Have you ever had a run in with a dangerous wild animal?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

I'm sipping my coffee and dreaming about going camping in the wilderness. Somewhere really remote. It would be awe inspiring, but also in reality I'd be too scared of getting lost or being eaten by some of the local wildlife so will probably never actually do it.

Has anyone been wilderness camping or similar? Did you have any narrow squeaks with snakes/ jaguars/ crocodiles?

Once, I went camping in the Kalahari desert and hyenas came into our camp at night and made off with a casserole pot. My mum found it a few hundred yards from our camp the next day.

My entire primary school was also closed for 2 days because there was a boomslang in a tree.

Yes, I got punched in the face by a young man in Croydon town centre because I wouldn’t step aside to let him past (because I was a women so I should).

There was a black widow spider hiding in one of the kids desks when i was at school once.

Just my wife AHaHaHaHaHa !

(sorry)

My late grandma was camping in Kenya in the 1980s, and a Mongoose entered her tent and sat on her chest ! No attack as such but it freaked her out !

I nearly stepped on a brown viper hiking in Costa Rica once. Also very close run in with a venomous centipede (bites can be fatal) in India. Snakes actually don’t scare me that much but centipedes do!

I went to IKEA on a bank holiday weekend once.

I did live somewhere with venomous snakes. You got used to avoiding long grass and taught children not to go near any snake just in case. A friend lost their dog to one..

Yes, camping in one of the National Parks in North America and my DH woke me up to tell me there was a bear outside the tent * .... fortunately it wandered off. Another time a huge moose was far too close for comfort ... but didn't attack.

• I just put a pillow over my head and prayed that if I was killed it would be quick .

Do shetland ponies count? Vicious bastards!

I found a rather large lizard in the bath in a Mexican hotel once, we called it Larry. I did find showering under his beady eye uncomfortable.

Oh and if I wasn't so disorganised, we would have had an encounter with a teenage Grizzly. Instead whilst I was searching the car for the suncream, he bounced down the path we would have been on.

Whilst walking my GR we came across a HUGE cat - I’m terrified of cats anyway and so was he! I called my friend in tears and told her we were going to be attacked by a lynx! She sent her son to rescue us! I swear it was a lynx and she still laughs at me to this day!

I grew up in central europe where we regularly wild camp. It's awesome.
There were really only 2 dangerous animals.
Adder and boars. The latter especially during breeding season.
They all try their best to keep away.
I know only one person bitten by adder and that's it. Wolfs are very occasional sighting back there.

It's pretty cool and relaxing. Is wild camping normal in UK? I don't think there is anything to eat you here😁 Does Nessie eat people?😂

Yes staying in a hut / cottage in a safari park in South Africa. Cooking outside in the evening, the electricity goes off at 6pm so cooking on the BBQ with a torch to see. Heard a noise, swung my torch around and two green eyes were staring at me - it was a fucking hyena! Left the steaks and ran indoors.

My late DH was working in a portacabin with some other guys in Spitsbergen in the mid 1980s. He had been chatting to one of the other guys who was peeling potatoes at the window. Just as DH walked out of the room he heard a blood curdling scream. He rushed back in in time to see the poor guy shaking and looking sheer white and a Polar Bear rearing up at the window!! 🤯 🤯 🤯 🤯

I did meet adder, which is not really exciting tho because to a heapthy adult size human it's not THAT dangerous.
They keep sunning in lots of frequented places

I won’t say which animal as it will out me as a darling relative found it very funny when it happened and told every man and his dog the story...

All I will say is a wild animal that was kept as a
Pet came out of nowhere when visiting the family and bit me. Didn’t think anything of it and got on with the day out we had planned. 12 hours later I was sitting in a&e in the majors unit with a bad infection that could have cost me a limb. I had to repeat my story constantly throughout my hospital stay as the doctors and nurses found it very amusing

I've been attacked by a capuchin monkey and her friends

A huge stag leapt out in front of my car near the lake district, it honestly felt like it had jumped over my car, but it's more likely it just ran out in front. It then looked back at me and stood angrily snorting through its nostrils and stomping its feet on the ground, while staring me down.
It was quite a majestic site, but extremely scary at the same time, I did think it was was going to get me.

I grew up in the southwestern US where a mountain range is in the middle of my city.
As a child, I lived near the mountain.
When we would have drought, wildcats and coyotes would come down looking for water.
That doesn't include the other desert "friends" like rattlesnakes and tarantulas and strange creatures like vinegaroons. Ugh.

I'm now in a suburb of Houston and my son was walking with his girlfriend and saw a tiger hanging out on someone's lawn. It's been captured now, btw.

My adders now look lame😂😂😂

Omg at some of these animals

@SnappyMcSnapface

Once, I went camping in the Kalahari desert and hyenas came into our camp at night and made off with a casserole pot. My mum found it a few hundred yards from our camp the next day.

My entire primary school was also closed for 2 days because there was a boomslang in a tree.

OK so I just googled what a boomslang is and will never close my eyes again. I hate snakes, literally my worst nightmare.

@Gingerwhinger1

A huge stag leapt out in front of my car near the lake district, it honestly felt like it had jumped over my car, but it's more likely it just ran out in front. It then looked back at me and stood angrily snorting through its nostrils and stomping its feet on the ground, while staring me down. It was quite a majestic site, but extremely scary at the same time, I did think it was was going to get me.

Deer vs car is incredibly dangerous and probably one of the worst wildlife incidents you can be involved in in the UK. But as you don't have to be wild camping to have a stag come crashing through your windscreen, I'd say go for it.

This thread is giving me the right heeby jeebys!!!
I’ve not been anywhere remotely exotic enough to come across anything dangerous, have seen an adder before though.

Wow, these are great stories!

The pandemic restrictions have me thirsting for adventure abroad

I’ve also been attacked by a grumpy monkey. Think it was a macacque. I batted it away with my handbag. It went flying and I ran away

I’ve had cobras and vipers in my garden and have come across lots of boar which have never been a problem, but I’m nervous of. I once had to dive into a bush to make way for a feral cow that was barreling down a narrow path. It definitely wasn’t for stopping.

@elp30

I grew up in the southwestern US where a mountain range is in the middle of my city. As a child, I lived near the mountain. When we would have drought, wildcats and coyotes would come down looking for water. That doesn't include the other desert "friends" like rattlesnakes and tarantulas and strange creatures like vinegaroons. Ugh.

I'm now in a suburb of Houston and my son was walking with his girlfriend and saw a tiger hanging out on someone's lawn. It's been captured now, btw.

I just had to google a vinegaroon and will never sleep again.

According to Tiger King there are more big cats in back yards in the States than there are in the whole of Africa, or something equally improbable.

We often get black bears & cougars hanging out in our back yard. Just make lots of noise so you don't surprise them and give them a clear escape route. I know when they're about because my little dog goes nuts. He's a brave/stupid little bugger