4 Mountain Lion Sightings Reported Near Denver In Recent Days

DENVER, CO — Four mountain lion sightings have been reported in and around Denver in recent days, including one in which a big cat was spotted in a tree near Interstate 70.

Scott Harris told KUSA-TV security cameras recorded a mountain lion outside his Lower Highland home Thursday night.

"I've seen a lot of crazy things living in Denver, but I did not expect something like this," he told the TV station in an email.

The video shows the lion walk to and investigate a fenced area of his driveway.

Around 1 a.m. Friday, security cameras recorded a mountain lion in a parking lot near REI's flagship store in Confluence Park, a spokesman for Colorado Parks and Wildlife told The Denver Post.

“It can be surprising to some people in urban areas, but it’s not that uncommon for mountain lions to come in,” Clay told the newspaper. “Where it was by that REI, it likely traveled in following the South Platte River. It probably happens a lot more than we know about. If there wasn’t security camera footage, no one would ever have known about it.”

Then around 9 p.m. Friday, a mountain lion was spotted in a tree near I-70 and Pecos Street. Wildlife officers deemed it unsafe to tranquilize the animal and let it be.

“It was up in a tree, where it could have gone up even higher in the tree,” Clay told the Post. “When you tranquilize an animal, it very possibly could fall out. There were also power lines in the way. Being so late at night, the possibility could exist where if you got a tranquilizer dart in the lion, and it came down before it was sedated, it could run off and you lose it.”

Surveillance footage obtained by KUSA-TV also showed a mountain lion stroll past a Wheat Ridge home early Sunday near Interstate 70 and North Harlan Street.