Key Highlights
- Gary Messina said he was rushed by a mountain lion while running along the same northern Colorado trail on a dark morning in November. Messina said he threw his phone at the animal while it kept circling behind him, and was able to get away after a couple of minutes when he broke a stick off of a log and hit the mountain lion over the head with it.
- "I had to fight it off because it was basically trying to maul me," Messina told The Associated Press.
- "I was scared for my life and I wasn’t able to escape.
- I tried backing up and it would try to lunge at me." OREGON CHILD ATTACKED BY COYOTE DURING GAME OF HIDE-AND-SEEK IN BACKYARD, STATE OFFICIALS SOUND ALARM A mountain lion is pictured at the Wildlife Rescue Center in Alajuela, Costa Rica, on September 16, 2024.
- (Ezequiel Becerra/) A woman who was found dead on the same trail on New Year’s Day had "wounds consistent with a mountain lion attack," a Colorado Parks and Wildlife spokeswoman said."Around 12:15 this afternoon, hikers on the Crosier Mountain trail in Larimer County observed a mountain lion near a person lying on the ground from about 100 yards away," Kara Van Hoose said in a Thursday news conference.
