Americans. Have you ever been confronted by a (wild) animal that could have KILLED you?

Karens are a nasty, nasty vicious animal.

Yep, buffalo and angry mama moose both got mighty close to me when I was a kid in Yellowstone - scared the shit out of my dad. Here in TX, got chased (yes, they actually do that) by a really pissed off water moccasin and have nearly stepped on more copperheads than I can remember. Baby sister bitten by Brown Recluse as a kiddo and went to the ER with fast-developing necrosis on her shin. When we lived in Taos, NM - coyotes literally lured our playful, curious dog away one night...to eat her (we assumed.) The animals in the Southern/Western parts of the US are as dangerous as Australia. Wherever you are, OP, stay put!

Yes. Prairie rattlesnake at my back door 2 weeks ago.

I got chased, cornered and pecked against barbed wire fence by a fucking Rooster when I was about 5 years old collecting eggs from my grandparents hen house. Those fuckers are mean.

And they wonder why I turned out to be more of a city boy.

R4 post just oozes bottom energy

Rattler encounters were a part of (almost) daily life growing up in the desert part of Southern California. As were black widows (and still are, up here in NorCal).

Besides that, a wolf ran through our campsite in Canada once, not more than 6 feet away from us. It was very matter-of-fact and seemed pretty uninterested in us.

Same trip, moose were drinking about 50 yards away when we were kayaking. They can be VERY mean.

And when I was about 10 years old, I was walking a trail (also in Southern California) and came upon a mountain lion sitting very nonchalantly on a transformer. I backed away slowly and returned home via the same trail. Luckily, I wasn't that far from the house.

Plenty of coyote encounters, but they really don't hurt people and more shy than anything. They just run away.

We used to go to the beach every weekend when I was growing up in SoCal and would swim in the Pacific. I shudder to think how many sharks could have possibly been lurking around, and now I'm very hesitant to ever go in the ocean again (unless it's in a decidedly shark-free ocean).

That's all I can think of offhand.

Yes, but more feral than wild

My parents used to take us camping. Once a bear ambled into our camp and tore apart the dinner that was grilling.

We have pictures of the wreckage taking place taken from inside the car.

The story linked by the OP - people in that camp site apparently were keeping food in the tents when the grizzly came into camp the first time.

In MONTANA?? Keeping food in your tent? STUPID, STUPID, STUPID.

And the bear came to the camp a first time before coming back and killing the woman? Why were the campers not more concerned and vigilant after the first visit?

Sad story, but some reckless behavior.

Watch this PBS documentary on a grizzly attack in the past at Glacier National Park.

Yikes.

Varmints!! But my AK-15 took care of them!

Wild turkeys. They're not the fat happy waddling gobble gobble ones that get killed for Thanksgiving, these mother fuckers are mean.

[quote]R6 Rattler encounters were a part of (almost) daily life growing up in the desert part of Southern California. As were black widows (and still are, up here in NorCal).

I grew up around those, too. Luckily, both are quite shy.

Hiking on a trail in S. California I encountered a tarantula. I gave it a wide berth and kept on moving!

Snorkeling in Key West, minding my own business. All of a sudden I saw a bunch of jellyfish ahead! Luckily I was looking down and also in front of me while snorkeling and noticed them before I got too close. Other people in the group were not so lucky!

I love you, R10

I'm Australian and I always find it funny when we have an Australian thread how Americans will always say it's dangerous here because of all the native animals that will kill you. I've never seen a snake, crocodile, shark or dangerous spider in the wild in Australia, ever. Sure, goannas, spiders, pythons, tree snakes, toads, koalas, kangaroos (i guess they can box you though) but none of the highly dangerous ones of which you speak. Foreigners make out there are brown snakes and crocodiles and deadly snakes who traipse the streets at night looking to kill people. You really have to go out into the country and the wilds to encounter anything dangerous.

Probably the most dangerous was a black widow or brown recluse, both of which I've gotten too close for comfort to. A pack of coyotes was in the back yard but about 60 feet away, so I was easily able to calmly back into the house and close the door. When I was camping as a kid, apparently a bear got into the encampment, but I was sleeping and missed it. Everyone slowly went into the vans and quietly closed the doors, and were too scared to come to our tent and wake us up, so 2 of us slept through the whole thing. This was near a campground I swear was called "Jellystone."

r12 - the rattlers were CERTAINLY not shy with us! We'd wake up and some days they'd be hanging in our shorter fruit trees.

r13 - if the tarantula is black, it is not venomous. However, those suckers do jump and it can be unnerving. Now the brown speckled tarantulas are another matter.

He did.

But she made me pineapple in milk.

Three times. A raccoon chased me for about 200 feet after it launched itself from hiding under a car. A bear chased me for the same distance when I surprised it in the woods. Walking through a corn field an Opossum reared up at me and scampered after me hissing like a snake. These all occurred in southern Somerset County, New Jersey. The Opossum encounter was the most terrifying.

Not as dramatic/terrifying and not America, but...

I was once charged by a herd of cows in Cornwall, Eng. as a child. It was my Westie they were after. No one had ever told me not to take a dog into a field full of cows. I remember my dog growling at them as we both ran for shelter and thinking "Yeah, right...they're really frightened by your growl".

Luckily we escaped.

