(broll of warning signs) Warning signs were posted at a mountain trail entrance near Denver after a jogger strangled a mountain lion to death in self-defense on Monday.

The juvenile cougar attacked the man from behind, biting and clawing his body in the foothills of Horsetooth Mountain, 70 miles northwest of Denver.

Authorities say the man strangled the wild animal with his bare hands and was taken to a hospital with injuries that were serious but not life-threatening.

Mountain lion attacks have caused fewer than 20 deaths in the U.S. in the past 100 years.

Officials say 16 known attacks have occurred in Colorado since 1990.