Remember those videos of a mountain lion meandering through a condo building in Vail? Well the Vail Police Department finally put out more information surrounding the story, and unfortunately, it doesn’t include a happy ending.
As it turns out, the mountain lion had been spotted several times in the Lionshead village area, and Vail Police responded to each report, but were unable to catch the animal on those occasions. It wasn’t until the lion entered the lobby of a condominium that police were able to confine the beast. The mountain lion was visibly ill, which the department states is likely part of the reason it was in close proximity to people.
Due to the mountain lions visible illness, Colorado Parks & Wildlife made to euthanize the animal. Comments on the Vail Police department’s Facebook post detailing the incident clearly show a general distaste for the department’s decision to kill.
I might anger some people, but I don’t think the department made the wrong decision here. The mountain lion was clearly very sick and we can’t expect the police department to nurse every dying animal it finds back to health. Furthermore, the lion was entering fairly well populated areas, and could have attacked someone out of fear. Do you want to be the one who has to explain to a mountain lion attack victim that poor fuzzy needed to be healed?
Photos from Vail Police Department and Air.tv