Brian Metzler, Special to The Colorado Sun
Remember the Fort Collins trail runner who killed an attacking mountain lion? Here’s what his life has been like since.
Travis Kauffman says he’s glad his 15 seconds of fame has come and gone.
Five and a half months after he killed a mountain lion with his bare hands during a trail run in Fort Collins, Kauffman says he’s back to being an ordinary guy. The injuries the 32-year-old environmental engineer suffered during the Feb. 4 incident have healed without lasting problems, the local and international notoriety has subsided and he’s happily blended into the background of daily life in Fort Collins.
Although he has several physical scars from the incident, including a faint slash across his left cheek where the lion’s claw opened a big cut on his face, he doesn’t carry any lasting anxiety or PTSD. He hasn’t had any bad dreams and has largely forgotten about it despite often running on the same trail.
“It’s one of those things where time has passed and it’s become a distant memory and everything has returned to normal,” Kauffman said recently in Fort Collins. “But looking back, it’s still crazy to think about how the whole thing went viral overnight.”
Read more via The Colorado Sun.