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Mountain Lion Attacks Lone Jogger, Gets Suffocated By Man’s Bare Hands

(SHUTTERSTOCK: By Warren Metcalf)

Jena Greene Reporter
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A mountain lion met a very unlikely fate when it attacked a jogger in Colorado on Monday afternoon.

The “juvenile mountain lion,” as a Colorado Parks and Wildlife statement describes it, approached and attacked a jogger about an hour north of Denver at the West Ridge Trail at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space.

But the jogger reacted quickly, manhandled the beast, and strangled it to death. He then took himself to the hospital. (RELATED: A Cyclist Got Eaten By A Cougar This Weekend. Here Are The Harrowing Details)

The CPW statement explains, in part:

The victim of the attack described hearing something behind him on the trail 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 self-defense. The runner sustained serious, but non-life threatening injuries as a result of the attack.

“Mountain lion attacks are not common in Colorado, and it is unfortunate that the lion’s hunting instincts were triggered by the runner,” Ty Petersburg, a wildlife manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, said in the statement. “This could have had a very different outcome.”

A necropsy will be performed on the mountain lion to confirm its cause of death.

The CPW says that the jogger reacted correctly in this incident.

“The runner did everything he could to save his life,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife Northeast Region manager, Mark Leslie,  said. “In the event of a lion attack, you need to do anything in your power to fight back just as this gentleman did.”

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