Trusting A Wild Animal - And Nearly Killed By Him

[Sarg]

Bit of a tear jerking story, made me feel sorry for all involved, good message to us on the dangers of animals or life in general from all the other posters.

As a Farmer & PH I have a fair few stories on Domestic & Wild animals also.

But here is a pic I posted before of a Huge Warthog that spent its nights in my buddies house, if the front doors was close before he got inside at night he would smash them in, he added bash plates to protect them & glass more than once.

We were watching a Rugby game this night & had to go round other door to get Beer once he lay down as he didn't like to be disturbed, even the Dogs big & small never went near him once inside !

 

[Kevin Peacocke]

A friend of mine, a huge fellow, had a pair of duiker on his plot. One day the male put multiple stab wounds into his calves, he said he couldn’t get it away from him it was so strong and determined.

 

[Franco]

"The difference between man and the rest of the animal kingdom is the former's ability to sublimate instinct and the latter's lack thereof".

Perfectly stated; amazing how often it is ignored.

Anthropomorphic consideration of animals is not new, it has however, been exploited in all forms of media. Feature films, documentaries, cartoons, corporate logos, toys, and promotional items - examples abound. Intentional or not, the depiction of a friendly coexistence between man and animals has been grossly misrepresented.

Combine emotion - man's attraction to all things "cute", with a modicum of stupid and voila - somebody makes the evening news.

I opted for stupid rather than the more polite, "lack of judgement", because the latter infers a degree of thought.

The absurdity of a desire to be "One with the animals" is surpassed solely by the stupidity of believing it can be successfully achieved; and yet, when one man fails - another steps in.

Who among us does not bare a reminder of a failed attempt to bond?

For others, they are the reminder - "Grizzly Man" is but one example.

Nowhere does affirmation of the tragic results of human - animal interaction manifest itself greater than Africa. Locals suffer losses routinely as a part of daily activities, and then you get tourists who think they're in the middle of "The Lion King", and can't wait to interact.

To that, all I can say is - keep an eye on the evening news.

 

[Franco]

When I was a young guy in California, a local.man "rescued" a blacktail fawn. It was pretty tame and he fed it in a pen, the deer grew into a spike buck. One day they found the guys body outside of the pen. He had many twin puncture wounds, and at first they thought it was some sort of ritual killing until they saw the bloody deer.

Makes you wonder about the animal rights activists and the wildlife rescuers who believe that wild animals understand and respond with gratitude to people that want to help them.

Doug,

I remember that event. I was on the Sheriff's Underwater Recovery team and we were shown the crime scene photos - not a pretty sight.

 

[Jfet]

took off at an angle past his nose

This sounds like you were properly coached to play linebacker in high school. Rip through the block, scrape, and fill.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Perfectly stated; amazing how often it is ignored.

Anthropomorphic consideration of animals is not new, it has however, been exploited in all forms of media. Feature films, documentaries, cartoons, corporate logos, toys, and promotional items - examples abound. Intentional or not, the depiction of a friendly coexistence between man and animals has been grossly misrepresented.

Combine emotion - man's attraction to all things "cute", with a modicum of stupid and voila - somebody makes the evening news.

I opted for stupid rather than the more polite, "lack of judgement", because the latter infers a degree of thought.

The absurdity of a desire to be "One with the animals" is surpassed solely by the stupidity of believing it can be successfully achieved; and yet, when one man fails - another steps in.

Who among us does not bare a reminder of a failed attempt to bond?

For others, they are the reminder - "Grizzly Man" is but one example.

Nowhere does affirmation of the tragic results of human - animal interaction manifest itself greater than Africa. Locals suffer losses routinely as a part of daily activities, and then you get tourists who think they're in the middle of "The Lion King", and can't wait to interact.

To that, all I can say is - keep an eye on the evening news.

I personally blame Disney.

 

[Franco]

I personally blame Disney.

Without a doubt.

 

[randallhebert]

I have a cat that will try to trip me when I'm going down the stairs. How does cat taste? Asking for a friend.

