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I'm wary around big aggressive looking dogs, I didn't used to be afriad of them but now that i have my daughter with me - they freak me out a little. I was afriad of wild dogs when we were in Thailand because many are rabid.
Sharks - not so much - I've actaully done "shark cage" dives and wasn't afriad.
When i snorkled in Okinawa - I wasn't afriad but aware that there were LOTS of dangerous things in the water there (blue ring octipus, cone shells, sea snakes, barracuda, sharks, crown of thorns, stone fish, fire coral...)
Here in SoCal - I've never been afriad of mountain lions (never even seen one despite hiking frequently). I think alot of people confuse bobcats with moutain lions here...
I've seen many rattlesnakes but they weren't coiled, just slithering away.
I'm afriad of bees (husband is allergic) and in particular, "killer bee attacks"
Every once and a while you hear of someone being killed & eaten by an alligator in Florida. That would be a horrible way to die! I watched a great tv show about a guy in Alaska who lived among the grizzles bears. He documented & filmed encounters he had with bears. Sadly he was eventually attacked and eaten along with his female companion. Another guy in Alaska also lived among the bears but he had a house to protect him at night. Talk about living on the edge!
The guy who got eaten was Timothy Treadwell. To be blunt and frank, he was a bit of a nut. He loved the bears, but he in no way respected them...which is why his life ended as it did. Other researchers begged him to stop taking foolish risks because they knew the end result would be a dead man and dead bears, which is exactly what happened.
As a vet tech, I only ever feared two animals. One was a golden, the other was a house cat. The golden was a young dog that from birth would violently attack anyone who came near her. The owners took her to several behaviorists, but the dog was just plain wired wrong. You couldn't 'read' that dog- she'd be okay one moment and trying to tear your face off the next. The cat had a toxo infection in the brain, which basically made it act like it had rabies. I actually ended up bitten badly enough by him for a hospital trip.
Fear is useless, and often it makes people act jumpy around animals, which makes it more likely they'll be bitten. For example, if you're going to pick up a snake, pick it up- don't flail your hands around it until you get up the courage. This is particularly important with dogs, as they are so sensitive to body language.
I do understand that animals, even your domestic house pets, can become aggressive for any number of reasons. So I respect what they're capable of, and I take reasonable precautions.
Every week there is news of pit bulls attacking people & killing people on occasion. Are you afraid of pit bulls when you see one? Have you ever seen a pit bull on the loose? Sometimes the police have to shoot pit bulls to stop their attack.
Several years ago a woman was attacked by a mountain lion in Orange county. She was riding her bike with a friend on a trail in the foothills. A large mountain lion jumped on the woman & bit down on her neck. Her friend screamed for help but even a few men could not get the lion to let go of the woman [even threw large rocks at the cat]. The mountain lion fled & dragged the woman away. The police found the woman's body & discovered that the lion eat part of her.
That would be a terrifying encounter with a wild animal.
Yeah I have a fear of Opossums, I'll take my chances rubbing a Tiger first lol, but I did take a pic sitting with my arm around 150 lb grey wolf at the zoo, and his brother is 165 but he's not people friendly!
Afraid? Not at all, for some reason most cats and dogs like and trust me, and I love cats and am very fond of dogs. Cautious and pragmatic? Yes indeed. The major mistake many animal lovers make is that they believe that just because you love an animal it will love you back. Often this just is not so. One of my interests is wildlife, and for a layman am pretty well informed as to many of their characteristics and behavior. Again caution and practical does it. Tim Treadwell has been mentioned. Have seen his films and was horrified at his conduct. He might be used as an example of how not to behave around dangerous animals. He loved the bears, but they did not love him. It was not a surprise that he was killed, but a surprise that he survived for 13 years before tragedy finally struck.
Afraid? Not at all, for some reason most cats and dogs like and trust me, and I love cats and am very fond of dogs. Cautious and pragmatic? Yes indeed. The major mistake many animal lovers make is that they believe that just because you love an animal it will love you back. Often this just is not so. One of my interests is wildlife, and for a layman am pretty well informed as to many of their characteristics and behavior. Again caution and practical does it. Tim Treadwell has been mentioned. Have seen his films and was horrified at his conduct. He might be used as an example of how not to behave around dangerous animals. He loved the bears, but they did not love him. It was not a surprise that he was killed, but a surprise that he survived for 13 years before tragedy finally struck.
I remember seeing the documentary on him for the first time and my jaw just dropped. He was angry with tourists in the back for shooing young bears away by throwing rocks (near them, not at them). Instead he wanted to habituate the bears to a human presence and make it far more likely that they would someday be killed for it.
