Real world animal threats

[Oathkeeper1775]

A bunch of baboons recently escaped and were on the loose; someplace in Europe today.

On the Drudge Report..

Paris zoo is evacuated after baboons escape enclosure | Daily Mail Online

 

[Sstrand]

Baboons are extremely dangerous. Consider the Pelosi Schumer Feinstein axis of evil!!!!

Sheldon

 

[DOPE]

Riding dirt bikes in the California desert I made it up this one hill. I turned around in victory to wave down at my friend. Then out of nowhere this pack of wild dogs came after me. Never kicked so hard to get that bike started. I did have to ride through them and zig zag a bit before riding back down.

Again walking a trail at Lake Chabot in the bay area. Its about a 7 mile perimeter park in the middle of the city with a few trails, but this pack of strays got after me. No lost chihuahuas in this group. Luckily I was able to beat feet and they gave up.

Dang, I used to jog around that lake when I lived there in the late 1980s. Luckily I never saw anything like that.

 

[olddanshooter]

5-6 years ago on July 4th was taking my and a friend's kids for a little afternoon hike in the Tiger Mountain forest next to my house. Walking down a trail with 4 kids (8-12 years old) behind me, I saw the outline of an adult bear standing on a fallen tree. Turned to the kids and said "I forgot, we need to bring the ice cream with us, lets go back and get it!" The bear looked our way and luckily took off in the other direction.

That was a fortunate ending to a possible bad situation. But so many snowflakes hike the mountain without being eaten...

 

[Flymph]

The only thing I really worry about in the woods is the same thing I worry about in the city, people and aggressive dogs. I mean, I worry about cougars, but I doubt i'd ever notice one that saw me as prey.

I bet that bear was going to grab some huckleberry topping for the icecream. Bears love icecream!

 

[pharmseller]

 

[mkwerx]

View attachment 425273

If only the kid kneeling over the wall hadn't flicked his cigarette butt into the brush when he was afraid he heard his dad coming, Somkey would not have had to take vigilante action.

 

[PaulB47]

I managed to grab a small rattlesnake once, while pulling trash out of the notches in an irrigation ditch (under some sagebrush). It was early and a bit cold, so he was sluggish and didn't strike and we just looked at each other.

I saw a black bear when carrying my little son on my shoulders in the woods. I did have a pistol but didn't need it.

Shot a very sick (rabid?) raccoon once. Other raccoon shooting too. I was a bit bothered that .22LR did not put them down real fast, or maybe my shooting was poor.

In Wyoming the grizzlies have discovered if they hear a shot, they might get a meal if they come running. I never ran into one that way, but I sure was paranoid about it. Once even did my target practice with a cliff at my back so nothing could sneak up on me.

 

[revjen45]

Feral dogs are extremely dangerous because they don't have a wild critter's fear of people.
The dog in the following was not feral, just some cretin's unrestrained watchdog.
Several years back while I was walking on a rural road I drew a gun on a big dog that was advancing on me head down, tail out, and giving off a deep rumbling growl right in front of my crotch. I presented a .38 ree-volvulator loaded with Glasers when the woman who owned the dog came out and called it off. The next week as I was walking by the same house the man of the house came out and threatened me over pulling a gun on his dog. At this point I perceived my tactical disadvantage (me + .38 vs him and all his toothless illiterate friends and relatives probably inside) and decided not to tell him to pound sand. If the dog had advanced another inch I would have found out what Glasers do to belligerent dogs - just as well it didn't come to that.

 

[Camelfilter]

Spotted a cougar yesterday at ARPC dusk.

Main range down by the plates. Had just hit the big plate, and was still on the scope to see where on the plate the round hit & the cat walked pretty casually right to left, then up over the North berm.

It was the length of the steel popper stand head to end of tail, so ?5 or 6 foot.

Pretty pleased to have seen it, never had. But also something to be mindful of when night shooting there!

That'd suck to be out in no mans land pulling lights/illumunitors and unknowingly startle it while it may be stalking the deer which oft feed there.

Yikes!

