Mountain lions killed several sheep last week on two farms north of Cortez. Floyd Johnson, a retired farmer who leases 130 head of Columbia sheep, said that he found five lambs dead in the sheep pen behind his house on County Road P on the morning of June 19.

"Every one of them were killed the same way," said Johnson. "They bite them through the skull through the top of the head." Johnson said only one of the lambs was actually eaten.

Johnson called the Colorado Division of Wildlife, which sent a representative to confirm that the sheep were killed by a mountain lion. A government trapper then set up traps and snares to catch the lion if it tried to return. Johnson said that they have not caught the mountain lion yet, but he had to chase it off the next night when he heard it in the pen.

Todd Malmsbury, spokesman for the division, said that there have been reports of mountain lions in the area over the past several months, but not an unusually high number.

Rich Lopez, the Division of Wildlife representive handling the case, said that four sheep south of Johnson’s farm were killed by mountain lions that week as well. Lopez said that the division will pay these sheep farmers last fall’s market value for their lost livestock.

The division provides some tips on its web site for anyone who may encounter a mountain lion: