A mountain lion attacked a Colorado resident and a responding deputy Wednesday afternoon in Larimer County, the sheriff’s office said.
The animal was killed and both the resident and deputy were taken to a hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies from the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office and game wardens from Colorado Parks & Wildlife responded to the reports of the attack near Loveland, north of Denver, around 2 p.m. and tried to keep the animal contained, the sheriff’s office said.
Deputies followed the animal to a trailer park in order to keep people safe, the sheriff’s office said, and that is when the deputy was attacked. A game warden shot and killed the animal.
A man who saw the deputy after the attack told NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver that the deputy was bitten in the shoulder. “Her sleeve was off and wrapped up. I talked to her. She was OK, pretty shaken up,” the man told the station.
The attack happened in a very rural area, the station reported. The sheriff's office said it occurred in an unincorporated part of the county west of Loveland.
Loveland is a city of around 77,000 about 45 miles north of Denver.
Population estimates of mountain lions in Colorado range from 3,000 to 7,000, according to the Colorado Parks & Wildlife website.
Officials have said that in general, mountain lion attacks in the state are rare. In August, an 8-year-old boy was attacked outside his home in another area of the state, Bailey which is southwest of Denver. He survived, officials have said.
Two mountain lions were later found and killed, and officials have said one of those animals was believed to have been involved.