R21 my mum, who grew up in rural Somerset, is afraid of cows. Like she will not even walk into a field if there are cows in it and won't get too close to the fence. Says she doesn't like the way they eyeball you. Ever since she told me I've been kind of afraid of them too but luckily not too many in urban Canada.

Let's see, I'm an American and kind of a fat slob, but even I have nearly stepped on a rattlesnake, SCUBA dived with sharks, been within a few feet of a mother moose and her gawky baby, had a black widow spider named "Charlotte" in my garage, and shared hiking trails with coyotes, bobcats, and feral pigs. All of them glared at me and went back to their own business.

So I think I'm ready for Australia!

I got stalked by a cougar (the big cat kind not the human kind) when I was 15. We lived in the middle of nowhere in British Columbia and I was riding my bike home on a deserted (and unlit) country road when I heard something in the bushes keeping pace with me. When I realized what it was I forced myself to get off the bike and walk the rest of the way home with the bike between me and the cougar. It followed me, about 7 feet away in the bushes, the whole way.

Also ran into 4 wolves once while hiking on Vancouver Island. One popped out of the woods onto the trail and then 3 others behind it. They all looked at me and I looked at them. Neither me nor them made any noise and they went on their way after a brief pause, slipping back into the woods so quietly I wondered if I hallucinated it.

I was not afraid of the wolves at any point. The sole feeling of that encounter was of me being slightly surprised and thinking "oh, wolves" and them being slightly surprised and thinking "oh, a human." Obviously I can't read wolf minds but I remember that weird feeling of mutuality with another species. The wolf in the front almost seemed to be acknowledging me, very briefly, like a polite older person will nod at you on the street. Very cool encounter, one of the coolest of my life.

I was very, very afraid of the cougar because it was definitely stalking me and it definitely wanted to kill and eat me. When I got home I lay down in the foyer of our family house for half an hour, sweating.

The interesting thing to me is how naturally and immediately I knew the intention of the animals in each encounter. We're animals too, and even though we don't use those instincts much anymore, I guess we still have them.

Man, the amount of times I've almost stepped on a rattlesnake...I can't even count.

However, one of the orneriest animals are fucking common Canadian geese. They may not kill you, but they can definitely fuck you up. They are nasty!

Raccoons and possums are plentiful, but have never been mean to me. Also, possums eat tons of fleas and ticks. Raccoons are so cute but I definitely keep my distance.

What was a 65 year old woman doing bicycling across America and sleeping in a tent in the wilderness.

Seriously, darling, you should have been sipping a daiquiri by the pool in your condo community. Not getting eaten by a damn bear. What a waste.

"The interesting thing to me is how naturally and immediately I knew the intention of the animals in each encounter."

For all the time I've spent bothering the wildlife, including having a bear steal sandwiches from a campsite, the only time I've felt ill intent from an animal is when I had to deal with a domestic dog that was guarding its territory.

But then, I live in California, where almost all of the wildlife has mellow temperaments. The only animal around here that will be deliberately aggressive against humans are the mountain lions, and well. There's no real defense against mountain lions. Even if you have a gun, they can attack from behind, or move so fast that you can't get off a shot in time.

Florida is filled with critters that bite or worse. (Alligators, bears, poisonous snakes of all varieties, poisonous insects (fire ants, spiders, etc). Scary looking possums and raccoons everywhere. Even the plants would reach out and scratch you. I lived there for 12 years and wouldn't really want to live there again. Where I'm living now, in a city, but a city surrounded by forests and mountains in the Northwest, I've had moose in my backyard and also walking nonchalantly down my street. I've seen a black bear from inside my car crossing a road in front of me. Porcupines and skunks are relatively abundant. Lots of deer (although they don't scare me). A girl at a campground about 40 miles north of the city was attacked recently by a mountain lion. However, compared to Florida, still not scary.

[quote] I got stalked by a cougar

Oh my gawd. Did you see that Youtube video of that guy who experienced something similar? I think it was a cougar. Maybe California. He records some of it. I'll try to find it.

That was easy - I found it in 5 seconds. Isn't the interwebby thing amazing? Utah and yes it was a cougar.

And, damn what's with all these snakes. Shit. I love city life. Darling, I love you but give me Park Avenue.

[quote]The wolf in the front almost seemed to be acknowledging me, very briefly, like a polite older person will nod at you on the street. Very cool encounter, one of the coolest of my life.

You FUNNY!

Do wild tops that murder your hole count?

this is pretty funny about "white people and "wild animals"

When my late partner George was growing in Galveston and later Port Arthur, Texas one of his regular chores was to take the broom and go sweep the rattlesnakes off the front porch and back stoop after hurricanes. Ugh.

r24 - the wolf that ran through our camp didn't seem to really care about us one way or another. We kind of froze for a few seconds, then I started yelling at my fellow camper to get his camera to try to take a shot of it, but it was really too quick and gone before we got our wits about us.

The moose were pretty peaceful, but there were no babbies with the two, so they were just drinking and eating the grass (?) growing out of the lake.

We were just happy that we didn't encounter any bears, as there is a long history in that park of fatal bear attacks on campers.

This is why you stay in the Lodge.

r33 here. Hurricanes and tropical storms, which coastal Texas has a lot off. George said it wasn't quite as bad as it sounds because the snakes were usually pretty lethargic and sluggish at that point, but still -- YUCK!