Go to your local Chinese restaurant and find out.

 

[Woodcarver]

Bit of a tear jerking story, made me feel sorry for all involved, good message to us on the dangers of animals or life in general from all the other posters.

As a Farmer & PH I have a fair few stories on Domestic & Wild animals also.

But here is a pic I posted before of a Huge Warthog that spent its nights in my buddies house, if the front doors was close before he got inside at night he would smash them in, he added bash plates to protect them & glass more than once.

We were watching a Rugby game this night & had to go round other door to get Beer once he lay down as he didn't like to be disturbed, even the Dogs big & small never went near him once inside !

View attachment 586910
View attachment 586911

That's a beast of a warthog!

 

[deewayne2003]

Not just wild animals turn on their keepers, local rancher bottle raised an angus bull calf orphan and he turned into one hell of a bull.

Two months ago that bull pinned him between the fence and gate - both of which were steel pipe and kept bashing the gate until he could roll out under the fence.

He lived but broken - jaw, ribs, left arm and ankle were the price payed.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

A friend of mine, a huge fellow, had a pair of duiker on his plot. One day the male put multiple stab wounds into his calves, he said he couldn’t get it away from him it was so strong and determined.

When I was in Zimbabwe I heard a similar story about a man that had been keeping a steenbok. ram as a pet. They are cute little guys, but wild animals are best left wild.

 

[Dogone]

That goes for roosters, too. We had one that would chase us little kids, jump on our backs and peck the backs of our heads. He made a mistake one day by taking after my dad. He became Sunday dinner that day.
Never trust any critter. They can and will turn on you at some point.

Similar situation. When I was 5 or 6 a rooster put the run on me. My grandmother caught it and held it underwater in the water trough for a while. Can’t remember the result but he didn’t bother me again.

 

[BRICKBURN]

I personally blame Disney.

Ya, that!

"It’s tempting to anthropomorphize wild animals, she added, to think that a long-standing bond between an animal and a human has the power to override deeply held instincts, but that’s wishful thinking."

Hard lesson.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I personally blame Disney.

I do too!

"Run Bambi! Man is in the forest!"

 

[Philip Glass]

Wow. Hormones can be scary stuff. All wild animals that are going to be pets have to be spayed or neutered. People never realize this fact.

 

[Shakka]

I remember reading somewhere that the only reason a house cat doesn't kill it's owner is because it isn't big enough

 

[Newboomer]

I remember reading somewhere that the only reason a house cat doesn't kill it's owner is because it isn't big enough

And then you have Smoky the Bear and teddy bears to add a couple more. Cute but deadly.

 

[Matthias5662]

29+ years as a university zoologist/professor and I am still amazed that humans continually forget the cute, loveable "wild animals" they admire and give so many human qualities to will eventually demonstrate they really only possess three biological imperatives:

1. Will it eat me?
2. Can I eat it?
3. Can I mate with it?

The tragedy comes when, through experience or bravado or both, we think we can predict how an animal will react in a certain situation. You may be able to indeed feed that male chimpanzee marshmallows by hand for years and predict its behavior. That is until the day the subtle nuance of the situation has changed and we don't recognize that change and the chimpanzee wreaks none-before-seen levels of violence on the marshmallow giver as, by its nature, it eliminates question #1 and ponders questions #2 and #3 as it stands over your prostrate body.

 

[cwpayton]

This reminds me of the line wolf lovers always use, they rhetorically say they only eat the old ,sick or crippled ones.. that is a flat out lie.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

This reminds me of the line wolf lovers always use, they rhetorically say they only eat the old ,sick or crippled ones.. that is a flat out lie.

You are absolutely right. That is one of the greatest lies told by anti-hunters. It has been told so many times that it has been accepted as true.

Kind of like that book and movie "Never Cry Wolf" by Farley Mowat. The premise was that wolves only kill large animals when they were already dying. The rest of the time they eat mice. That is not and has never been true.