A pair of young mountain lions were rescued from a Colorado spillway Friday just before rushing water was about to be released into the drainage area.
The two yearling mountain lions, who are siblings, were spotted cuddling together in the concrete spillway by a dam tender who was about to open the flood gates from Vallecito Reservoir into the high-walled overflow channel.
Pine River Irrigation District dam tender Mike Canterbury at first thought the two animals were coyotes but as he got a closer look he saw “a couple of cute cats” trapped by the tall concrete walls of the spillway, he told the Durango Herald.
“I’m just so thankful that I spotted them,” Canterbury said. “That little area would have become a pretty turbulent swimming pool pretty quick.”
Wildlife experts agreed.
“A release of water likely would have drowned the two lions,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife – Southwest Region said.
Instead, Canterbury paused the water release and quickly called Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
Wildlife officer Ty Smith came to save the big cats — but the rescue effort proved more difficult than expected as he had to find a way to get the feisty lions over the towering walls of the spillway.
After creating makeshift ramps for the cats to climb failed, Smith jerry-rigged a PVC pipe and rope and hoisted it down into the concrete valley.
“He was provided a rope and dangled it in front of the kittens to see if by chance they’d grab onto it and he could lift it out,” the wildlife agency said. “One of them did!”
The lion grabbed hold of the rope when it was dangled in front of it and never let go.
Dramatic video shared by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife – Southwest Region shows Smith straddling the edge of the high wall while pulling up one of the lions with the rope.
He pulled the rope with the lion attached up over the wall to the top of the spillway. The feline darted into the woods.
But its litter-mate had less of a grip on the rope concoction and soon ran down the channel to where the Los Pinos River continues below the dam.
The frightened young lion then paced back and forth at the water’s edge and hid in a corner.
Smith decided he would have to catch the mountain lion head-on and climbed down a ladder into the spillway where he cautiously approached the cat.
While districting it with a rope, Smith used a catch pole to grab onto the lion and lifted it over the concrete wall with other officers.
The frightened lion hid under a truck for a few minutes before it ran off in the same direction as its sibling, the wildlife agency said.
