A Colorado couple found themselves in hot water over the weekend.
A man and his wife were attacked Saturday by a mountain lion while they were relaxing in a hot tub in Chaffee County, Colorado at approximately 10 p.m. on Saturday night, reports ABC News.
The unnamed couple was sitting in the hot tub outside of their rental home when the man felt something grip the top of his head, police said.
“The victim had four superficial scratches on top of his head and near his right ear,” Colorado Parks and Wildlife said in a statement.
“By the time CPW was alerted and responded, the victim had cleaned the wounds and declined any medical assistance. The officers determined the injuries were consistent with the claw of a mountain lion.”
The woman then attempted to scare away the big cat by splashing water on it before the duo managed to escape to their home and call for help, the statement explained.
“He and his wife began screaming and splashing water at the animal,” CPW said. “The victim’s wife grabbed a flashlight and shined it on the animal, which they then identified as a mountain lion. The light and commotion caused the mountain lion to retreat about 20 feet from the couple in the hot tub.”
“They continued to scream at the mountain lion and after a short time it moved up to the top of a hill near some rocks where it crouched down and continued to watch the couple,” continued the statement.
“We think it’s likely the mountain lion saw the man’s head move in the darkness at ground level but didn’t recognize the people in the hot tub,” said Area Wildlife Manager Sean Shepherd.
“The couple did the right thing by making noise and shining a light on the lion. Although this victim had only minor injuries, we take this incident seriously. We have alerted neighbors and posted signs warning of lion activity. And we will continue to track the lion and lion activity.”
According to officials, this is the first time a mountain lion has attacked a human this year and the overall 24th attack in Colorado.
CPW said that even though the attacks are rare, they encourage people to remain vigilant and report any sightings of the big cat. Wildlife officials attempted to search for the lion but couldn’t find its tracks because of the cold weather and snow on the ground.
“Though mountain lion attacks are relatively rare, it is important to know how to avoid or manage potential encounters,” officials said. “CPW encourages residents to keep reporting mountain lion sightings or activity near their homes; they can do so by calling CPW’s Salida office at 719-530-5520 or calling Colorado State Patrol at 719-544-2424 after business hours.”