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?

Spent a lot of time in Florida growing up as my grandparents owned a house on the beach and my aunt and uncle live out there.

My cousins and I were swimming one day in the sea when my uncle came running down to the edge of the water screaming as us to swim. None of us even turned around, we did as we were told.

Once back onto the sand we turned around to see 2 bull sharks swimming, my uncle had spotted the fins and they were heading in our direction.

There is a pier not far from where we were swimming, my Grandad and Uncle were fishing the next day and the man who works on the pier said the sharks approaching us were at least 8ft long, bull sharks are known to be vicious as they do not need to be hungry to hunt, they enjoy playing with their food first.

My aunt and uncles house backs onto one of the waterways, a local young teenage boy had got out of his canoe at waist deep water and a bull shark attacked him and he died from blood loss.

I think bears are awesome but I would be terrified if I was in a tent and one was outside. I have been on a bear watching trip in Slovenia but we were 20 feet up in a hide so quite safe.

My scariest encounters have been with birds.

A bastard vulture in a French zoo that went for me. Ate my map and tried to peck my feet. Feeding time with the vultures was a bit too authentic. Gave DD something to talk about in show and tell.

Also when I was six I got stuck in a car with a live turkey. It was meant to be dead but got better. And angry. Long story but terrifying at the time

A gecko ran up the leg of my shorts when I was about 12.

The barbary macaques of Gibraltar may not be as dangerous as some of the things on this thread but are surprisingly heavy when they land on you off a roof, have an incredibly strong grip (instant bruises) and will try and unzip your bag. I was particularly pissed off because I'd been keeping my distance (not trying to stroke them or take a selfie next to one) and had no food.
On a tour of Japan one fellow traveller was mobbed by monkeys, deer and a bird of prey. This may have been because she was always snacking.

DD had one of the apes sat on her head when we were in Gibraltar at the beginning of last year. Can be so vicious.

We saw a cougar in Bryce National Park in Utah(?) we were in the car. It crossed the road in two bounds, a two lane road. I had thought that they were smaller until we saw her, absolutely beautiful but huge. When we spoke to the Rangers about seeing her they casually said “oh yes, she has cubs near there, she’s been stalking hikers to make sure they don’t get near them”. We changed our hiking plans for the afternoon.
That was our luckiest animal encounter, usually we are places where exciting animals were, the day before, sometimes minutes before we arrive.
A cockroach did fall on my head while I was brushing my teeth in Costa Rica though.

I've been bitten by hundreds of leaches, if that counts! And in the UK was bitten by a false widow spider, my leg swelled up massively. Was mobbed by monkeys too in Thailand until a little boy beat them away with a big stick Oh and a grizzly bear walked past the window of our cabin when in USA, luckily a log cabin rather than a tent...

We saw a box turtle in our yard today. We gave it an apple. 🐢 🍎

My little sister and I got mugged by a female baboon on a beach at Cape Horn. We were carrying a plastic bag with stuff like suncream in. She marched right over, backed up by her troop of mates, and snatched it from my hand. Then my sister, who was only about 5, got chased under an overhanging rock by a male baboon baring its teeth. Terrifying. They only left us alone when a man who was playing beach tennis came over beating his chest with the tennis paddles.

I got chased by a sheep in rural Ireland once. I was near its feeding station, so it was probably either thinking I'd feed it as was hot-footing it over, or was jealously guarding its stash.

When I was about 7 I got pinned into a fenced-off corner by 3 farm geese. Bastards. They were all long, low necks and hissy. I had to climb the fence and yell for help.

Well we once set up our tent under a tree that belonged to an aggressive squirrel. Said squirrel chittered angrily, threw rocks at the tent and peed on it all day and all night until we moved our tent.

@plominoagain

It's not just me then ? It's the only road that makes me distinctly uncomfortable when I drive it very late at night .

I actually thought I was hallucinating , until it looked straight at me and then hopped across the road . I thought it was escaped from somewhere like Shepreth Wildlife park , so called the police , and it turns out there are actually wild wallabies out there . Who knew ?

There have been reports of a colony of wallabies in north Herts for quite a few years although i haven't heard any lately.
theconversation.com/wallabies-are-on-the-loose-in-britain-and-weve-mapped-95-sightings-148374

I was 5 and at the beach with my family (Australia). I remember looking out, and seeing a fin coming towards me. Still remember the feeling of absolute terror.

Turns out it was just a gummy shark . But to this day I remain unreasonably terrified of sharks.

I grew up in Singapore and apparently once had a close shave with a coral snake, neatly circumnavigated by my very brave aya and a stick.

Here's an interesting fact. The Mister Skinnylegs episode of Peppa Pig is banned in Australia because you really don't want to encourage kids to play with spiders there.

also outs self to family my sister had to scoot out of the pool fast when a black mamba dropped into it. I also remember my dad catching puff adders with a forked stick at the back of the head. Most dangerous animals were mozzies though, bloody malaria.

@3CCC

I have a very outing story involving a bull elephant and a bamboo hut. In Zambia

Same trip some elephants tried to stampede us whilst we were canoeing

Anyone who knows you and that story will probably put two and two together. As for the rest of us, thank you, that was a great addition to the thread. If you can’t/ won’t tell the story then don’t mention it. What’s the point?

@PlanDeRaccordement

Well we once set up our tent under a tree that belonged to an aggressive squirrel. Said squirrel chittered angrily, threw rocks at the tent and peed on it all day and all night until we moved our tent.

I'm sorry but I had a good laugh at this 😂

@YellowMonday

I was 5 and at the beach with my family (Australia). I remember looking out, and seeing a fin coming towards me. Still remember the feeling of absolute terror.

Turns out it was just a gummy shark . But to this day I remain unreasonably terrified of sharks.

Are they like Gummie bears?

Not a dangerous animal at all but when we visited Australia we stayed we a lady who rescues injured tree kangaroos and one of them jumped on my back.

In Gibraltar a macaque jumped on DSs head when he was 5, he was seriously impressed at being chosen.

DH crashed into two wild boars in France whilst driving his Dad's new car. Someone wound down their window and said don't stop don't get out a lady did same thing, stopped to see if car and boar ok and 7 wild boars charged at her at once. The dog at the repair garage was most impressed and licked the car.

Saw cassowary on beach in Australia and another one under place we were staying. And a boat trip with crocodile 🐊 by us. And in Finland some brown bears came about a metre from us in a wooden hut but they just sat there.

None of them as scary as our cat in a bad mood.

Oh and I've been mugged for my pancake by many seagulls on Brighton beach, I didn't resist.

@Hoppinggreen they are a type of Australian shark, fairly small with flat teeth so they can't do too much damage, if you're bitten the worst case would be a fairly decent bruise.

But they are delicious; "flake" (gummy shark) is popular for fish and chips here.

@PlanDeRaccordement

Yeah I heard about the Peppa Pig Mister Skinny legs episode being banned in Aus - makes total sense.

A group of us were camping at the edge of woodland. We hadn't seen each other for a while, so we sat up all night, round the fire, talking and drinking , and went off to sleep where we were, the open air, when the sun rose.
I was awakened by one of the men yelling and writhing and getting out of his sleeping bag in a rush. We all looked at each other, wondering what on earth was the matter. Was he having a nightmare?
Then a small adder emerged from the sleeping bag and made its way into the trees...

Cows. Dangerous fuckers.