Mountain lion locked its jaws on runner’s wrist

FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) – A Colorado man who survived a mountain lion attack says he knew he had to do something drastic when the young cat’s jaws stayed clamped on his wrist as he pounded its head with a rock.

Travis Kauffman said Thursday that he got one foot onto the cat’s neck and held it there as the animal thrashed. Eventually the animal stopped moving, and Kauffman pulled out his arm and scrambled away.

Kauffman told reporters that he also tried stabbing the animal with twigs, but nothing worked until he stepped on its neck.

He said the mountain lion “finally stopped moving and then the jaws opened, and I was able to kind of scramble back up the hill and get the heck out of Dodge.”

Wildlife officers said their investigation and a necropsy confirmed Kauffman’s version of the Feb. 4 attack.