A man went on a run by himself at the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space park near Fort Collins, Colorado. As he was running on the park trail, he heard something behind him. When he turned around, a mountain lion, a little less than 100 pounds, attacked him. The movement of the man triggered its hunting instincts. The vicious animal bit his face and wrist. The runner, whose name has not been released, then suffocated the lion to death with his bare hands in an act of self-defense. After the attack, the man was able to return to his car safely and drove himself to a local hospital. He suffered serious injuries including facial cuts, scratches, a wrist injury, and a punctured leg, arm, and back. Luckily, the lion, which was less than a year old, was tested negative for rabies. He has since been released.

“Mountain lion attacks are not common in Colorado and it is unfortunate that the lion’s hunting instincts were triggered by the runner,” said the manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, Ty Petersburg. Since 1990, three people have been killed and 16 injured from mountain lion attacks in Colorado, officials said. The lions tend to avoid humans, parks and wildlife. Fewer than 20 people have been killed by mountain Lion attacks in the past 100 years in North America.

“The trails at Horsetooth Mountain Open Space were closed to the public after their had been sightings of “more mountain lion activity in the area,” the Larimer County Department of Natural Resources stated.

Jared Polis, the Governor of Colorado, commented that although the runner was able to kill the lion with his “bare hands,” others should try to stay away from lions and back away slowly if it is possible.