A Colorado runner who survived a mountain lion attack by suffocating the animal said the encounter that has made him the stuff of legend was "a fight for survival".
"One of the thoughts that I was having was: 'Well this would be a pretty crappy way to die'," Travis Kauffman said in his first public comments about the February 4 attack.
Mr Kauffman had to have more than two dozen stitches to close wounds on his cheeks and nose.
"It very much turned into just a full-on fight for survival," the 31-year-old said on Thursday.
Mr Kauffman said he had gone out for a run when he was ambushed by the 36-kilogramme cat.
"I heard some pine needles rustling behind me and I stopped and turned," he said.
Mr Kauffman said he felt his heart sink as he processed the situation and raised his hands and began screaming to try and scare the animal as it rushed toward him.
"Unfortunately, it kept running and then it eventually just lunged at me and ... its jaws locked into my hand and wrist," he said.
Mr Kauffman said that as he and the mountain lion were locked in battle, they tumbled down a trail and he managed to get the upper hand as the cat ended up on its back.
He said he was able to pin the animal's hind legs with his feet and hit it with a rock over the head before stepping on its neck and suffocating it.
"I stepped on its neck with my right foot and just slowly after a few minutes I thought I would be getting close and then it would start thrashing again," he said.
"And I had a few more scratches that resulted from those thrashes at that point, and I'd say another couple minutes later it finally stopped moving."
Praise for quick thinking
The whole episode lasted about 10 minutes, after which Kauffman said he ran off, terrified that other mountain lions may be lurking.
He said he found another runner and some hikers who gave him water and drove him to a hospital.
Mr Kauffman said while the adrenaline rush and survival instinct helped him overcome the encounter, the fact that he chose not to use his earphones to listen to music that day also played a part.
"For the most part, I don't feel any residual trauma," he told KUNC radio. "I tend to move forward, this is my personality."
Authorities have praised his quick-thinking, saying he handled the situation just right.
"We all feel extremely lucky that this attack was made by a young mountain lion on a knowledgeable runner, otherwise we may have been hosting a very different press conference," said Mark Leslie, a Colorado Parks and Wildlife manager.
"These animals are ambush predators, and are trained to take quick and lethal action whenever possible."
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
Itcan profile
Founders: Mansour Althani and Abdullah Althani
Based: Business Bay, with offices in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and India
Sector: Technology, digital marketing and e-commerce
Size: 70 employees
Revenue: On track to make Dh100 million in revenue this year since its 2015 launch
Funding: Self-funded to date
Company Profile
Name: Thndr
Started: 2019
Co-founders: Ahmad Hammouda and Seif Amr
Sector: FinTech
Headquarters: Egypt
UAE base: Hub71, Abu Dhabi
Current number of staff: More than 150
Funds raised: $22 million
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Scores
Wales 74-24 Tonga
England 35-15 Japan
Italy 7-26 Australia
TOURNAMENT INFO
Women’s World Twenty20 Qualifier
Jul 3- 14, in the Netherlands
The top two teams will qualify to play at the World T20 in the West Indies in November
UAE squad
Humaira Tasneem (captain), Chamani Seneviratne, Subha Srinivasan, Neha Sharma, Kavisha Kumari, Judit Cleetus, Chaya Mughal, Roopa Nagraj, Heena Hotchandani, Namita D’Souza, Ishani Senevirathne, Esha Oza, Nisha Ali, Udeni Kuruppuarachchi
SNAPSHOT
While Huawei did launch the first smartphone with a 50MP image sensor in its P40 series in 2020, Oppo in 2014 introduced the Find 7, which was capable of taking 50MP images: this was done using a combination of a 13MP sensor and software that resulted in shots seemingly taken from a 50MP camera.
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
Red Joan
Director: Trevor Nunn
Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova
Rating: 3/5 stars
