To think being scared by wolves is normal?

[PokeAndyInTheEye]

Just that really, you’re hiking and up ahead you see a big dog - then another big dog - then you realise they’re not dogs. AIBU to think it’s pretty normal to panic at this point? Or is it worthy of ridiculing someone over?

I wouldn’t agree with you but add cougars to your list. They can be savage beasts.

I'm scared of cows. They do actually kill people. Dh and ds2 always tell me I'm being silly and tease me about it, but people have died so I know I'm not over reacting.

Wolves are scary too.

I live in a place with wolves, and yes, I would be nervous if out walking and I saw several of them ahead. Not that they attack humans (or very, very rarely), but they do kill dogs and there are historical stories of them taking babies (not sure how true these are). They are an animal I have respect for and would be wary of.

Excuse my lack of knowledge... but if wolves are known to be in the area, I can understand the panic. Especially if you were visiting and not used to the area.
We all have irrational fears. I knew someone terrified of giant squids.
For me, it's sinkholes.

My sister had a complete panicky reaction to a twig falling on one of her friends... stuttering with a terrified face. She thought it was a stick insect. This was in the middle of Europe. She laughs about it but still terrified of them.

@IHS So am I! Same with horses. They're both bonny to look at, you won't catch me within a few feet of either though.

I'd also shit my pants if I happened to walk by a pack of wolves, yeah.

I try not to ridicule anyone over a genuine fear reaction - though that doesn't mean I wouldn't say the fear was an over reaction to the actual threat.

Wolves are one of those where the fear comes from their mythical reputation. In reality, they are not a threat but the fairy tales suggest otherwise so I can see how someone might have retained that fear.

Now, face to face with a bear and I am gonna be sh*tting myself. But wolves? nope. (Though I would probably keep a beady eye on them to make sure they were not following me )

I get it... When you have a family who ridicule you for walking into a lamp post in the dark as a kid (decades later, still tittering about it) or mocking you for instinctively reacting with fear when encountering a snake very close by on the ground in a foreign country, or for screaming when being thrown off a horse .. Yeah, they are dicks. Total and utter stupid fragile dicks who only feel good when they can lord it over others (I don't know how having basic human instincts and reacting on them is something to lord over, but they do, somehow). My advice is cut that contact right down! Sounds drastic but fuck that kind of person, seriously. You shouldn't have to police your basic reactions just to appease dickwads.

I went to a talk about wolves at a zoo by their keeper. The story of how humans have persecuted and hunted them almost into oblivion is heartbreaking. He said that their instinct on seeing humans is to run away. If anyone went into their enclosure they would run off and hide in their underground den.
You should always be respectful of any wild animal and not provoke them. But wolves fear us much more than we have reason to fear them.

I have a healthy respect for cows too -and was royally taken the piss out of UNTIL someone in our village was trampled and ended up in hospital. I'd happily go through horses fields and kept mine on a cattle farm for years and was told frequently by the farmer they can be extremely dangerous. So you are not silly to be scared at all.

Well I had a pet half wolf as a child who was a big soft shite so I wouldn't be automatically scare of a 'wolf'... situation is context.

I assume this is not the UK as we don't have wild wolves here.

A wild dog can be very dangerous regardless of breed, while wolves rarely attack humans there have been cases so cautious behavior, retreating safely and reacting to the cues of the animal would be a 'normal' reaction.

Screaming like an utter prat and running round (like some do with spiders or wasps) because a person Alsation is near by you on a Snowdonia hike or something though would be a mock-able over exaggeration.

Yeah - I never walk the dog through a cow field unless it really is my only option (it never is). Those cows ARE dangerous!

As for the cow thing, a healthy respect for any large animal should be expected... she size and power can kill even if animals aren't predators.

Being kicked by horse or trampled by cows is not that rare, far more likely to kill you in the UK than a wolf.

Yes I hate walking through a field of cows and DH thinks I'm ridiculous. Until, unfortunately, someone we know had their BIL and dog trampled to death on a normal walking route for them. He doesn't tease me now.

Lots of animals will react to protect their young. DH was attacked by a turtle once!!

Wolves - fine, would almost certainly squeal ‘hi puppy!’ from a safe-ish distance.

Cows, however…fucking RUN! I was walking my dog with my Dad last year and there were four cows with young calves blocking our path on the way back (nowhere in sight on the way there!) All three of us quietly crawled under some bushes to escape because we didn’t want to take any chances with angry cows. DDog was delighted that Mum and Grandad were crawling under the bushes with him

If you saw wolves close by in the wild, then I think being a bit fearful is completely normal. What did you do when you panicked? That is probably what's inviting the ridicule.

Cows are dangerous and far more likely to be a problem on a walk.

But you’ll note there are far fewer fairy tales about big bad cows. We are culturally baked into wolf fear. I would love to see wolves on a hike in Montana, but in part because I spent much of my childhood having nightmares about wolves.

Have never had a cow nightmare, but have done ridiculous detours to avoid fields with them in.

Went snowshoeing in Yellowstone in Montana. All species of wild canines stayed well away, but we met bison up close more than once, because they were using the same trails as us. Pretty frightening.

People who are insufficiently scared of wild animals are the ones who get killed taking selfies with moose. Your fear is keeping you safe!

And totally agree with PPs about (British) cows. I’ve been charged by one when walking before and it was terrifying. Cows in other parts of the world (eg Asia) are much less evil/scary/big though, so I think it’s our fault for breeding them like this.

I love dogs and am very rarely scared of them, but I think we have a primitive part of our brain that reacts to threats - it's instinctive, not rational. A false positive of 'Shit! Wolf!' when it's only a dog (which happened to me as a teenager) was historically a lot less risky for a human than a false negative 'Ah, just a dog...' only to twig two minutes later that no, it's a wolf, and its mates, and they are peckish and heading your way.

Wolves worldwide are generally now very wary of people, but they are apex predators - five or six of them can pull down an adult American bison, so they'd make short work of a human if they put their minds to it.

Also, don't run away from cows: frisky young steers are curious creatures and are likely to chase you for the LOLs. Just walk away slowly, keeping an eye on them.

Also, do not get between a cow and her calf.

I don't think it was unreasonable to feel fear. They're a top predator after all. But what did your panic look or sound like? Did you insist on packing your bags and driving to San Francisco immediately? Scream and run around in circles flapping your arms? Climb a tree and refuse to come down?

It depends on how the fear was expressed, surely?

It’s like someone saying ‘they’ve mocked me for admiring art!’, and on the surface that appears to be an incredibly unreasonable thing to do, but then it turns out that said admiration consisted of howling loudly beneath the Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel. Context matters.

I would find a pack of dogs much scarier tbh...

If you live in Montana you are not really scared of wolves.
I haven't seen one near me in the UK for a while, but a friend saw a couple on the underground near Leicester Sq. a few weeks ago.

Does that go the same for bison too?