 

[DB is Here]

On my first solo deer hunting trip at the ripe old age of 13 my friend and I got charged by a cow elk. It was a heavily treed area, so we ran to the closest tree, I suspect we startled her. As a newspaper boy, had several run in's with a few dogs, one I handled with a steel ball slung from my pocket rocket slingshot, the other i picked up my bike and through it on top of him...Victorious!!!

 

[drewp]

I was on an island in Thailand called koh Chang close to Cambodia, i just sat down on the porch of a cabin we stayed at, I was drinking a beer and eating some dried fruit.
3 monkeys landed on my table, 1 swung at me and just missed my face, i jumped up and ducked into my room...watched the money's drink my beer and scratch themselves for the next hour before they ran off

 

[olddanshooter]

Here's another encounter, as experienced by my neighbor when I lived within the Seattle city limits years ago. He had an very old mid-sized retriever mix who was alone in his front yard. Two unknown dogs, one a retriever mix and the other a Chow attacked and began chewing/eating his dog. He was behind the house and just happened to walk around the front of the house (he said there was no noise) as the aggressors were chewing on his dog's intestines. Fortunately he was gardening and carrying a hoe which he appropriately applied to the situation. The dogs ran off, and we never saw them again although they reportedly incurred a fair amount of damage.

His dog lived, but the vet bills reached into the college tuition realm.

Big take away for me: Whenever I see multiple dogs together I am immediately on high alert. Pack mentality can change everything about a dog.

 

[Flymph]

Here's another encounter, as experienced by my neighbor when I lived within the Seattle city limits years ago. He had an very old mid-sized retriever mix who was alone in his front yard. Two unknown dogs, one a retriever mix and the other a Chow attacked and began chewing/eating his dog. He was behind the house and just happened to walk around the front of the house (he said there was no noise) as the aggressors were chewing on his dog's intestines. Fortunately he was gardening and carrying a hoe which he appropriately applied to the situation. The dogs ran off, and we never saw them again although they reportedly incurred a fair amount of damage.

His dog lived, but the vet bills reached into the college tuition realm.

Big take away for me: Whenever I see multiple dogs together I am immediately on high alert. Pack mentality can change everything about a dog.

Makes me more concerned about dogs than I ever was before.

 

[Camelfilter]

Makes me more concerned about dogs than I ever was before.

Dissuade the alpha for best outcome.

Lesson learned from surviving a MASSIVE pack of feral Tibetan mastiff in Tibet AR. In the open. On a solo bicycle tour.

Sky burial country, where deceased are chopped up and left as carrion. Mostly for birds, but wouldn't doubt it if dogs don't get in on it as well.

 

[nwwoodsman]

This happened a few years back over 4th of July weekend near Willapa Bay. We were out hitting up the Indian fire works stand when I had to take a leak. I had my wife pull up a logging road so I could do the deed out of sight of the women and children in the area. I walked out in front of the car and found a suitable bush to pee on. About mid way through I see a black furry head about 10 feet away poking out of the bushes and staring straight at me. I turned and ran with my pecker flopping in the wind, jumped in the car and slammed the door. About that time my wife, who is deathly afraid of bears, busted out laughing. A black bear, no bigger than a small labrador, went casually strolling across the road. Funny enough to get scared by something so small. What was not funny is that momma bear had to be very close by.

 

[mkwerx]

My wife would have laughed her arse off and assume I was looking for roadside service

 

[Argonaut]

Feral dogs are extremely dangerous because they don't have a wild critter's fear of people.
The dog in the following was not feral, just some cretin's unrestrained watchdog.
Several years back while I was walking on a rural road I drew a gun on a big dog that was advancing on me head down, tail out, and giving off a deep rumbling growl right in front of my crotch. I presented a .38 ree-volvulator loaded with Glasers when the woman who owned the dog came out and called it off. The next week as I was walking by the same house the man of the house came out and threatened me over pulling a gun on his dog. At this point I perceived my tactical disadvantage (me + .38 vs him and all his toothless illiterate friends and relatives probably inside) and decided not to tell him to pound sand. If the dog had advanced another inch I would have found out what Glasers do to belligerent dogs - just as well it didn't come to that.

