Mountain Lion vs. Man With Chainsaw

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It's like the best scene filmed for the best action movie that never existed: While camping with his wife and two toddlers in Wyoming, a Colorado man fought off an attacking mountain lion with a chainsaw. I'm going to say it again, just because: with a chainsaw.

Dustin Britton, a 32-year-old mechanic and ex-Marine from Windsor, Colo., was cutting firewood near his campsite in the Shoshone National Forest west of Cody when he saw a 100-pound mountain lion staring at him from behind some bushes. It pounced, and Britton immediately defended himself with the chainsaw.

"It batted me three or four times with its front paws and as quick as I hit it with that saw it just turned away," he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "You would think if you hit an animal with a chain saw it would dig right in. I might as well have hit it with a hockey stick."

The chainsaw left a six-inch gash on the cougar, and Britton took a puncture wound to the forearm. The mountain lion retreated, but was later killed after it attacked a dog wildlife officials were using to track the lion down. Upon examination, researchers determined that the cougar was sick and possibly starving, which might explain its uncommon level of aggression.

Not that it mattered. Welcome to the Ultimate Badass Club, Dustin—other members include Chuck Norris, Conan the Barbarian, this guy, this guy, and me (I once drank three cubes of Natty Lite, fashioned a raft from the cans, and sailed to discovered a new Northwest Passage). Membership is good for free beers at any bar in the country—or at least, it should be.

—Ted Alvarez

Man says he used chainsaw to fight starving lion (AP)

Thanks to Fred

Image Credit: B Mully

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READERS COMMENTS

I t'ought I taw a puty-tat!
Posted: Jul 27, 2009 Tweety

Sure beats my story about getting chased by a red-winged black bird a couple weeks ago.
Posted: Jul 27, 2009 Steve

Semper Fi
Posted: Jul 26, 2009 Steve

Rebuttals:
LNT: Welcome to the mountain west. Here, people's ideas of camping are a far cry from hiking the PCT or bagging a 14er.
Poor sad little cat: If anyone would rather let a predator kill them...please, feel free. But the reality of being animals ourselves is that in a crisis moment you will fight or flight. He happened to have a chainsaw in his hands.

Finally...

Establishing balance: How the hell do you heat your house? Gas, coal, wood...all impact the environment. See the previous rebuttal, about us being animals. Don't try to pretend you are not part of the environment, that it's some nebulous "thing" we have to herd to safety. We exist within it...We can work to minimize our impact, sure, but dying of hypothermia in WY or CO isn't really a viable option either ;P
Posted: Jul 24, 2009 Chris

there is no such thing as an ex-marine!!!!!!!!!!!
please get it straigh. once a marine, always a marine.
Posted: Jul 24, 2009 lwoodious

too bad it wasn't a "tree hugging, dirt worshiping
environmentalist"...too each his own and WE all have a right to both the front and back country
Posted: Jul 23, 2009 rik

Lesson Learned: Always carry a chainsaw while backpacking in cougar country... Throw Backpacker Aug 09's "lightest load ever" out the window.
Posted: Jul 23, 2009 K

Listen up you bunch of back to nature namby pambies. You all have to learn that it's nature or you out there in the wild. Man versus beast. Beast versus man. The elements of instinct and survival ripping through your veins... aaaah. I hope you feel as bad for the baby whose toes were chewed off by rats in Ohio this week, as you do for that mountain lion. As for me, I say take 'em out before they get you. That goes for robins, butterflies, toads, caterpillars, you name it.
Posted: Jul 23, 2009 Mr. Sensitive

Camping? cutting wood with a chain saw? What ever happened to LNT?
Posted: Jul 23, 2009 Steve

Come on GM, you have to be kidding me. He probably had 1.5 seconds to react and you want to talk about selecting which weapon you should use to defense yourself, that's absolutly rediculous. Having worked with Dustin for many years now I will assure you that he had plenty of tools/weapons to defend himself and his children....the chainsaw happened to be the one in his hand the 1.5 seconds before he saw the cat. I will also assure you that if the cat didn't run off he would have cut his head off and put him out of his misery. I promise you Diustin is not just walking around the woods with a chainsaw in his hands for protection. Give the guy a little credit.
Posted: Jul 23, 2009 Colohaas

Great reactions & good sense. I sat her shocked when I read the story. Good going, you definitely deserve membership in the Ultimate Bad Ass Club
Posted: Jul 23, 2009 rs

For your next camping trip, I would strongly recommend bringing something other than a chain saw for protection. You are an ex-Marine. It would have been better if you were prepared for the obvious possibility of encountering wildlife with something that would really protect you and not leave an animal gravely wounded. Better dead than that. You're lucky he took off and didn't go after your kids. You're alive, but I wouldn't be so proud of the manner in which you defended yourself! Let's see....chain saw vs. flesh - let me think about this for a millisecond.
Posted: Jul 23, 2009 GM

Another reminder to continue working to preserve our planet and reestablish balance.
Posted: Jul 18, 2009 wlfwmn

Could someone please explain the numbers rating system in the description of trails.
Posted: Jul 18, 2009 Mike