Mountain lion bites Colo. deputy responding to attack

[HCM]

https://www.policeone.com/officer-sa...gXFPrWs57ZaCS0

Mountain lion bites Colo. deputy responding to attack Witnesses say they saw the animal lunge at the deputy and bite her in the shoulder

LOVELAND, Colo. — A mountain lion attacked a person in northern Colorado on Wednesday and bit a sheriff's deputy who was responding to help, authorities said.

Both victims were taken to a hospital and were expected to recover, Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokesman David Moore said. Officials didn't release details about the victims' injuries but witnesses said the deputy was bitten on the shoulder.

The attack happened at an RV park in Big Thompson Canyon near Loveland, an area north of Denver that features prominent cliff walls and is popular with anglers and kayakers.

Officers shot and killed the mountain lion. Colorado Parks and Wildlife tweeted that samples from the lion will be collected to test for disease and to analyze its DNA.

Two witnesses at the RV park told the Loveland Reporter-Herald that multiple uniformed officers chased the mountain lion.

“To see the mountain lion coming right at us was pretty spooky,” said Tim Satterly, adding that he saw the lion bite the deputy on her shoulder.

That's when officers fired at the animal and eventually killed it, Moore said.

Satterly said a bullet punctured the sewer pipe drain of his trailer, and a bullet ricocheted off the axle.

Another witness, Gregory Scot Paul, said he saw the mountain lion lunge at the deputy.

“If she hadn’t put her arm up, I’m pretty sure it would have gotten her neck,” he said.

[Greg]

This is the time of year when they're aggressive (hungry).

[Redhat]

Curious if she knew it was there as in a face-off or she didn't see it until it "lunged"? If she knew it was there, how close did she get to it?

[Paul D]

I'm certain that a mountain lion can be taken with a .556 rifle, 12GA shotgun slug and probably 00 buck shot. How about a standard service pistol round like 9 mm or 45 ACP? A mountain lion weighs like 125-200 lbs? I saw a lion once while hiking. I wounder if a my Glock 17 was adequate now that I read that article.

[AMC]

I'm certain that a mountain lion can be taken with a .556 rifle, 12GA shotgun slug and probably 00 buck shot. How about a standard service pistol round like 9 mm or 45 ACP? A mountain lion weighs like 125-200 lbs? I saw a lion once while hiking. I wounder if a my Glock 17 was adequate now that I read that article.

Probably. We had an officer kill a female Siberian Tiger with a couple of .40 S&W rounds, at close range (as in climbing in the driver's window of his car). Granted, those were lucky hits, and it's likely the tiger wasn't in a killing drive at that moment. The thing to keep in mind is that the animal doesnt know it's shot...so no psychological stop. But you count on that 9mm Glock against the 225 pound methed up Parolee, right?

[Lester Polfus]

I'm certain that a mountain lion can be taken with a .556 rifle, 12GA shotgun slug and probably 00 buck shot. How about a standard service pistol round like 9 mm or 45 ACP? A mountain lion weighs like 125-200 lbs? I saw a lion once while hiking. I wounder if a my Glock 17 was adequate now that I read that article.

I did quite a bit of backpacking in cougar country when a Glock 19 was the only pistol I owned.

My biggest worries were actually seeing the damn thing in time to get good shots off, not the ballistic efficacy of the round.

[STI]

I don’t have hard data to support but my feeling is that stopping a charging cat is going to be like a 200+ meth guy - lots of 9mm shots fired until there’s either an electrical failure or hydraulic failure (from lack of hydraulic fluid). Especially compounded by the fact that everyone’s moving, trying to eat/shoot/not get ate or shot.

[Trooper224]

I'm certain that a mountain lion can be taken with a .556 rifle, 12GA shotgun slug and probably 00 buck shot. How about a standard service pistol round like 9 mm or 45 ACP? A mountain lion weighs like 125-200 lbs? I saw a lion once while hiking. I wounder if a my Glock 17 was adequate now that I read that article.

The average big cat isn't that hard to kill. Their bone scructure isn't that heavy and their musculature isn't that dense.

[Redhat]

Killing and stopping being two different things.

[Clusterfrack]

A while back, I had an interesting conversation with Tim Sundles, owner of Buffalo Bore. He said that black bears and cougars will almost always run if shot by any bullet and caliber. I found that interesting, given that BB sells a lot of ammo for predator defense.