An Army veteran walking with his dog near Cody, Wyoming, ended up in a bare-handed fight with a mountain lion โ and came away with little more than scratches and a healthy respect for the animal’s strength.
Adam Borkhus told Cowboy State Daily that he and his Labrador retriever, Diesel, had driven out along South Fork Road to try to photograph elk in the area. The outlet reported the encounter on September 25. Borkhus had come prepared for wildlife, carrying bear spray and a pistol, but the attack unfolded too fast for either to matter.
A Walk That Turned in Seconds
According to Borkhus, the trouble announced itself when he heard Diesel yelp and turned to find the dog tangled up with a juvenile mountain lion. He kicked at the cat to free his dog, then traded blows with it for roughly 20 seconds โ trying to punch it while the animal kept swiping back at him.
The lion eventually broke off and ran away, leaving Borkhus with minor scratches. In an interview with KTVQ, he described the scramble in blunt terms.
“I was trying to keep his mouth away from my neck and face,” he said. “I think it was just as panicked as I was. It was so fast I didn’t even have time to really realize what happened.”
Notably, Borkhus never reached for his bear spray or his pistol. He told Cowboy State Daily he held back because he didn’t want to risk hitting Diesel in the confusion.
Outweighed by 250 Pounds, Still Knocked Flat
The sheer force of the animal left an impression. Borkhus said the mountain lion โ a juvenile weighing no more than about 70 pounds โ knocked him off balance despite his size.
“I’m 6-foot-3 and 320 pounds, and that cat couldn’t have been more than 70 pounds,” he told the Daily. “He hit me in the chest and put me right down. That thing was strong.”
Diesel, for his part, bolted straight back to the car once he was free. His owner told the outlet the dog was unharmed and behaving exactly as before, adding: “He’s just his own dumb self.”
Rabies Shots Despite Slim Risk
Borkhus has since been undergoing a course of rabies vaccine shots. According to the Daily report, rabies is nearly nonexistent in mountain lions, but the shots are a standard precaution after direct contact with a wild carnivore.
Wyoming Game & Fish Department describes mountain lions as elusive animals that are rarely seen by people. Their stealth, the department says, is a byproduct of how they hunt.
“Their cryptic behavior is a result of the successful stalk and ambush predation strategy they use to survive,” the agency states. “Mountain lions’ primary food source are deer and elk, although based on research conducted in Wyoming they eat a variety of mammals including porcupines, raccoons, beavers and coyotes.”
Mountain lions are also commonly known as cougars, according to the Wyoming Wildlife Advocates website.
An Unlikely Encounter in the Elk Country
The setting made a certain kind of sense: Borkhus had gone out hoping to photograph elk, which are a primary food source for mountain lions in the state. What began as a wildlife-viewing trip turned into a close-quarters reminder that the predator and its prey share the same ground โ and that the cats are usually gone before anyone notices them.
For Borkhus, the outcome was as good as it gets under the circumstances: a few scratches, a dog no worse for wear, and an encounter he likely won’t forget.
Source: www.breitbart.com โ https://www.breitbart.com/health/2026/10/06/video-army-veteran-fights-wyoming-mountain-lion-with-bare-hands-to-rescue-dog-that-thing-was-strong/