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Colorado jogger who choked mountain lion to death recounts 'fight for survival'

 - AP
- AP

An American man has told for the first time of his fight to the death with a mountain lion, describing in graphic detail how he wrestled with the animal on a remote Colorado mountain before killing it with his foot.

Travis Kauffman, 31, was half way through his 12 mile run along the ice-covered trails west of Fort Collins when he heard the bushes rustling, and the mountain lion jumped out.

"One of my worst fears was confirmed," he said, recalling his response to the Feb 4 attack at a press conference on Thursday.

"I was bummed out to see a mountain lion.”

But then, he said, his "fear response turned into more of a fight response".

Kauffman
Travis Kauffman, recounting the moment the lion attacked him

Mr Kauffman, standing five foot 10, weighing 10 stone, waved his hands above his head to try and scare the lion, and yelled at it.

But the animal kept approaching, and then lunged at him, latching onto his wrist and clawing at his face and legs.

"I was just kind of screaming the whole time, doing my barbarian yell," he said.

He tried to throw the animal off of him, but the adolescent animal was strong and it became a wrestling match, Mr Kauffman said.

He had "zero" martial arts or wrestling training and acted purely on adrenaline.

"The decisions were pretty instinctual," he added.

He explained that, as a new cat owner, he knew a little about animal behaviour and realised he could not let the animal's hind legs get underneath him, because his "guts" and groin would be injured. So he used his knee to pin down the cat's back legs.

Mountain lion
A mountain lion, pictured in Colorado in 2014

He tried to stab it with some nearby sticks, but they were rotten and kept breaking, and so he picked up a rock and was able to hit it in the back a few times. But still the animal fought on.

Soon he was able to move his right leg close to his wrist, which was in the grip of the lion's teeth, and stepped on its neck until he suffocated it.

Covered in blood, he then ran down the trail on a "fear high," suddenly noticing some possible signs of mountain lions and worrying about more in the area.

He ran three miles down the trail and along the way came across another trail runner, Spencer, who was on his way up the trail. They jogged down together and ran into a couple, Rachel and Noah, near a parking lot, and they had a mobile phone.

Kauffman
Travis Kauffman with his girlfriend Annie Bierbouer

He was then driven to hospital, where he needed 25 stitches on his face and three on his wrist, where the lion had latched on.

"My face was kind of a bloody mess when I first got there," he said.

He had several puncture wounds from the animal's teeth and claws, but is expected to make a full recovery.

Originally from Mountain Home, Arkansas, he has lived in Fort Collins for five years with his girlfriend, Annie Bierbouer, and said he is a keen cyclist, runner and skier.

Horsetooth Mountain Open Space reopened to the public Wednesday, after officials found and captured two other juvenile mountain lions that they believe are the siblings of the lion involved in the attack.

"About a week out, and I feel great," said Mr Kauffman.

"It's a modern day man vs. nature scenario."

Mountain lions, also known as pumas or panthers, are native to the Americas and roam from the Canadian Yukon to the tip of South America.

Attacks on humans are rare and there have been fewer than 20 reported fatalities 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 killed from mountain lion attacks.

He joked at his size, saying: “I will never be able to live up to the reputation.The story is bigger than my puny form.”