Mountain lion that was killed by a Colorado runner's bare hands was a three-to-four-month-old 'kitten' according to the necropsy report
- The mountain lion that attacked Travis Kauffman, 31, on a trail in Colorado is estimated to have been a healthy young juvenile with no sign of rabies
- While the term kitten is commonly used to refer to very young, small cats, the immature mountain lion in the attack may have been 35 to 40 pounds while alive
- After Kauffman pinned it, put his right foot on its neck to suffocate it and killed it, it was possibly scavenged by its siblings who were eventually caught nearby
- Wildlife officials commended Kauffman in doing everything right in what was a dangerous situation even if the mountain lion turned out to be very young
The mountain lion killed by a Colorado runner's bare hands was confirmed to be a relatively young cat, according to the findings of a necropsy report.
The Colorado Parks and Wildlife report revealed that the predatory cat that attacked Travis Kauffman, 31, was a three-to-four month old mountain lion 'kitten,' the heavily scavenged carcass weighing 24 pounds.
While the word 'kitten' typically refers to a very young cat, the use of the word in the report may simply mean the lion was immature, according to the Coloradoan , as the living weight of the mountain lion may have been 35 to 40 pounds.
The report described the condition of the dead cat as having been in 'fair condition' with no sign of rabies.
A necropsy report of the mountain lion that attacked runner Travis Kauffman described it as a 'kitten,' about three-to-four months old. File image of a mountain lion juvenile above
Travis Kauffman says the lion locked its jaws on his wrist and was clawing his face and arms during the attack in the mountains west of Fort Collins. He says they fell to the ground, and he tried to hit the cat with a rock and stab it with twigs before getting his foot onto its neck
Kauffman had been running along a Horsetooth Mountain Park trail in Fort Collins, Colorado, on February 4 when he was attacked by the juvenile mountain lion.
He killed it by pinning the cat down and choking it, a claim backed up by the necropsy report indicating injuries to the mountain lion's larynx and trachea.
'I was able to kind of preposition … I was kind of crouched on top of it, so imagine my wrist in its mouth and then I pinned its back legs with my left knee so I wouldn't get scratched on that end, and I was able to kind of swing my right leg around, some twister movement right there,' he said.
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Travis Kauffman responds to questions during a news conference Thursday, Febrary 14 in Fort Collins, Colorado about his encounter with a mountain lion. Kaufman's girlfriend, Annie Bierbower, looks on at left
Finally he stepped on the lion's neck with right foot for a few exhausting minutes, which Kauffman said felt like 10 years.
'There were moments when it would periodically stop moving then start thrashing again. So a couple of those cycles and then finally I felt pretty convinced that it was done and it finally released my hand at that point,' he said.
Though officials were able to begin examining the dead mountain lion only two hours after the attack, the report described the scavenged remains had lost a lot of its internal organs and its sexual organs making it difficult to ascertain its sex.
Bite marks that matched the same sized teeth as the deceased cat appears to show scavenging done on the body was by other mountain lions.
Colorado runner Travis Kauffman, 31, relived the vicious mountain lion attack he survived on February 4 on Tuesday's episode of the Today Show
Injuries: The Colorado Parks and Wildlife shared these pictures of his bloody gashes and lacerations to his face and neck
Kauffman also suffered scratches on his legs in the attack and required 20 stitches to recover
Two other lions that were trapped near to where the attack occurred are believed to be the siblings of the dead lion, and are also thought to have been the ones to feed on the corpse.
Authorities have since relocated the pair of mountain lions to a wildlife rehabilitation facility before they are to be released back to the wild.
With just a scar to his cheek Kauffman said on the Today show on Tuesday: 'I'm feeling great. I'm pretty much 100 percent.
'The only thing I have to recover is numbness in my fingers but other than that – I’m shipshape.'
He said the lion pinned him down at his wrists and started to attack his face and neck
Kauffman explaining the incident and retracing his steps to the attack site. Wildlife officials praised him for defending himself against the dangerous predator despite it being a young juvenile
Just three weeks after the attack Kauffman is looking healthy and confident, a far cry from how he emerged from the wild lion encounter suffering bloody lacerations and scratches to his face, neck, arms, and legs, requiring about 20 stitches to recover.
'I think if I had ear buds in I wouldn't have heard the stick crack, and I wouldn't have turned, and in that case I think the fight would have been very different, just for the fact it could have latched onto the back of my neck, and I don't know how I would have been able to get the cat off in that case,' he said.
Even if the lion was fairly young, Kauffman did everything right in his fight against the attacking mountain lion according to wildlife officials who commended the runner for his actions.
