A man trail runner who was on a nature trail fought a lion that attacked him, he ended up killing the 80-pound lion in the Rocky Mountains. The runner attained wounds in his back, arms, legs, and face.

Rebecca Ferrell a spokeswoman for the Colorado Parks and Wildlife said that the runner was running alone in the Horsetooth Mountain Open Space, this place is near the Fort Collins, the place where he got attacked by the lion from behind.

The man has not been named yet, but he fought the lion and ended up killing it, the runner managed to drive himself to a hospital nearby even after attaining the injuries he got from the attack. On Tuesday, a necropsy showed that he killed the lion by suffocating him.

Mark Leslie the northeast region manager for Colorado Parks and Wildlife said: “The runner did everything he could to save his life, In the event of a lion attack, you need to do anything in your power to fight back just as this gentleman did.”

In a report, the man said that he heard a noise behind him as he was running, and after he turned to check what it was, he saw the lion lunging towards him.

Ty Petersburg the area wildlife manager of Colorado Parks and Wildlife said “the lion’s hunting instincts were triggered by the runner”, he added that it’s still not clear what the runner did to survive the attack.

The wildlife officers searched the trail to find the lions body, they found the dead body near where the runner was attacked. The officers estimated that the lion weighed about 80 pounds

The last attack in Colorado by a lion was reported back in June 2016, the incident happened in the Pitkin County.