And I lived to tell the tale!

I love, adore, respect animals, talk to them, feed them. I passed by a bear on a road walking, it looked at me and that was it. Gotten close to wild turkeys, fed them, shy creatures who didn't harm me at all. I've had baby deer come up to me. I've seen coyote, had fox look at me and pass by my window. Always have felt animals are my friends and apologize to them often for humans and their destruction of their habitats.

Yeah, one of those drunk woooo bitches who like to crash gay bars. Thank god for bouncers.

Wild turkeys are not "shy creatures." The are aggressive and vicious and in groups have been known torment rural communities. I'm glad you personally have had such good luck with wild animals but your experiences are exceptions -- if they are true.

The turkey flocks around our Northern California towns where I live remind me of gang of yodeling fat, bald men. They make a lot of noise and cause a ruckus while holding up traffic as they strut slowly across the street, while really being more of nuisance and a novelty.

They also occasionally chase mail trucks or impede the path of trash trucks.

[quote]I do a really good imitation of a turkey gobble

Isn't there a site where you can record your voice or a message and link it on here?

So you can't eat these wild turkeys?

R43 You can and there is a hunting season for them.

My ex and I used to frequently hike in the Santa Monica Mountains in Malibu. We saw rattlesnakes fairly frequently, especially in the late Spring and Summer. We kept our distance and didn’t feel particularly threatened. Once, however, we were startled by a mountain lion. It was, and still is, one of the biggest frights I’ve ever had in my life. The big cat froze and stared at us and then ran off. I’ve read that they’re much more likely to attack a lone person, so the two of us together may have scared the lion as much as it scared us.

I knew someone who was eaten alive by a bear. She was an artist painting plein air, and from evidence at the scene it was determined she had broken her leg, crawled back to her car about a quarter-mile from where she was painting, discovered she left her keys with her paint gear and was crawling back to get them when the bear got her.

A tarantula mentioned as a wild, deadly animal encounter? Really? They rarely bite, and if they do, it’s no worse than a bee sting.

I had a lot of encounters with copperheads while living in the Houston area. A friend of a friend was bitten several times when she suddenly opened her grill on her deck. After that, I opened my grill very, very carefully.

Black widows and brown recluses are a big problem where I currently live. I was moving my sprinkler once, and one crawled out from underneath. They are fairly big. They nest in my fence posts sometimes. I always check my gate latches before I open them, they nest there, too.

My partner encountered a bull moose in the Rocky Mountains once while hiking. We see them often in low lying areas, but not that high up. He said they stared at each other for a minute, but then it bolted past him, and he could hear dogs barking and baying and apparently they were chasing the moose. On a mountain. He says he came back down and had to change his underwear, lol.

we have so many deer in the north east and they are moving into our cities, smaller cities, like Ithaca and Princeton. they will blandly simply stand on the sidewalk and you realize that they don't really understand right-of-way if you're walking toward them. an adult deer might not kill me but they could do serious harm if spooked.

mountain lions (or panthers or painters) i have encountered. you can tell they REALLY don't want to be near you, but if they wanted to they could kill

Nancy gets pretty vicious when I sleep past her breakfast time.

I had a tarantula crawl up on my patio at a rental house a few years back.

I never went into the backyard again.

I saw Dorinda Medley once on the street in New York.

No. I camp a lot and have seen plenty of bears and snakes including baby bears which are irresistibly cute but you definitely need to stay away from because mom isn’t far behind. Once, five minutes after I left the campsite, a friend texted me a pic of a huge rattlesnake right where I had been sitting five minutes before. It was funny because you could tell my friend took the pic while standing on top of a picnic table!

My dad lives in a booming suburb that was carved out of the wild and near a creek animals use for drinking and traveling along. A mountain lion was spotted at the main intersection in town. I know we need places to build neighborhoods, but we have to do so with wildlife in mind. They were there first and my dad’s neighborhood is a perfect example. He gets snakes, deer, and now mountain lions.

The only imminent threat I’ve ever faced was a big, aggressive, unleashed dog on someone’s porch. It ran across the street and snarled and snapped at me and I didn’t know what to do (look away, look him in the eye). They say with bears, leave if you can, make yourself look as big as you can if you can’t leave and shout and make noise, and then curl in a ball if all else fails and you get attacked.

I have no idea what to do about an aggressive dog. We had a couple minutes standoff and I sloooowly backed away and it eventually left. I called animal control and think those people are assholes for leaving s big dog untethered and unmonitored on a porch.

I used to only have a motorcycle and on a couple of occasions dogs off leashes chased me and it’s really scary. You’re supposed to slow down (which is counterintuitive) and then speed up to throw the dog’s timing off.

Dogs off leashes scare me more than mountain lions.

I love sidewalks and an occasional park. We have a different type of wild animal. They shoot guns.

Turned a corner walking my dog and found myself 15 feet away from a big black bear. He was raiding the house's bird feeders. We walks slowly across the street and got behind a big fence. Angry at the stupid people with bird feeders up in summer in bear country. The bears will be eventually killed.

Don't keep bird feeders up in summer if you live near bears.

Amateurs!

[quote]As were black widows (and still are, up here in NorCal).

