Mountain lion attacks man from behind while he and his wife relaxed in hot tub

Mountain lion attacks man from behind while he and his wife relaxed in hot tub

“He and his wife began screaming and splashing water at the animal.”

A man used to be attacked from behind by means of a mountain lion and suffered wounds to his head while he and his wife have been stress-free in an in-ground hot tub.

The incident befell at roughly 10 p.m. on Saturday evening when the couple alerted Colorado Parks and Wildlife that the man had simply been attacked by means of a mountain lion while the pair have been soaking in a hot tub at a apartment house in a closely wooded house about 5 miles west of Nathrop, Colorado, alongside Chalk Creek in Chaffee County.

“The victim had four superficial scratches on top of his head and near his right ear,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife mentioned in a commentary following the incident. “By the time CPW was alerted and responded, the victim had cleaned the wounds and declined any medical assistance. The officers determined the injuries were consistent with the claw of a mountain lion.”

The sufferer instructed the officials that he and his wife have been sitting in the hot tub a brief distance from the house they have been renting when, at about 8 p.m., he felt one thing clutch his head.

“He and his wife began screaming and splashing water at the animal,” CPW mentioned. The sufferer’s wife grabbed a flashlight and shined it at the animal, which they then recognized as a mountain lion. The mild and commotion led to the mountain lion to retreat about 20 ft from the couple in the hot tub. They persevered to scream on the mountain lion and after a short while it moved as much as the highest of a hill close to some rocks the place it crouched down and persevered to observe the couple.”

The couple have been sooner or later in a position to make it safely into the house the place they wiped clean the man’s wounds and reported the incident.

CPW officers therefore arrived on scene and tried to seek for the mountain lion however may just now not in finding any mountain lion tracks because of the freezing temperatures and frozen snow at the floor.

“We think it’s likely the mountain lion saw the man’s head move in the darkness at ground-level but didn’t recognize the people in the hot tub,” mentioned Sean Shepherd, Area Wildlife Manager primarily based in Salida. “The couple did the right thing by making noise and shining a light on the lion. Although this victim had only minor injuries, we take this incident seriously. We have alerted neighbors and posted signs warning of lion activity. And we will continue to track the lion and lion activity.”

This is the primary reported mountain lion assault of a human in Colorado in greater than a 12 months and the twenty fourth recognized assault of a mountain lion inflicting damage to an individual in Colorado since 1990. Three different attacks in Colorado since 1990 have resulted in human deaths, CPW mentioned.

“Though mountain lion attacks are relatively rare, it is important to know how to avoid or manage potential encounters,” officers mentioned. “CPW encourages residents to keep reporting mountain lion sightings or activity near their homes; they can do so by calling CPW’s Salida office at 719-530-5520 or calling Colorado State Patrol at 719-544-2424 after business hours.”

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