Fugitive Mountain Lion, Outdoor Summer Camps, New Drivers Licenses

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers searched for a mountain lion that reportedly attacked a man in Montezuma County on February 27th. Enroll your kids in one of the San Juan Mountains Association’s summer camp programs, and get a gander on the new Colorado driver’s license design. You’re watching the Local News Roundup, brought to you by Kroegers Ace Hardware in Durango and Choice Building Supply Ace Hardware in Cortez. I’m Wendy Graham Settle. A young mountain lion has been preying on pet cats and chickens in the Lebanon area in Montezuma County and reportedly clawed a man when he opened a door to go outside. Colorado Parks and Wildlife reported in a news release last week that Montezuma County resident, Michael Warren, sustained several puncture wounds after he apparently was clawed on his lower right leg by a mountain lion. Warren reported to Wildlife officials that he heard a loud noise on his front porch on Sunday evening, February 27th and his dogs inside the house started to bark aggressively. When Warren opened the door to check out the noise, he stuck his right leg out the door while trying to keep the dogs inside. That’s when the mountain lion swiped at him. Wildlife officers searched for the mountain lion Sunday night and again on Monday using hound dogs, specifically trained to track mountain lions, but came up empty. Two of Warren’s domestic cats were missing. And earlier in February, Colorado Parks and Wildlife received reports of a mountain lion in the same vicinity regarding depredation of chickens and another cat. Wildlife officials believe it’s the same lion. The February 27th incident is the first reported attack on a human in Colorado since March 2020 and only the 23rd attack on a human in the last 32 years. Depredation of pets or other animals do not qualify as attacks. To learn more about living with mountain lions, visit cpw.state.co.us/lions. The San Juan Mountains Association will offer several outdoor summer camps for students in first through 12th grades beginning in June. Six week-long camps for Durango area elementary students will be offered June through August and cover topics like wildlife in our neighborhoods, the world of water, predators and prey, biodiversity, the eco village, and nature detectives. Several one-day camps also will be offered in July on topics that include: wildlife, art and nature, and geology. Middle and high school students can enroll in a week-long camp called An Animas River Journey that includes an overnight river trip. Campers will explore the Animas Watershed from its high-alpine origins to its journey through the high deserts, to its confluence with the San Juan River. Afternoons will be spent playing and learning about different water sports, furnished by 4Corners Riversports. Scholarships to attend are available. To learn more, visit sjma.org. Next time you renew your driver’s license, you may receive what the Colorado Division of Motor Vehicles calls, the nation’s most beautiful state credentials. The new design was selected from among 280 front-side entries and 102 seven back-side entries that were narrowed to a list of three finalists. More than 55,000 Colorado residents cast votes for their favorite. The winning front of card entry by photographer Matt Nunez depicts colorful fall foliage at the base of Sneffels Mountain Range on Dallas Divide. The winning back design by photographer Gabriel Dupon shows Sprague Lake in Rocky Mountain National Park. The new license is expected to be released this fall. That’s it for this week’s Roundup on the Local News Network. I’m Wendy Graham Settle.

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