On Monday, a trail runner in Colorado was attacked by a mountain lion. While fighting to defend his life, the man managed to kill the lion. This is how he did that.
The reports I read this morning were almost unbelievable. I鈥檇 heard of people fighting off mountain lions and surviving attacks, but the idea of someone managing to kill the apex predator with their bare hands? I was skeptical. But here was 聽from Colorado Parks and Wildlife:
鈥淭he victim of the attack described hearing something behind him on the聽trail聽and was attacked by a mountain lion as he turned around to investigate. The lion lunged at the runner, biting his face and wrist. He was able to fight and break free from the lion, killing the lion in聽self-defense. The runner sustained serious, but non-life threatening injuries as a result of the attack.鈥
鈥淲e鈥檝e had a few false reports here of animal attacks there didn鈥檛 turn out to be factual,鈥 Rebecca Ferrell, a public information officer for CPW, told me. 鈥淚n this case, everything that the runner told us was completely credible. The injuries he sustained, as well as the injuries we found on the body of the mountain lion, corresponded with his story. We have zero reason to believe that anything he told us was false.鈥
Ferrell explained that there were two main factors in the runner鈥檚 ability to survive the attack: The age of the animal聽and the runner’s聽preparedness.
鈥淲e鈥檙e still trying to get an official size and weight through the necropsy process,鈥 she said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a tricky one for us in this particular instance because mountain lions do tend to exhibit cannibalistic behavior, and from the time the gentleman was attacked to when we got there, its body had already been fed on. So several of his organs and entrails were already gone.鈥
They do know that the聽mountain lion was younger than a聽year old. Most mountain lions are born , which would make this one anywhere from three to eight months old, according to the CPW. They haven’t yet determined the lion鈥檚 gender, so that would put this one聽anywhere聽from .
The lion’s youth helps explain both the man’s ability to fight it off, as well as the聽attack聽in the first place. 鈥淭here are a couple of things that we assume when these sort of attacks happen,鈥 said Ferrell. 鈥淚t鈥檚 either a very young mountain lion that鈥檚 still learning its hunting skills or it鈥檚 very old and has lost its abilities.鈥 In this case, the very young mountain lion was still learning to hunt and hadn鈥檛 yet gained the experience necessary to know to avoid humans. Mountain lion attacks on humans are very, very rare; this particular animal didn’t know any better.
CPW isn鈥檛 releasing the identity of the trail runner, as he鈥檚 still recovering from non-life threatening injuries at a hospital and 鈥減rocessing what he went through both physically and mentally,鈥 said Ferrell. She described聽him in his early 30s, 鈥渋n very good shape,鈥 and as someone who鈥檚 done his homework on how to survive an encounter with a mountain lion. 鈥淗e remembered reading about the situation in Washington, where two friends were out mountain biking when they聽.鈥 She says he鈥檇 read 聽鈥渁nd followed every piece of advice exactly.鈥
Ferrell related the man鈥檚 account聽of the attack. He told her he was running聽along a聽trail outside Fort Collins when he heard a noise behind him and turned around. 鈥淲hen he first saw the cat, he turned toward聽it and tried to do a bit of a stare down,鈥 she says. The man started to back away, while trying to make himself look big and shouting. But the cat still pounced.
鈥淗is adrenaline was obviously off the chart, his instincts kicked in, and he used whatever it was that he had at his disposal to survive,” Ferrell said. The man was unarmed, without even a knife. So聽he used rocks to pound at the mountain lion before he was able to get his hands around its throat.聽鈥淗e used his hands and feet to basically choke the animal,鈥 Ferrell said.
Even a very young, very small mountain lion must have made a fierce opponent. 鈥淸The runner’s]聽injuries are serious, but not life threatening,鈥 Ferrell says. 鈥淐onsidering what he went through, he鈥檚 in pretty good condition.鈥
Ferrell also said that the man has received 鈥渁 few marriage proposals online鈥 since the incident. She described聽his actions as nothing short of 鈥渉eroic.鈥