We have black widows in Southern California, too, along with brown recluse spiders, black bears, and rattlesnakes.

My friend had to get skin grafts as a result of a recluse spider bite that didn't respond to antibiotics. Her treatment was delayed because the first doctor insisted that we don't have those spiders here, but bugs hang out in shipping boxes (and sometimes suitcases) and get transported cross country, which is why we now have flying roaches and brown spiders.

I visited a friend in Las Cruces, New Mexico and was startled to see baby scorpions crawling around in the shower with me. I was warned to check before sitting to do my business, because they like to climb up and down the sides of toilets.

R6's post and it reminded me that I forgot to mention the mountain lion attacks a few miles up the street, and the coyote that dragged off a toddler in Encino. I live in a highly populated urban area, btw, not by Malibu or the other mountains.

We used to visit my grandparents on Sarasota, Florida every year, and go to the beach. During the last beach trip, we noticed my toddler brother swinging what appeared to be a piece of cardboard, which he then tossed into the water. It flapped away, and my grandmother freaked out, because it was actually a baby stingray.

During the same visit, alligators that were swimming in the sewage treatment plant behind my grandparents' lot went for a stroll through the yard.

Some sort of snake jumped out of the bushes at my cousin, who was an asshole and deserved it.

When working in Bolivia for USAID I was surrounded by a pack of wild dogs and was bitten by one. I was lucky they didn't all attack me.

I was monitored at an inpatient unit by the embassy doctor.

r61, that's scary...glad that the rest of the pack didn't join in!

And another time while working in Africa, we went on a "safari trip". The drunk tour guide brought us too close to an elephant family. The baby was so cute but I noticed the dad start raising his ears and he looked very angry. I ordered an immediate retreat.

Finally in Nigeria, we were carrying food and were surrounded by a group of baboons, I will never forget the noises they were making and how longs their arms were. Terrifying. We dropped our food and were able to run away.

I've heard baboons are incredibly aggressive. Glad you got away uninjured, r63.

[quote]one of the orneriest animals are fucking common Canadian geese. They may not kill you, but they can definitely fuck you up. They are nasty!

Even domestic geese are motherfuckers. My dad's friend had a gaggle of them on his farm (Ohio) and they not only attacked humans, but would also chase the german shepherd from the next farm over. Geese sometimes work collectively to push people underwater in ponds and keep them from surfacing- I remember reading about a small child who drowned this way.

Nope, not even close. If you're a fat whore who lives in a major city, you're completely safe.

Why are geese such assholes?

Agreed, r64. We lived on a rental property once in SoCal that had an extensive orchard, avo trees and a pond. It came with a "gaggle of geese" and these monsters would often monopolize the orchard and make it practically impossible to pick any fruit from the trees.

Yes but it wasn't in the USA. It was Spanish rough trade on the beach at Cabeza de Lobo.

I'm a fat whore in Los Angeles, r65. I'm also the poster who talked about coyotes dragging a kid down her driveway in Encino, mountain lions attacking people near Walmart, and my friend getting a brown recluse bite in Northridge. We have millions of people here- living in a city doesn't automatically exclude anyone from encountering wildlife.

R8 they can get in your car too.

When I was a child I stood in front of a fat woman once after they gave me my ice cream cone.

It was VERY scary until the brought her down.

Coyotes, geese and snakes. Once while vacationing in New Mexico up near Reynosa, a mama bear and two cubs ambled up to the porch and proceeded to peer at us through the windows and glass door. More curious than anything. We felt like zoo animals.

I know geese can't kill but they are ill- tempered little beasts. Oh, forgot gators. Lots of those here in Texas.

As a fat whore in a major northern city, I have confronted racoons, possums and coyotes. I grabbed my little doggie and ram like hell. For rats in the yard, I call the exterminator.

On two separate occasions I was nearly hit by running deer that came out of nowhere on a suburban street. One was so close that the wind its wake shook me. If they're going fast enough, the impact can land you in the hospital.

RE: bears. Just got back from a cruise in Alaska, and a tour guide told us that bears up there have figured out how to open bear canisters to get to food...they just plop their big, fat ass down on the canister when it is laying sideways and it pops right open!

Also, a favorite feast item of the bears from trash is actually...wait for it...dirty diapers!! So gross.

I had a strange encounter in the Denver Tech Center. My office park was just to the north of an office building with a large pond that was home to geese and ducks. Across the street from that office building is Fiddler's Green Amphitheater. Once day I was walking to Sunflower Market, and while in the cross-walk just north of Fiddler's, I passed a coyote that was walking in the cross-walk in the opposite direction. We looked each other in the eye as we passed each other, but just kept going. I didn't feel any fear, and the coyote didn't seem to either. It was strange to see a coyote using a cross-walk.

That was a much less anxiety filled encounter than the time I got hit by a car while walking on the sidewalk a few blocks from there.

I saw video footage taken at Yellowstone of a bear peeling a car apart to get to the food the dumb Dutch tourists had left in a cooler in the car. It was incredible. Peeled it open like a can.

