What You Should Do If You Encounter a Mountain Lion While Running
If you haven’t seen the most recent viral video (linked at the end) about a runner encountering a mountain lion (also known as a cougar or puma), it’s a terrifying 6 minutes that is a must-watch. There have also been several other stories in the news recently that involved mountain lion attacks.
In one incident in 2019, Travis Kaufmann strangled to death a juvenile mountain lion who attacked him while he was running near his home in Colorado. According to Kaufmann, he heard some pine needles rustling behind him and turned around to see the lion about 10 feet away. He threw his hands up and started yelling at the cat, however, the lion lunged at him, latched on to his wrist, and began clawing at his face. From there, he tried to pin the animal’s legs down and hit it with a rock, but was unsuccessful. Eventually, after wrestling with the animal for a while, Kaufmann was able to get his leg onto the cat’s neck and suffocate it.
Kaufmann ended up with 28 stitches and some puncture wounds, as well as an incredible story of survival. The encounter lasted approximately 10 minutes. Officials believe the juvenile lion, who they estimated weighed between 35 and 40 pounds, was hungry as it had only plant matter in its stomach and saw Kaufmann as a meal.
