A mountain lion picked a bad time to hunker down in a tree in a neighborhood in Cañon City, Colorado, on Wednesday.

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When a call went out to Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers for help removing the lion, officers were in a meeting close by and were able to race over to help, only it didn't go quite as planned for them, either.

They tranquilized the lion in the tree and used a Black Hills Energy bucket truck to lower the animal to the ground, but the cat was not quite under.

"The cat awoke, hissing, fighting & biting 2 officers before being subdued," Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a social media post.

Two Colorado wildlife officers were bitten by an angry mountain lion after they thought they had tranquilized it as they were relocating it from a neighborhood.
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Luckily, the two officers were fine. The cat was loaded into a bear trap trailer, allowing officers to haul it out of town and release it unharmed.

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Carleigh Knight (left) and her sister, Natalie Rogovin, look at Christmas ornaments while shopping at Kudzu Antiques + Modern in Decatur on Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Natrice Miller/AJC)

Credit: Natrice Miller