While sleeping out near Yosemite Valley with no tent I awoke to a bear sniffing my head. I jumped up from a dead sleep and the bear backed off a little bit.. I had a stout flashlight i picked it up and shined my light towards the animal thinking it would be intimidated. Thats when i noticed there were three bears. when you shine a light in an animals eyes they shine the light back at you. One bear had eyes that didn't do this. The other two bears started making low grunt noises as if to communicate with the other bear. I think the non shiny eyed bear was perhaps blind. The other bears where hurrying it away from me . The three of them ambled off. I wasn't scared so much as thinking how great that bears help each other.

r79 - I would have needed to change my pants after that encounter!

I got mugged by a squirrel in NYC. I went to a Starbucks and got coffee and pound cake. It was too crowded to sit inside so I went to a park across the street and sat on a bench. The squirrel came up and reached for the pound cake, so I lifted my arm above my head away from him. And then he grabbed the coffee in my other hand, managed to pull it down, pull the lid off and spill the whole coffee in my lap. I lowered both hands and was frantically wiping hot coffee off my lap and the bastard grabbed the whole pound cake and ran!

Man, squirrels in my neighborhood don’t do that shit! New York has some punk ass gangster squirrels.

R40 I currently live in CT and we have a lot of wild turkeys around here. I've never had a problem with them. I've loved animals since I was a child and yes, all that I wrote is true. It's fine if you don't believe me. I am very peaceful with animals. Not to say one wouldn't eat me.

Elephant seals had almost vanished from the California coast, but then made a big resurgence and now have these big breeding grounds. We were on a bluff looking down at the beach where they hang out for months during mating/nesting season, when we saw there was a bull seal on top of the bluff. Don't know how it got up, but it was moving quickly, given that it moves kind of like a gigantic snail. Bull seals have tusks and weigh about a ton. We got out of the way

After some dangerous tourism stupidity (the people who stuck their toddler on the back of one for a photo), the state built a fenced walk way and started putting rangers out there

A pterodactyl once nipped me on the behind when I was doing jumping jacks in the park.

THREE bears, R79?

Did you eat their porridge?

I was snorkeling off a charter boat in the Florida Keys and saw a shark about six feet away. It was big! I swam faster than I ever have in my life back to the boat and the captain said, "Oh, yeah, that's just a nurse shark that hangs out around here. She's friendly, nothing to worry about."

I'm not an American but A DINGO ATE MY BABY!

My neighbor

The other morning during my exercise walk, I saw a large deer jump over a six foot fence, the other side being situated on a steep slope. It was one of the most graceful things I've ever witnessed. It certainly could have killed me....with kindness! 😊

[quote] coyote that dragged off a toddler in Encino.

Were its parents inside mixing cocktails?

Oh god r86. That would have scared the hell out of me too. On a recent vacation there was a “shark diving tour” where people intentionally swim with nurse sharks. I was like. NUH-UH, NO WAY. We’re doing the booze cruise instead.

But I grew up in New Orleans and we always took short trips to Pensacola (which I still think has one of the nicest beaches in America. White, clean sands. Gentle blue water. The ocean have gray dirty sand and are freezing and the waves hit you too hard. Not my scene). But I stopped going because it became the bullshark attack capitol of America.

Nobody asked what happened to me R68 on the beach in Cabeza de Lobo with the Spanish rough trade. Let's just say I got the feeling they wanted to kill me and maybe even eat me. To devour me.

An aggressive ground squirrel came after my trail mix while I was hiking in the Grand Canyon. He left reluctantly when I waved my hiking poles at him. Get yer paws off my nuts!

R69: A mountain lion attacked someone near a Walmart in Los Angeles??? I don't think so. When & where was this?

In the past 27 years, there a have been two verified lion attacks (on people) in Los Angeles County. In 1995, a mountain-biker was attacked in the San Gabriel Mountains above Altadena (fought it off with his bike & rocks), and last summer, a five year-old boy was attacked in the front yard of his home in Monte Nido/Santa Monica Mountains by a juvenile lion. The child was dragged about 40 yards before his mother got to him (she'd been indoors) & beat on the young lion until it released the boy. (that lion was found hiding on the property afterward by a Dept of Fish & Wildlife officer who shot & killed it)

Also: There have been no coyote attacks on children in Encino, dragging them down the driveway or whatever. (plenty of dogs & cats, though) Where are you getting that? Are you perhaps thinking of the mountain lion attack I mentioned above? A couple kids *have* been bitten by coyotes in other places recently -- like Huntington Beach (on the sand) and a park in Fountain Valley -- but not in Encino. (just sayin', for the sake of accuracy)

Yeah, i grew up in SoCal in the middle of coyote country and the threat from them was strictly to livestock or smaller domestic pets. We moved out to East County San Diego with a flock of ducks that were meticulously culled nightly until we had no more left.

Bears use my side yard as a trail from the forest behind my house to the trash cans in this small subdivision. This has diminished a lot since we all started keeping our cans in the our garages until garbage day, but I still give the yard a quick scan If I go out at night.

Years ago now, an elderly couple was hiking with a group on a trail in a local state park. They lagged behind the group, and suddenly the husband was attacked by a mountain lion, who clamped its jaws on the man's face. The guy's elderly wife fought off the lion by stabbing its eyes with a disposable pen. Talk about fierce!

I'm looking for the article about that exact attack, r69. Meanwhile, here's another mountain lion article showing that they are a regular feature in our lives here. Brentwood is where UCLA is.

[quote]There have been no coyote attacks on children in Encino, dragging them down the driveway or whatever.

