Colorado man kills mountain lion with shovel in Cañon City campground

A man sitting outside his RV at a Colorado campground killed a mountain lion with a shovel last week, sparking an investigation by wildlife officials.

The man told Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers that the mountain lion approached while he was parked Thursday evening at a campground west of Cañon City, according to a news release from CPW published Wednesday.

He told police he was sitting outside the RV with his husky, which attacked the lion as he walked less than 10 feet away. The man then grabbed a shovel and hit the mountain lion in the head, killing it.

The man reported the incident to CPW the next day. The responding officer found the mountain lion carcass on the hood of the man’s Jeep. CPW biologists will perform an autopsy on the animal.

It is illegal in Colorado to kill a mountain lion outside the bounds of regulated hunting or to protect humans or livestock from death or injury.

The officer’s preliminary conclusion “was that the man feared for his life and acted in self-defense when confronted by a lion acting in an unusual and extremely aggressive manner,” according to the press release. But CPW will continue to investigate the incident.