Cougar follows and lunges at Utah hiker in terrifying six-minute video
A hiker survived a terrifying encounter with a mountain lion in Utah after the animal chased and charged at him on Saturday. Kyle Burgess, 26, recorded the six-minute incident in Slate Canyon with the cougar, who was with her cubs.
"You see the two cubs and one kind of runs off, but then I didn't notice mom was right there and that's when I knew it was not a good situation to be in," he told CBS News.
During the expletive-filled clip, Burgess made loud noises, roared and walked away slowly as the big cat followed him, but stayed at a distance.
"Go away!" he said. "Please, go away. I'm big and scary."
At one point, the mountain lion hissed and charged with her claws out at Burgess.
"Dude, I don't feel like dying today," Burgess said. "Go with your babies."
After several tense minutes, Burgess threw a rock and scared the cat away.
"It was just like it's over," he told CBS News. "Those six minutes were so long for me."
Kate Remsen, who works with the Living with Lions, said the mountain lion was not stalking Burgess, but pushing him away from her cubs. She also said encounters like the one Burgess had are rare, and he did many of the recommended things in that situation.
"These mountain lions are not going to actively attack a human being unless they need to defend themselves or they're scared," she said.
