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DENVER (Reuters) – A 31-year-old man who fended off the choking of a mountain lion after attacking him on a jogging track in Colorado last week described Thursday how he killed the big cat walking down his throat wrestling with life and death.
Travis Kauffman, speaking for the first time in public since the February 4 incident, which left him still visible lacerations on his neck and face, described for journalists this terrible meeting of three minutes.
Kauffman stated that 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 youngster. cougar.
"I was amazed to see a mountain lion," he said at a press conference in Fort Collins, Colorado, where the environmental consultant is 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 called 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 in 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 killed as a result of mountain lion attacks, indicated the agency.
Kauffman, who measures 5 feet 10 inches and weighs about 155 pounds, said he had a "zero" training in martial arts or wrestling and that he had acted solely on adrenaline.
"The decisions were rather instinctive," he added.
The 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.
Report by Dan Whitcomb, edited by G Crosse
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