Runner Kills Mountain Lion With Bare Hands

Are you tough? If you said, "yes," then answer me this, are you kill-a-mountain-lion-with-your-bare-hands tough? It's hard to answer that question if you've never had to do it, but one Colorado man knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that his answer is "yes." That man is now recovering after he fought off and killed a mountain lion that attacked him during a trail run in northern Colorado.

According to the Coloradoan, the trail runner was attacked by a mountain lion Monday while running in Horsetooth Mountain Park. He killed the predator by suffocating it with his bare hands.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials confirmed the man's account of the attack through investigation and examining the juvenile mountain lion.

The man told officials he heard something behind him on the trail and when he turned, the lion attacked. It bit him on his face and wrist but he was able to suffocate it.

Wildlife officers found the mountain lion dead near where the incident took place while looking for items the runner asked them to look for along on the trail.

The man sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries. He hiked down the trail, at least 3 miles, and drove himself to a local hospital.

"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.''

The mountain lion, which was less than a year old and weighed less than 100 pounds, has tested negative for rabies.

Do you think you could have killed the mountain lion with your bare hands?

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