Your most dangerous encounter with an animal!

[Sun_Sparkz]

After conjuring memories of my gormet funnel web experience in "two lies and the truth" thread, i have began thinking of all my other encounters with animals - dangerous and not dangerous.

As an animal lover, i have always lept at any opportunity to help an animal, be around animals etc. and definately have had some hairyscary experiences.

but i want to know about yours!

.....

[Lady Sidhe]

When I was a kid, there was a dog in the neighborhood named Ringo. He was some kind of mutt mix, and every kid in the neighborhood feared him. His owners lived around a corner that one HAD to go around to get to the park, and they never kept him restrained. As a result, he bit many people. And the problem was, you never knew where he was, because he would hide. You didn't see him until he was running at you.

I was riding around that corner one day (I was probably in third grade or so), when this dog came at me and knocked me off my bike; I ran, and he cornered me up against a car, with my back to him. He bit me in the small of my back, and apparantly was satisfied with that, because he ran off afterward.

Everyone hated that dog, and he ended up disappearing a few weeks later. I think someone killed him, to be honest. I mean, I feel sorry for the dog now, because his behavior was his owners' fault, but damn, something needed to be done. It was almost as if the dog were situationally rabid....



Sidhe

[lumberjim]

When I was about 10 or 11 yrs old, my friends and I were fascinated by snakes and other reptiles. We would catch them and try to feed them toads. ( snakes don;t really like toads that much, but we couldn;t seem to catch any mice.)

One day, my friends, Dan and Eric and I were walking through the woods when I spotted a medium sized Garder Snake. Non poisonous, and extremely common in Pa. Eric and I reached for it at the same time, and it wound up biting me on the finger. Reflexively, I yanked my hand back, slashing my finger where I would have only had two small punctures. In the process, I flung the snake into the air, and it came down right on Dan's head. Dan did the " I'm a prissy girl who just had a spider dropped into my dress" dance, screamed, and ran about 20 yards away. Dan never did like snakes much after that. He stopped attending our weekly Herpitology meetings.

[elSicomoro]

I got bitten by a spider while staying at Dave's house...I suspect it was a set up...

[OnyxCougar]

One of my parent's friends had a black labrador retreiver. I was about 6 years old and sitting out in the backyard of these people's house, out by the pool. I was the only child there, and had spent many hours with the dog as my only companion.

The guy had barbequed, so I was out in the backyard by the pool, eating my ribs and burnt corn, and the dog came up and sat beside me patiently.

I finished my dinner and wiped my hands and reached down to pet the dog. It laid down on it's back, wanting a belly rub.

I reached further down, leaning over to rub his belly when he shot up and bit me in the head.

Thank God for reflex. I turned my head away (to the left) and pulled back, but not before he had gotten ahold of me. I screamed, parents came running, and things get a little fuzzy. I can remember my mother trying hard to stay calm. I was pretty calm, but shook up.

Then my mother took me into the bathroom (to clean the blood up). Problem was the bathroom wall was a mirror. I remember seeing a LOT of blood, and that's when I freaked.

Another friend of the family (who I'd known my whole life) (Billy Joe) grabbed a towel, and picked me up, got in the back seat, laid me down and applied pressure on to my head as my dad drove me to the hospital. Billy Joe gave me a piece of gum if I promised I wouldn't stop chewing it (he was trying to get me to stop screaming). I promised and that kept me occupied for the next hour or so as I was whisked into the emergency room.

I got very sleepy, and the nurse tried to take my temp, but I refused to spit out the gum. I fended off three nurses. One of them got a clue and got Billy Joe, who promised I could have another piece later.

Next thing I remember is layin on the table, waking up, and they were putting the last of 176 stitches in. I went back to sleep and went home and that was that.

I later found out that the doctor told my mother that had I not been as quick as I was, I would have lost my right eye to the dog's lower right canine. As it was, he half-scalped me. I guess he bit in and when I pulled back, part of my scalp tore away in his mouth. The arrival of the parents had scared the dog into "dropping" my scalp, and Billy Joe's quick thinking with the pressure and the towel pretty much saved the day.

I'm a cat person now.

[Brigliadore]

Well I have already told my, almost getting killed by a moose story in this thread.

