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DENVER (REUTERS) – A 31-year-old man who repelled the choking of a mountain lion after attacking him on a jogging track in Colorado last week described Thursday, Feb. 14, the how he had killed the big cat by walking on the throat a fight to life and death.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the February 4 incident that left him with lacerations still visible in his neck and face, Travis Kauffman described for journalists the awful three-minute encounter .
Kauffman said he was running at the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, about 65 km northwest of Denver, when he heard the rustle of pine needles and turned his head to face a young cougar.
"I was disappointed to see a mountain lion," he said at a press conference in Fort Collins, Colorado, where the environmental consultant was living with his girlfriend.
Kauffman raised his arms and shouted at the cougar, but he jumped up and blocked his jaw on his right wrist and scratched his face. His attempts to end the attack by hitting the predator with sticks and hitting his head with a rock were futile.
In the end, he was able to stall the cougar, put his foot on his neck and choke him until he stopped struggling. During the fight, he feared that another cougar would join the tussle.
"My reaction of fear has turned into a combat response," he said.
Mountain lions, also known as pumas or panthers, are native to the Americas and their range extends from the Canadian Yukon to the tip of South America, according to the National Wildlife Federation.
Cougar attacks on humans are however rare, with fewer than 20 deaths reported in North America over the last 100 years, according to the Colorado Parks and Wildlife website.
There are between 4,500 and 5,500 mountain lions in Colorado, and since 1990, the state has seen 16 people injured and three others killed as a result of mountain lions attacks, said L & R. # 39; agency.
Kauffman, who measures 5 feet 10 inches and weighs about 155 pounds, said he was practicing neither martial arts nor training to wrestle, and that he was acting solely on the subject. adrenaline.
"The decisions were rather instinctive," he added.
Injuries to his face, neck, wrist and legs required more than 20 stitches. Kauffman admitted that he was lucky to survive the attack without any permanent injuries.
"I should go buy a lot of lottery tickets," he said.
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