A man out for a hike in Utah filmed the terrifying moment he was stalked and lunged at by a cougar.
Kyle Burgess, 26, was walking back from a trail run at Slate Canyon when he saw some cubs in front of him, closely followed by their protective mother, who was not happy to see him.
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The cougar hissed and snarled at Burgess for around six minutes as he walked along the path, occasionally lunging at him.
Speaking to Fox 13, Burgess said: "I didn't really know what kind of cubs they were or what animal they were.
"Once I did realise what they were, I was like, 'That's mom right there. I'm screwed.'"
In the clip, Burgess can be heard shouting and swearing at the cougar in an attempt to scare it off, as well as talking to the cat.
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At one point he tells her: "Dude, you're scary!"
He then adds: "You're a f***ing scary kitty cat."
After she makes a lunge for him, Burgess appears to try bargaining with the cougar, telling her: "OK, this is when I f***ing die.
"Come on dude, I don't feel like dying today."
Burgess told Deseret News: "My emotions were a jumbled mess.
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"So it was kind of like, 'OK, well this is going one of two ways. What's the outcome going to be?'"
Despite the angry cat lunging several times, Burgess managed to escape unharmed, with an official telling Deseret News he 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 told the news outlet: "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.
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"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."
Featured Image Credit: TMX News