More people (by a huge number) die from bee stings than from problems with feral dogs.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I plead the 10th. because most interesting for reals

 

[Oregonhunter5]

Long story set in SoCal, but might still be amusing:

Back in SoCal, no firearms but two German Shepherds (littermates who were about 5.5 years old at the time of this encounter - Hanna - the female, and Sammy - the male).

Most weekends back then I'd take the dogs out for a 3 mile one way (6 mile round trip) walk in the Angeles National Forest up a closed and gated/locked fire road to an abandoned Nike missile base. There was a small parking area at the bottom of the road and if no one was parked there, you could be about 99.9% certain no one was on the road ahead of you. In those cases, I'd let the dogs off leash once we were past the first curve of the fire road. The road is pretty much cut into the side of the mountain, uphill to the west, downhill to the east. We'd normally go all the way up, I'd water the dogs at the abandoned Nike base (which had a ginormous water tank still full of fresh water), and then put them on leash for the walk back down to the car.

About a month before my story really begins, on the way down when I had the dogs on leash, they suddenly got very alert, with their ears, heads and tails all up in the full alert position. As we walked down the road there was a small valley uphill on the right - between two hills that rose up from the level of the road. I saw something that looked about the size of a small sheep (maybe 100 pounds) burst out of the brush, run across the small valley and then stop by a tree up hill from us where it turned and stared at us. The dogs and I just stared back. After a few moments, and realizing we could be engaged in this staring contest all day, I took one step forward, whereupon the dogs started barking like crazy and the animal – a small bear - ran over the top of the hill and disappeared.

I told the dog breeder/trainer about it and he confirmed by concern - a bear could easily kill the dogs. So since seeing the bear, I'd been leashing the dogs before we got near where we saw it and letting them off leash when we were well clear.

Well on the day of my story we were still climbing to the place where I'd been leashing them, when, sure enough, there's the bear and the dogs are off leash. They both take off up the road about 100 yards after the bear who plunges down the slope on the right hand side of the road.

As the dogs are disappearing, the mother bear bursts out of the brush hot on the dogs' heels. She's a whole different order of animal from the one that already concerned me, probably 300 - 350 pounds, fast and aggressively protecting what turned out to be her cub. I heard one bark and then seconds later one dog burst up over the east edge of the road way ahead of me, then the second dog, then the adult bear right behind them. They ran down the road a bit toward me and then all three disappeared over the edge again going down slope. A moment later Sammy came up over the edge about 20 yards ahead of me, followed by the mother who got close enough to roll him. As she was preparing to kill Sammy, Hanna came sailing in and slammed into the bear's side. Hanna evaded the bear and Sammy was able to get up and escape. Then all three went over the edge of the road down the slope once more.

I've never personally seen anything quite as brave as what Hanna did.

A moment later one of the dogs popped up over the edge of the road, followed closely by the mother bear, and both ran directly at me. The dog ran right by me, but the mother bear stopped about 6' from me, eyeballed me and tried to decide what to do. I figured in for a penny, in for a pound, so stared it right in the eyes, stood up as straight as I could, raised my arms over my head and yelled "hey" as loud as I could. Fortunately, she decided she needed to see what the dogs might be doing to her cub, so she turned and took off.

After what I think were one or two more rushes up over the edge of the road - one or two dogs, followed closely by the mother bear, and then back down slope again - I was finally able to get Sammy on leash as Hanna took one last run down the hill. When Hanna realized that she was alone, she came trotting back to me, I leashed her and we all headed back down to the car, having had enough excitement for the day.

We (the dogs as I) were very fortunate that I had two dogs and the adult female had a cub. She couldn't focus on any of us because she had to worry about what the other dog might be doing to her cub and so wasn't able to start and maintain an attack. If I had been up there with only one dog, that dog likely would have been killed. If the female bear had been up there without a cub, some or all of me and the dogs might have been seriously injured or killed.

I also learned - after the fact - that a dog WILL bring the bear that's chasing it back to you, it's just a matter of when.

Stories like this excite me to pick up my new german Sheperd pup in 4 weeks. I've heard some awesome stories with this breed.