging\u201d \u2013 when a mountain lion approaches a person, makes noise and motions with its paws. An attack would involve a physical encounter and include a bite or \u201cslash.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf it\u2019s got a recent kill or kittens nearby, sometimes it\u2019ll show itself to a person and kind of try to steer them away from that area,\u201d Livingston said.<\/p>\n<p>Attacks haven\u2019t increased, though. Since 1990, there have been 23 reports of mountain lion attacks on humans in the state, the release said.<\/p>\n<p>In March 2020, there was a notable incident in Loveland when a mountain lion with rabies attacked a person and bit a sheriff. There haven\u2019t been any recent attacks in Area 15, Livingston said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf a lion allows you to see it, it\u2019s likely not acting in a predatory manner,\u201d Grigg said in the release.<\/p>\n<p>Although sightings were scattered throughout La Plata County, there were significant reports north of Durango, along U.S. Highway 550 toward Silverton, in Game Management Unit 75, Livingston said. Sightings also were clustered in Game Management Unit 74, west of Durango in the area approaching Mancos Hill.<\/p>\n<p>The increase in sightings was attributed in part to an influx of people in Southwest Colorado and to technology.<\/p>\n<p>In 2020, 13 reports came from doorbell or game cameras, Livingston said. And a phone linked to a camera can alert people to a passing mountain lion. Detailed reports from 2021 have not been completed.<\/p>\n<p>Population estimates won\u2019t be calculated until the end of the year, but the number of mountain lions has presumably climbed since last year, Livingston said. Statewide, Colorado has 3,000 to 7,000 mountain lions, CPW says.<\/p>\n<p>The estimates have become more accurate over the past decade with GPS collaring on cats and kittens, he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe do know that the population is doing well,\u201d Livingston said.<\/p>\n<p>CPW produced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=M2Z4iX-RWjs&amp;list=PLWGY7bVNQHtVxJxrDuuiLW3CxsOcgxC1K\" id=\"link-b64991a5c64da8b67cd5bf3a3674e5cc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a video series <\/a> this year to educate people about mountain lions and crossing paths with them.<\/p>\n<p>To report an encounter or attack between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., call the regional office in Durango at (970) 247-0855. Outside those hours, CPW recommends calling Colorado State Patrol or a local sheriff\u2019s office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Wildlife reports 110 sightings in Area 15 this year <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,167,29,603],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-44010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-local-news-lead","tag-newsletter","tag-wildlife"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44010","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":85931,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44010\/revisions\/85931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44010"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=44010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}