Search under way for mountain lion which clawed man in hot tub in Colorado

Officials in Colorado are hunting a mountain lion which clawed a man’s head while he was in a hot tub with his wife.

The man and his wife were in the tub at a rental property near the town of Nathrop when the attack happened.

They screamed and splashed water at the mountain lion and shined a torch at it, officials with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife said.

The lion then retreated about 20 feet while the couple “continued to scream”, before moving up to the top of a hill “where it crouched down and continued to watch the couple,” officials said.

The couple then ran inside and called for help. The victim only suffered minor scratches.

The lion had disappeared by the time wildlife officials arrived, who set a trap for it after being unable to find it in the dark.

Sean Shepherd, Area Wildlife Manager at the organisation, said it “takes this incident very seriously" despite the fact that no one was badly hurt.

“We have alerted neighbours and posted signs warning of lion activity. And we will continue to track the lion and lion activity,” he said.

CPW said the frozen snow on the ground made it hard to follow any tracks the mountain lion may have left.

There have been 27 known incidents since 1990 in which a mountain lion attacked and injured a human in Colorado, three of which were fatal.