Dog and owner have encounter with mountain lion at Hartman Rocks

Dog expected to recover, cat not being pursued

While the second annual Winter Growler fat bike race was going down at Hartman Rocks on Saturday, January 3, another adventurous incident, albeit a bit more spontaneous and dangerous, occurred on the Tailpipe trail.

J Wenum, area wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) in Gunnison, told the Crested Butte News on Tuesday, January 6 that a man was walking his dog off-leash when the dog was suddenly aroused by something out of sight.
“From about 40 yards away, the man assumed his dog had maybe found a rabbit. He called it and the dog started down toward him,” Wenum said. “As that occurred, the lion showed up and went after the dog. It got the dog. The man ran back up the trail toward the dog and the lion. He had a ski pole and was yelling at the lion. When he got ten or so yards from it, the lion released the animal and at that point the dog was unconscious. [The lion] may have stunned it. At that point, the cat looked at [the man], turned and fled. It was a pretty brief attack.”
Wenum said the dog “came to” within a few seconds and walked out on its own. It was loaded into a vehicle and brought to a vet in town where it was treated, observed for a couple of hours and then released. The dog is said to currently be on medication and have a few sutures, but is otherwise fine.
Since it doesn’t sound like this was a predatory attack where the lion wanted to kill the dog (otherwise it probably would have), Wenum said the CPW would do nothing about the lion. “As soon as the person stepped in and it became aware of him, the lion stopped. It dropped the dog, looked at the man, then turned and fled.” Wenum said that his suspicion, based on the lion’s behavior, is the dog probably either found the lion inadvertently or found a food cache that the lion had been working on, and the lion then viewed the dog as a potential competitor for that food source.
Wenum said the big take-home message here is, “Get your pets under control, especially when you’re out in wildlife habitat.”
This time of year, he said, Hartman Rocks is a well-used deer, and to a lesser degree, elk winter range. Those animals are there because that’s where the food availability is for them. In this case, the attack happened quickly and fortunately had a pretty good outcome.
The CPW recommends folks recreate in groups and be conscious of where they are and what potential risks could be out there—be it wildlife, an avalanche, or other natural hazards like thin ice on a creek.
If you do encounter a lion, let the CPW know. In the unlikely event of a close-up encounter or an attack, the CPW says your best bet is to protect yourself, fight back and dissuade the lion.
Signs have been posted at the various Hartman trailheads to make hikers, bikers and skiers aware of the situation.