Having be raised on a farm around animals I have almost been (and have been) seriously hurt on a number of occasion. I also worked at an animal shelter for a while and got cornered in the dog runs a few times by a not so happy dog. The runs were 8 ft tall and opened from the outside so getting out in a hurry was not an easy task.

Of all the times I was in danger around animals, the most memorable (aside from the moose story above) was when I was 2. My grandpa would raise Turkeys every year and then sell them for Thanksgiving. A nearly full grown turkey will stand a good 3 ft tall, and being that I was 2, they were taller then me. One day my Dad told me to go in and feed them. I walked into their pen with a bucket full on food and got mobbed by 100 Turkeys. This sea of Turkeys all taller then me, pushing on me and pecking at me scared me and I ran from them, screaming. They gave chase, and every time I screamed they answered back with loud Turkey gobbles, scaring me even more. At some point I tripped and was soon surrounded by all the Turkeys. I was on the ground and so couldn't get up, and therefore couldn't escape the birds pecking at me. I was screaming bloody murder and I don't know how long I lay on the ground being tormented by these birds, but at some point my Grandpa came and picked me up out of the sea of birds and carried me to safety.
I hate Turkeys to this day, and couldn't be happier that we eat thousands of them every year on Thanksgiving. Stupid Turkeys.

I have a number of other stories but I don't think they are nearly as interesting as the Turkey and the Moose stories.

EDIT: Fixed a few grammar errors

[zippyt]

Hey Brig ,
GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!!!!

[Nothing But Net]

The summer I graduated from high school (1976), my best friend Craig and I took off on a four week tour of the western US in my '74 Dodge Charger. He was 18, I was still 17.

Made our way though TX, NM, CO, WY, MT, ID, WA, OR, then into CA. Made our way through San Francisco. The windowpane the smelly hippy sells at Fisherman's Wharf is shit. Got chased out of a campground near Yosemite by Hell's Angels. So on into Yosemite.

Parked at Glacier Point to hike up behind Half Dome. Saw rattlesnake along the way. Get to camp behind Half Dome. Many people around, even one large group of about 30 people together. Everyone eats early, and the climbers help us all put our food away in the trees where the bears can't get at it. So far all OK.

Craig had some vodka, so we kept some orange juice to mix it with. A little later, we are feeling good. Crackling fire, beautiful scenery. It gets dark. I hear a little rustle in the bushes behind us. I think it is someone from the large party coming to invite us back over. I turn around, and I am four feet away from a 300 pound black bear.

I say OMG. We do a panic walk away. No running. Start yelling 'bear in the camp!' when we think we are are clear. Flashlights go crazy all around like in E.T. Spent most of the rest of night with the big group.

Later back at camp our shit had been rummaged through, but fortunately not destroyed.

I consider it my closest brush with death.

[wolf]

I don't have much in the way of spectacular animal attack stories.

I have a pretty good record with beasts. I mean there was this one time that I had a horse that I was leading slip and fall on me, but there was no damage. I've also had some falls from horseback, again with no injury. I have had enounters with some nasty to other people dogs, but the same animals have this funny tendency to check me out, sniff a couple times, and drop and roll to expose their bellies for a good rubbing (including one attack trained doberman whose owner was quite perturbed at his bitch's behavior), but I believe that's a matter of their being able to know instinctively who the alpha is.

I have had an occasional close encounter with skunks, but as soon as I recognize that it's not just a funny looking cat and stand still until it decides I'm neither threatening nor particularly interesting, things are pretty much over.

There WAS this one time at work that I went out on the front porch to smoke and heard some noise coming from the trashcan mounted next to the door. Next think I know this raccoon pops it's head out and is staring at me ... I ran back inside pretty damn fast after that one ... 'coon hasn't been in the trash since. I think he figured out that the big dumpster has better stuff in it, and fewer people hanging around.

Oh, and my sister's cats sometimes decide I'm not supposed to be attempting to pet them and they swipe at me, but they're declawed, so that's not a big deal either.

Spiders are icky, and I have been menaced by them from time to time, but a sufficiently large wad of tissues takes care of that pretty easily.

