‘Bummed out’ jogger relives mountain lion attack

– A 31-year-old man who fended off and suffocated a mountain lion when it attacked him on a Colorado jogging trail last week described how he killed the big cat by stepping on its throat during a life-and-death struggle.

Speaking for the first time publicly since the February 4 incident that left him with still-vis-

Denver

ible lacerations on his neck and face, Travis Kauffman described for reporters the harrowing three-minute encounter.

Kauffman said he was running at the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, northwest of Denver, when he heard pine needles rustling and came face-to-face with a young cougar.

“I was bummed out to see a mountain lion,” the environmental consultant said.

Kauffman raised his arms and shouted at the cougar, but it pounced and locked its jaw on his right wrist and clawed at his face. His attempts to halt the attack by stabbing the predator with sticks and hitting it on the head with a rock were to no avail.

Ultimately, he was able to pin the cougar down and put his foot on its neck and choke it until it stopped thrashing.

“My fear response turned into more of a fight response,” he said.

Mountain lions, also known as pumas or panthers, are native to the Americas. – Reuters