Hiker shares his terrifying encounter with mountain lion that left him lucky to be alive
Anish Vij
Featured Image Credit: YouTube/@cougarkyle
A hiker from Utah was lucky to escape with his life after he was stalked by a mountain lion for six very long minutes.
The terrifying clip sees the cougar edging closer and closer to Kyle Burgess, 26, as he was walking back from a trail run at Slate Canyon.
After encountering some cubs on his way, their protective mother hissed and snarled at the young hiker, while lunging out at him without warning.
Footage of the horrifying hike went viral back in 2020 and Kyle seriously thought it was the end. Take a look below:
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As soon as he spotted the mother mountain lion, the hiker knew he was 'screwed'.
Attempts to 'bargain' with the cat were clearly not working, as Kyle was later heard shouting and swearing at it, trying to scare it off.
At one point he tells her: "Dude, you're scary! You're a f**king scary kitty cat."
After she makes a lunge for him, Kyle says: "OK, this is when I f***ing die. Come on dude, I don't feel like dying today."
"I didn't really know what kind of cubs they were or what animal they were," he told Fox 13 at the time. "Once I did realise what they were, I was like, 'That's mom right there. I'm screwed.'"
He also told Deseret News: "My emotions were a jumbled mess. So it was kind of like, 'OK, well this is going one of two ways. What's the outcome going to be?'"
Thankfully, the 26-year-old was able to make it out alive.
An official told the publication that Kyle did all the right things, including making noise, making himself appear bigger, and not turning his back on the cougar.
Scott Root from Utah's Division of Wildlife Resources said: "In that situation, with that mother mountain lion who's being very protective, as you can tell, I would not take my eyes off of her and I wouldn't bend down.
"You want to remain large and you want to remain making a lot of noise. And that's what he did. The second you drop to be lower, that could trigger a response of attack.
"Even though I don't think she was out to get him, she wanted to make sure he was not in that area."
Kyle was lucky survive according to hikingguy.com, who claims that 'if a mountain lion attacks you, you probably won't see it coming'.
"Even though they're big, they're also very quiet, and will generally stalk and pounce. But sometimes you will see them when they're curious and maybe sizing you up to determine if you're prey," they added.