[BrianR]

When I was little, I was interested in all kinds of wildlife and would regularly truck home turtles, stray dogs, injured birds, once a fish and various snakes. One day I found a very pretty, colourful
snake in the woods next to my school. It seemed to be dead, but would make suspicious movements from time to time. I used a stick to transport it home to find out what it was. I looked it up in my Encyclopedia of Animal Life. It turned out to be a coral snake, a highly venomous reptile that will play dead if threatened and bite only if it has no other choice. Lucky me I thought of the stick.

Brian

[glatt]

Another snake story.

I was 17 years old, and hiking in the Grand Canyon with my family. We were all broken up and spread out, but I was with my brother. It had been a long day, and we were down in the bottom of the canyon, where the walls close in and there isn't much to see. So I was getting a little tired and the hike was turning more into a trudge. Just kept putting one foot in front of the other, moving along at a constant pace, not really paying attention.

I was broken out of my daze by a familiar sound from the movies and TV. You all know it. I instinctively stopped cold. So did my brother. My brain processed the sound just as my eyed rested on the rattlesnake. It was all coiled up and rattling like crazy, not much more than 5-6 feet away.

We both jumped way back pretty quickly. The snake held its ground.

After a while of standing there, and looking at the snake, which wasn't moving, we started to get annoyed. The trail was bordered on each side by very thick cactus growth. And there were cliffs, one going up, and one going down, 20 feet or so beyond the cactus on each side. Basically, there was no way to get around.

My brother told me not to, but I picked up a bunch of small rocks and started throwing them at the snake. I didn't try to hit it, just scare it. It finally slithered into the thick cactus growth by the side of the trail. I threw a few more for about 5-10 minutes after that into the cactus where we had seen it. Then we quickly walked past that area where the snake had been. I half expected it to strike us as we walked past, but it didn't.

[TheLorax]

I saw a snake in the Grand Canyon too. on the South Kaibab trail. It was just minding it’s own business until my east cost, sea faring pirate wannna be boyfriend decided that he wanted to hear it rattle so he sprinkled water on it. He got his wish and heard the rattle. They say that what 300 people a year get helicoptered out of the Canyon every year. At least we were not two of them.

I’ve seen bears out camping a few times and a mountain lion once, but I think the most dangerous animal encounter I have is with that horrible cat of my boyfriend’s. The thing is an evil evil creature with sharp pointy little teeth. Now why it is that you put up with a cat biting but not a dog? I would blow a chip in my brain if my dog started growling and bit me but that damn cat does it on a regular basis.

[Happy Monkey]

When I was at the Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, we woke up one morning with a rattlesnake in our campsite. The rangers killed and ate it.

[mrnoodle]

I've spent a lot of time outdoors, and have had unnerving experiences, but nothing could compete with being attacked by pecking turkeys That was a funny story (although I imagine the experience itself was like a horror movie).

I've been menaced by a badger, had my head sniffed by a bear while I was sleeping (through tent fabric, but still..), been stalked by a mountain lion while fishing, and been almost-snakebit a bunch of times. For the number of experiences, none of them are really good stories unless I were to embellish them.

[mrnoodle]

I've spent a lot of time outdoors, and have had unnerving experiences, but nothing could compete with being attacked by pecking turkeys That was a funny story (although I imagine the experience itself was like a horror movie).

I've been menaced by a badger, had my head sniffed by a bear while I was sleeping (through tent fabric, but still..), been stalked by a mountain lion while fishing, and been almost-snakebit a bunch of times. The only one that was really scary was the bear one. Waking up in the middle of the night with the shadow of a bear head on your tent wall 4 inches away is a unique experience.

It only gets better when you remember that you only have a .38 for protection (marginal for people, horrible for bear), and it is loaded with snake shot (which would only hasten your dismemberment if you were to fire it at a bear). Then try loading it with real ammo without moving or making any sound. For reference, watch Desperado, where Antonio Banderas is hiding under the counter of the bookstore loading up while the bad guy is talking a few feet away. Something they don't show in the movie is the fact that you're shaking like a little bird having an epileptic fit.

It took me like 5 minutes to load that gun. The bear had been gone for 4 of those minutes, but I was too scared to move. I actually fell asleep again shortly after.