How A Runner Killed Mountain Lion With His Bare Hands After Big Cat Attacked Him And Bit His Face


One second you’re getting fresh air on your invigorating run, the next second a mountain lion is mauling you and trying to rip your face off. That was the terrifying situation that one man found himself this week.

A jogger running in a Colorado park was attacked by a 80-pound mountain lion on Monday. The unidentified trail runner was jogging in Horsetooth Mountain Park near Fort Collins when a big cat attacked him from behind according to a release by the Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The mountain lion bit his face and wrist during the onslaught.

The runner tried to fight off the predator but the animal kept attacking him. The man was forced to fight for his life and eventually he killed the mountain lion with his bare hands in self-defense. The state wildlife officials said that the runner killed the mountain lion by suffocating it. The man sustained serious, but non-life threatening injuries from the attack.

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Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials said the animal was a juvenile mountain lion and they are performing a necropsy at their health lab to determine if the animal was sick or injured, which might have prompted the attack. Park officials say mountain lion attacks are extremely rare and there have only been 20 fatal mountain lion attacks on humans in North America over the past 100 years.

The Colorado Parks and Wildlife recommends that if you find yourself in an encounter with a mountain lion you should stay calm, try to appear larger, and back away slowly. “The runner did everything he could to save his life,” said Mark Leslie, CPW’s Northeast Region manager. “In the event of a lion attack, you need to do anything in your power to fight back just as this gentleman did.”

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[MensHealth]