Even then, I just thought he was a little off. I became convinced there was something seriously wrong when he found a 'dead' bee in a flower and started full out weeping over how 'he died doing his duty for the hive'. Then the bee flew off...
Point being, you can love an animal all you want. Being respectful and responsible is what matters.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ParallelJJCat
The guy who got eaten was Timothy Treadwell. To be blunt and frank, he was a bit of a nut. He loved the bears, but he in no way respected them...which is why his life ended as it did. Other researchers begged him to stop taking foolish risks because they knew the end result would be a dead man and dead bears, which is exactly what happened.
As a vet tech, I only ever feared two animals. One was a golden, the other was a house cat. The golden was a young dog that from birth would violently attack anyone who came near her. The owners took her to several behaviorists, but the dog was just plain wired wrong. You couldn't 'read' that dog- she'd be okay one moment and trying to tear your face off the next. The cat had a toxo infection in the brain, which basically made it act like it had rabies. I actually ended up bitten badly enough by him for a hospital trip.
Fear is useless, and often it makes people act jumpy around animals, which makes it more likely they'll be bitten. For example, if you're going to pick up a snake, pick it up- don't flail your hands around it until you get up the courage. This is particularly important with dogs, as they are so sensitive to body language.
I do understand that animals, even your domestic house pets, can become aggressive for any number of reasons. So I respect what they're capable of, and I take reasonable precautions.
I'm afraid that this isn't blunt and frank enough.
Treadwell had no objective. He wasn't trying to learn anything, he wasn't working to affirm or disprove a hypothesis, he just wanted to play with bears. He was very much touched in the head (or maybe just stupid) and the blood of that girl is ultimately on his hands for his assurances that she would be safe with him because he was somehow special.
I'm afraid that this isn't blunt and frank enough.
Treadwell had no objective. He wasn't trying to learn anything, he wasn't working to affirm or disprove a hypothesis, he just wanted to play with bears. He was very much touched in the head (or maybe just stupid) and the blood of that girl is ultimately on his hands for his assurances that she would be safe with him because he was somehow special.
Yeah...that was the saddest part of that situation. The poor girl knew enough to be scared of those animals and wanted to leave, but he kept convincing her that he knew what he was doing. It's one thing to risk your own life doing something so foolhardy, quite another to put someone else's life on the line. And all to prove that he was some kind of mythical 'bear whisper'. And, of course, he got the bear killed too...I can't even fully blame him though. Watching those videos of him just breaking down over a not-quite-dead bumblebee, I find myself convinced that he had a very real mental illness.
But thinking of that woman, and how terrified she must have been...just a terrible, terrible tragedy. I know the park rangers did everything they could to get him out (he kept hiding and moving his campsite), but I have to wonder if somewhere along the line a chance wasn't missed to get him committed for his own safety..
To be back on topic, I think NOT being respectful on some level of predators (including dogs) is a sign of mental illness or just a foolhardy nature. If it has teeth, the possibility exists that it could bite. If you're in bear country, you'd best be aware that bears aren't cute fluffy furballs. If you go crashing through the woods instead with peanut butter sandwiches tucked in your pocket, something is wrong with you. Same if you walk up to a strange dog and try to hug it.
I think the media has a lot to do with creating fear of animals. I once watched a show about a man being chased and trapped in a store with Dobermans. I have been scared of Dobermans ever since then.
Really, who would not be afraid, of a creature that does not talk, jumps fast, has sharp teeth, and claws? I wonder if I will be safe when I go to bed tonight, after all, in the dark...who knows what Jasper might do?!
Depends on the animal, I guess! Seeing as I have a house full of animals - including a dog, 3 cats, a large collection of snakes, and a cage full of feeder rats - obviously I don't have a general fear of animals. But when I used to live in the mountains, I did encounter a few creatures that gave me a fright... namely the coyotes who ran the streets at night, and that bear cub who decided to drink from our birdbath one afternoon. Actually, I was more scared of the bear cub's MOM, who I assumed was not far away. I'm also a bit fearful of raccoons (they can be nasty creatures), spiders, and skunks just because I & my dog don't like getting sprayed.
Am I afraid of Pit Bulls? Not unless they look/act overtly aggressive, which goes for pretty much any dog breed I've encountered. Heck, I'm terrified of my neighbor's little cat, who is seriously psychotic... she stalks me & my dog when we go for nightly walks, and even attacked my legs one time. But I'm obviously not afraid of my own cats, or any other cats really - just her!!
Last edited by gizmo980; 12-08-2011 at 11:30 PM..
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I watched a great tv show about a guy in Alaska who lived among the grizzles bears. He documented & filmed encounters he had with bears. Sadly he was eventually attacked and eaten along with his female companion. Another guy in Alaska also lived among the bears but he had a house to protect him at night. Talk about living on the edge!