Bullshit. Not every coyote attack gets reported. We saw part of the Encino attack because we were two driveways down, dropping someone off. It was on Louise Avenue, just south of Burbank Blvd. It dragged the kid up the driveway towards the garage and a lady ran out and hit it with a broom, then someone else ran out yelling and the coyote ran away.

The mountain lion attack that I thought was by the Walmart in our Valley was actually in Simi Valley. We have had sightings over by our Walmart in Porter Ranch, which is what I confused with that attack. The Simi attack involved a woman jumping on the mountain lion while trying to rescue her dog, which is much more exciting (and accurate) than how I remembered the event.

I've tried 3x but DL suddenly won't let me post links. Weird. It was on Dec. 9, 2019 if you're interested in googling the Newsweek article and reading about it. Unfortunately, the dog did not survive.

In my googling, I saw that another mountain lion incident happened in Simi this month and they locked down an elementary school while it prowled around.

Coyote attacks, some of which were in LA/Valley cities and several of which involved humans.

My friend was trying to feed squirrels in a park in Boston until someone walking by informed her they were water rats.

If you have FB, this link should take you directly to the coyote sightings group. You don't have join- just scroll down to see the posts. Of particular interest is the 4th post down by Lindsey Cole Combes, in which she describes an attack on a human that took place 2 blocks from our home in Granada Hills.

^ As I posted earlier, not all coyote attacks are reported to whoever keeps official numbers, as you can see from this group. I haven't seen anything on the news or google about the Granada Hills area attack on Woodley/Lassen.

Clearly they dont want to freak people out, R103.

Someone posted on NextDoor the other day about their husband who went out walking their small dog at 12:30 at night. A group of 5 to 7 coyotes appeared at a large suburban intersection, with a grocery store and a bank and a very large Chinese restaurant, and tried to get the dog. A driver saw this and scared the coyotes away. This is right by San Jose.

I almost stepped on a rattle snake while hiking in California once. I caught myself and freaked out a bit as I was alone, far from anyone and without a phone. Lesson learned.

Ravaged by donkeys. Raped.

I was stalked by a mean and possibly demented swan at the Hilton in San Juan.

Yes.

R101 A squirrel is just a rat with good PR.

On walks I've encountered wild tom turkeys of varying sizes and their harems., sometimes coming within a few feet. The largest one's head came a little above my waist. They're pretty placid animals, but wary; if you make a move toward them they'll puff up and fan the tail even more. Never, ever let a dog mess with one. They have very long, sharp spurs that can cut and gouge badly.

I've also seen coyotes and found their scat in my yard. They're common enough that they've been given names on Reddit and Nextdoor. They're shy and keep to themselves. I always worry about a rabid one.

Was moving a pile of bricks and tossing out the ones that looked too worn. I did this without gloves. I picked one up and turned it over to inspect and there was an enormous black widow with an even larger egg sac. Instant nausea. The previous year a friend who lives a couple of blocks away was bitten getting out of her hot tub. ER visit.

Finally, during walks around 9:00 (to avoid heat), I've discovered skunks living a block away on few occasions. One was startled and ran away. Another saw me coming and turned around rear end pointing in my direction. I moved to the middle of the street. Creature kept track and rotated itself as I walked by.

All of this action in the woods of East Sacramento.

R97: Yes, I am well aware that mountain lions live among us in the Santa Monica Mountains, Simi Hills, etc., as I live in Encino, not too far from the reservoir. (I was merely questioning the Walmart-thing). I am fascinated by them, and have posted articles about P-22, the Griffith Park cat, to DL in the past.

Lots of great info about our "locals" on the National Park Service website. This map plots the locations of the collared-lions being studied by NPS, 2002-2013. All of the lions represented on this map, except P-22, are long-gone (with younger cats assuming their territory) but still...it's kind of an eye-opener.

Honestly, coyotes have to be starving or rabid if they approach humans. They avoid human contact if at all possible and rightly so.

Also: That seemingly "empty" zone on the map , between the 405 & 101 (which includes Bel-Air, Beverly Crest, Laurel Canyon, etc.), is not empty. There is at least one lion that they know of roaming that area for the past few years (seen on survellience video) but wildlife biologists have been unable to capture & collar it.

The "Beverly Hills Cat" as he come to be known, was spotted on security camera, last week.

Pretty amazing survellience footage in Bel Air Crest, just east of 405, from a few years ago...with an unfortunate outcome.

It reminds me of that movie called backcountry, where the man is attacked by a bear, its gruesome and I thought about it for days afterwards. I thought it was a bit silly the bear then stalked the girl for days, until I realised it was based on a true story. Horrific.

This thread makes me never want to hike again. I’m sure to have nightmares tonight.

I'm more concerned about critters and varmints in Australia being deadly.

The bear thing.

Is there a single state in the USA where they don't have them?

Bears are fine if they respect you. You just need to be “one of them” - a kind warrior.

Hawaii?

^^LOL r121. IIRC, this guy was ripped apart by a bear.

I haven't watched the movie because I heard they actually have a recording of him dying (audio only, apparently). I've always been morbidly interested in watching it though.

^ flying roaches, r122.

[quote]R123 I haven't watched the movie because I heard they actually have a recording of him dying (audio only, apparently). I've always been morbidly interested in watching it though.

