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?

Tons of coyotes too, our neighbourhood is adjacent to a large area of woodland with various trails and streams. I always carry bear spray on our daily dog walks there as must days you can hear the 'yotes yipping and yowling somewhere nearby. They're not really dangerous to people but in a pack they will attack dogs.

Yes, had a massive bull charge at me full speed in field in a village in South Asia.... luckily its owner/handler managed to throw a stick at it and it changed course before it trampled me I was about 15 I think...

I had to pick my daughter up from Huddersfield the other week as the trains couldn't run due to cattle on the track.

Does that count?

In a hotel in Shanghai there was something rattling its way across my ceiling whilst I was trying to sleep. I assumed it was a mouse or something in the air con housing and tried to ignore it.

Suddenly there was an almighty clatter in the room and I realise whatever it was had pushed the vent through and dropped down onto the tiled floor. You have never seen me get out of bed and switch the light on - like a flash!
What I did not expect to see was a HUGE cockroach like creature in a hard shell, basically resembling a black lobster.

I felt sick to the core and tried to drop the champagne bucket over the top of it but the damn thing was too big and there was claws and hairy strands sticking out. I pushed it into the bathroom with the ironing board and closed the door.

Maids removed it the next morning whilst I was out (I sincerely hope...)

Staying in the US Rocky Mountains. We were moving our cooler of food from the car to the cabin and left it outside for just a few minutes. We knew we weren’t supposed to leave food outside, but we were just stupid. A very large bear ambled up, opened up the cooler and proceeded to eat the entire contents. He even opened a jar of mayonnaise and calmly licked out the contents with his tongue. It definitely reminded me of the old Yogi Bear cartoons. We just watched from the cabin window. We were never in any actual danger. The bear had no interest in coming inside the cabin and clearly must have been very close and just watching for the humans to slip up and leave food unattended. If it wanted to attack it certainly could have, but it just waited until we were inside and then enjoyed a feast.

I went to Oz to visit my cousin and jumped in the shower after a busy day. To my horror as I ckosed the concertina shower cubicle door a Huntsman Spider was revealed. They can jump and bite and a froze knowing I couldn't get out. I shouted my cousin who came running deftly opened the shower door and grabbed it in a bath towel. She got an eyeful of arse for her trouble poor woman and released the spider outside where from the house we could see it running down the drive. Urrrrrrgh

When I was little and on a safari trip in South Africa with my parents and brother our jeep was totally surrounded by aggressive baboons.. Realise it might not sound that scary especially as we were in a moving vehicle, but they were really menacing!

The only dangerous animals in this world are humans. The dangerous animals you are in about attack or hunt if they are scared or hungry, so technically not dangerous just a basic animal need. Humans though wouldn't think twice of killing another human in cold blood for fun though

@Cocolapew

I work in a special school and one of our buses hit a stag as it jumped across the road. It mangled the front of the bus and the vibrations put the windscreen in. The driver said it was like hitting a brick wall. The stag was fine

That sounds scary. Though, I'm not going with the story that the stag was fine. More like 'scared out of his wits and putting on a brave face'...

Not me but as a child my brother was bitten on the hand by a snake. A horned viper.
We lived in the middle east and he was fascinated by the local wildlife and would go off into the desert looking for snakes, monitor-type lizards and insects. Mu mum also freaked out when she was checking his jeans pockets before putting them in the wash and a scorpion fell out.

And I once found a camel spider in our garage it was about six to eight inches long and very chunky-- fleshy and sturdy looking too. Still the ugliest creature I've ever seen.
You could google if you've a strong stomach.

I once got beaten up by a Womble.

Only if they’ve forgotten their cowlculator.

^

Backpacking aged 18, on the gorgeous Fraser Island in Australia, tent-mates went to see the sun rise and me, being a lazy bastard, couldn’t be arsed with the dawn rising... came to regret it when the tent was surrounded by dingoes sniffling and growling, poking at the Zip...I thought I was a goner! Sounds dramatic but they have mauled and even killed people in the past and a pack of them is quite scary. Luckily they lost interest after a few minutes and wandered off.

Numerous evil looking spiders encountered as well of course.... including a funnel web nest outside one of our hostels - the owner just laughed when we pointed it out... I was constantly checking my sleeping bag for a lurking arachnid! 🕷

Believe it or not though I still love Australia! I’m half Australian and my mum actually knew Rodney Fox, the chap who was famously horrendously mauled by a Great White in the 60s (and survived!) It’s a beautiful country but definitely has more than its fair share of critters and dangerous predators!

@Moelwynbach I too had a shower-based encounter with a huntsman... was trapped in the cubicle as the damn thing was clinging to the inside of the curtain ...

IMO huntsmen are actually the ‘least bad’ option - for a start you can see them coming (!) unlike the smaller bastards like red backs and black widows, and they’re actually not very aggressive and not venomous. That said, I pretty much had a meltdown every time I saw one on childhood visits to Oz, until my grandma whipped out the ‘spider spray’ (which was actually pretty cruel, god knows what was in it but it seemed to basically disintegrate them )

No but I have watched the TV series “When Wild Animal Attack...”

Demonstrates how to fight off gators, snakes, bears, sharks etc ....very useful while living in Ireland ☘️ Tip, always go for the eyes 👀

@Botanica that actually had me in semi-hysterics. ‘Hairy strands’ 🤣🤣 wtf was it?!

I think I need to go to bed...

My friend and I did a camping safari and a lion came into our camp the first night. I also nearly stood on a viper in Indonesia and a group of macaque monkeys tried to steal my crisps

Another Australian. This thread is making me feel brave! (I'm not really).

Plenty of redbacks and a few funnel webs (highly poisonous). Huntsman can be big and scary-looking but I've never seen them move very quickly! We catch them inside with a tupperware container and a magazine.

Snakes are pretty easy to avoid, they're a bigger risk to dogs who try to play with them.

Have been stung by a jellyfish but not a really poisonous one. The southern ones give you sting like mild sunburn. They're not fun to pull off your leg, so slimy and bluerrgh.

Leeches, god they're horrid. Especially when they're all full of (your) blood and ... I won't go on.

Worst was being bitten on the arm by an emu as a kid. Avulsed a decent chunk of skin. They are big scary fuckers.

A small herd of horses and some cattle.

Yes. I once had a brown recluse spider climb down the wall of my swimming pool. Also came within six feet of a coyote (note: on the East Coast of the US, they are part wolf, part domestic dog, and part coyote) and we both froze, until he walked off rather casually after a few seconds. Had many black bears cross the property, but never when we were outdoors.

I wouldn't say a run-in but we get black widow spiders in our garage and I've had coyotes, a black bear and a cougar in my yard (but not at the same time)

All the time. I live in Australia 😂
Main ones are spiders and snakes. We have funnel webs in the backyard and we have to check the pool as they like to hang at the bottom. We have bush surrounding us so snakes the main ones being browns and red bellies. I’ve also unknowingly swum with sharks and blue ringed octopus.
Have also encountered dingoes, wild dogs, mouse plagues and lots of other insects that will have a go at you if they can 😂😬

A bloody massive kangaroo nearly totalled our car once. And I was bitten on the arm by a White Tip, that was a bit unpleasant, but not as scary as the monkeys in Bali.

Oh yeah, we have rattlesnakes too. i haven't seen one though.