They don’t play the audio tape in the film. You see the filmmaker listen to some of it on headphones, then sadly turn it off.

It’s a haunting film.

[quote]This thread makes me never want to hike again. I’m sure to have nightmares tonight.

Dear Hikers: You are more likely to be struck by lightening (which is pretty fucking rare), than you are to be attacked by mountain lion.....

I’ve run across many wild animals in the suburbs of Denver that could have most certainly killed me. Bears, coyotes, bobcats, and a mountain lion (twice) - and this is in the city.

That said, only twice was the animal aggressive to me.

A bear whose cubs were nearby. I was minding my own business in my yard when the bitch rolled up and growled at me. I ran into the house a bit mystified (and scared) as bears will normally just stroll on by, but then I saw the cubs from inside.

A mountain lion once gave me the death stare when it saw me sitting on my deck. It just froze and stared at me and bared it’s teeth. It is rare to see them in the city, so it was not having my presence. Again, went inside.

I’m 100% on the side of the animals in all of these instances.

I don’t think so. I’ve been face to face with many coyotes but they can’t hurt you.

R2 I got chased by a huge water moccasin when I was a teen. My little brother and I were bottle hunting in the woods up from our house (an old cypress mill site) .It had a creek ,and we were walking beside it shooting at shit with our bb guns. We stopped and I spotted what i thought was an oak limb in the creek,then it moved ! As soon as I realized it was a moccasin,my little brother pinged it with his bb gun. That thing FLEW up the bank towards us. I screamed dropped everything,and picked my kid brother up by his hair and hauled ass . It chased us for a good 30 feet,then disappeared. I still get chills remembering that giant white mouth open as it flew towards us. To this day I dont know how I picked my brother up,he was 8-9 and not small .

I'm SO glad I don't live in the states with copperheads and water moccasins. Sends chills up my spine.

Tarantulas can jump?!?

[R126], perhaps,true, but I never see headlines about people being struck by lightning. I do see headlines about animal attacks on humans. There’s an entire YouTube channel devoted to bear attacks.

I grew up in rural NC on the edge of a heavily wooded area. Copperheads and water mocassions. Saw them frequently and they terrified me. I grew up wanting to escape to the concrete canyons of Manhattan. Broadway musicals and no snakes!

Meanwhile, no one has mentioned ticks and Lyme Disease.

[quote]My friend had to get skin grafts as a result of a recluse spider bite that didn't respond to antibiotics. Her treatment was delayed because the first doctor insisted that we don't have those spiders here, but bugs hang out in shipping boxes (and sometimes suitcases) and get transported cross country, which is why we now have flying roaches and brown spiders

R57 back in the early 2000s I worked for a federal judge in the District of Colorado, which is where the McVeigh/Nichols OK City bombing trials were held in 1996. The government shipped dozens of items from the blast site, such as the axel from the Ryder truck that was used as the bomb, a door that was damaged by the force of the blast and other things. They were held in a warehouse in the basement of the courtroom for a long time before trial. Because they'd been held in a warehouse in OK for a while the crates were infested with OK cockroaches which came along for the ride and bred with Colorado cockroaches to create some new species. The courtroom was infested with them for years.

Just read OP's article. I actually once stopped in Ovando, Montana, on a road trip. It is the tiniest one-horse town you can imagine, in the middle of nowhere. I bought an Ovando tee shirt in the one general store, figuring it's an utterly unique item. I was thinking of the place as I washed and folded it this morning. Poor woman. This is why I would never dream of camping, there are fucking animals out there!

I ran over an in ground bees nest with the lawn mower once. I had several nasty swelling stings at various places on my body. They chased me all the way down the alley. Suffering and thinking I was in the clear, I suddenly started getting stung on my ankle - two of them had somehow made their ways down my boot, stinging me through my socks.

I just saw a video a few days ago of either a group of cyclists or hikers who had stepped on a wasp/hornet nest and were being chased and stung to shit by a huge swarm of them. I would legit rather wrestle a cougar.

Yes, r132. I knew this because living in the high desert of Southern CA I would encounter them and the first time it happened, I ran home screaming all the way. You can check out the jumping (and somersaulting) at around 1:50 mark in the YT video. However, the black ones I encountered seemed like they jumped higher than what's showing in the vid (didn't watch the whole vid though), but I was just a kid and it freaked me the fuck out!!

"A group of 5 to 7 coyotes appeared at a large suburban intersection, with a grocery store and a bank and a very large Chinese restaurant, and tried to get the dog. A driver saw this and scared the coyotes away. This is right by San Jose."

I lived on the very edge of San Jose for four years, on the last hilly road on the eastern edge of the city. Every summer night, I'd hear coyotes holding parties a short way up the hill, or at least that's what it sounded like. I never actually saw them in that neighborhood, but they were there. I was careful to keep my pets inside.

"A group of 5 to 7 coyotes appeared at a large suburban intersection, with a grocery store and a bank and a very large Chinese restaurant, and tried to get the dog. A driver saw this and scared the coyotes away. This is right by San Jose."

I lived on the very edge of San Jose for four years, on the last hilly road on the eastern edge of the city. Every summer night, I'd hear coyotes holding parties a short way up the hill, or at least that's what it sounded like. I never actually saw them in that neighborhood, but they were there. I was careful to keep my pets inside.

I used to live in a semi rural area that was a dumping ground for unwanted pets,mostly cats. At one point there must have been 20-30 cats living in the woods across the street. Then the coyotes moved in,and shortly thereafter you didnt see a cat one.

Domestic cats going missing was a sign of a cougar where I grew up. No coyotes round those parts.

[quote]jumping (and somersaulting)

This just gave me a brief but very strong urge to commit suicide. Thanks, R139.

My Dad was confronted with an alligator. Luckily, he is a fast runner and had a vehicle to jump into nearby. Alligators aren't fast until they suddenly dart forward, they they're about 45mph. Yes, really. It's shocking how fast they can be when you watch them moseying down a riverbank. Very frightening. BTW, when you're terrified of dogs and a strange one comes running up to you, it's absolutily terrible. Frozen with fear. I've felt it many times over my life. People ignore leash laws.

Oh, about the alligators and dogs--I live in SE Louisiana.

It's funny, but when gators are babies they are unbelievably cute. Seriously.

Only when I cut in front of Nathan Lane at the concession stand of the Cinema Village.

Yes it was the scariest thing that ever happened to me. I tried to do everything I could to get away. I think many of you have met the same beast. It’s called a republican.

When I was 13 or 14 I got a summer job at an inn about a hundred miles away. Room and meals and a small salary in a beautiful Appalachians foothills setting. It was wonderful for several weeks. Then the owner had an overgrown lot on the back of the property and wanted me clear it. He gave me a scythe and I went blithely through swinging the thing. Until I sliced a hornets' next in half. I was wearing short pants and got dozens and dozens of stings on my legs. It was excruciating and I couldn't stand up for several days despite the owners' taking me immediately to a local hospital.

I had grown up in a wooded area and had never had a problem with the occasional bee or wasp sting. But I'm still terrified of bees now because a sting of any kind requires a trip to the hospital.

I was aggressively cruised by a chicken hawk when I was 14.

I'm sure bears can be frightening, but that depends on context. The bear at the link, for example.

ROFL R150!

"Here, let me fix that."

I don't mean to be argumentative, R133, but......this woman who got ZAPPED, along with her two dogs, in Pico Rivera (11 miles SE from downtown LA) was the lead story on every L.A. local news station, last week.

Since the 17th century there have been fewer than 1,000 fatal wild animal attacks in the US (sharks, bears, snakes, panthers, sharks) yet people live in constant fear of nature. The deadliest animals of all are actually bees/wasps and dogs.

They do look a bit spooky, the way they gather in this way. I'm surprised they aren't hunted down for their meat. You'd never see anything like this in England.

They’re definitely planning something…

I live in a liberal college town where half the population is vegetarian, so the wild turkeys have moved in in droves! Mostly they hang out on parks and low-traffic streets and bother nobody, and in high-traffic area they've adapted so well to town life that I've seen them crossing the streets with the signals!

There was just one problem turkey, known as "Downtown Tom", he was the one turkey who made a habit of being aggressive, and of course he decided to live in the downtown pedestrian district. He was removed after a while, theoretically taken out into the country, and totally not someone's locally sourced organic holiday dinner.

Yes, I work with two Fox News addicted republic party members every day.

Water moccasins are very aggressive. I was tubing down the river at my dad's property in the Shenandoah and there were about 20 or 30 cruising by my tube. Luckily they didn't seem too interested but I got out as fast as I could.

That bear at R150 looks like his first reaction to the cone was to taste it -- only after he realized it wasn't something to eat did he put it back where it belonged. Tidy is as tidy does!

Just had a memory from growing up...I'm the SoCal person with quite a few encounters with critters.

Spent a summer in Idaho with Fundy-Christian relatives, and one of the activities was tubing down the river, which was FUN.

Until the fucking water moccasin/cottonmouth chased us out of the river. I don't think I've ever run so fast. It was scary as FUCK!

r160, there are no water moccasins in Idaho.

"The Western rattlesnake and prairie rattlesnake are the only venomous snakes found in Idaho."

[quote] Then the owner had an overgrown lot on the back of the property and wanted me clear it. He gave me a scythe

What kind of a dip shit gives a 13 or 14 year old a scythe. I thought your story was going to have a much worst ending.

r161: wrong.

Sorry, wrong link ^^

Ok, I'm reading your link lol and it says no water moccasins in ID. HOWEVER, there was some fucking swimming snake that chased me out of the water. I don't know WTF it was but it scared the living daylights out of me!!!

I was regularly using a machete to clear undergrowth when I was 14. Managed not to slice off any limbs.

R158 sorry 20 or 30 snakes going by your tube? well there goes my sleep tonight. Ive actually tubed down there.

In response to the doubters re the bear vid at R150 - what do you make of this wild African elephant placing two empty soda cans into a trash can?

My border collie, who is not neurotic like some of the breed, eventually deposits his toys in his baby pool during play sessions whether there's water in it or not. I never taught him to. Crows and other corvids forage, hide nuts and remember where they are. Like elephants, they're intelligent animals. Aside from the crows need to feed themselves, they are also stimulating activities.

Then there's OCD Some animals, usually in captivity, demonstrate repetitive behavior (called stereotyped behaviors in animals) due to boredom