A New Yorker's guide to wild animals
29/06/16 04:37
I confess that I’m a bit of a news junkie. I like to scan the headlines from several world news sites every day. I try to keep up not only with the headlines, but also with several different perspectives. I’ve grown to appreciate the perspectives of BBC and of the English language site of Harriez, the Israeli news site. I generally scan the Washington Post as well as news sites from Costa Rica and Australia. I’m starting to become familiar with the English language version of The Japan Times now that our daughter will be moving to Japan at the end of the year. And, I usually scan the New York Times at least once a day.
It was scanning the New York Times last night that I discovered a fairly lengthy and detailed guide, written by Elaine Glusac, on what to do when a Wild Animal Attacks. I would think that wild animal attacks are relatively rare in New York City, but I guess that the residents of New York travel quite a bit. The article includes advice on mountain lion attacks based on literature from the Mountain Lion foundation. I basically knew the information. Stand tall. Open your coat and raise your arms to make yourself look bigger. Maintain eye contact. Speak firmly. Throw objects at the mountain lion. Don’t run. If attacked, fight back. Punch the animal in the ribs and head.
The truth is that I grew up in Montana and I’ve lived in the Black Hills for more than two decades. I’ve seen a mountain lion in the wild a total of two times in my life. Both times I was in a car and the animal was moving away from me at a pretty good pace. I’m not saying that an encounter with a mountain lion is impossible, I just think it is rare.
About 20 people have been killed by mountain lions in the past century. To put it in perspective, fatal bee stings are far more common than mountain lion encounters.
Still the New York Times has advice on mountain lion attacks.
The article didn’t have any advice on encounters with buffalo, but it seems to me that we hear more about people who are gored by buffalo (American bison) each year than about other animal attacks. They move a lot faster and are a lot more easily agitated than most people think. I’ve witnessed some pretty stupid behavior by people trying to get pictures of buffalo.
There was no information on what to do if you sight a rattlesnake, something that is fairly common around here. We haven’t had one in our yard yet, but I know it is possible. We’ve seen a fair number of them on hikes around the plains and hills. On the other hand, they aren’t as dangerous as we’ve been led to believe. With all of the excellent medical care available, people rarely die from snake bite. I once read that only one in 50 million people will die from snakebite, which doesn’t exactly strike fear into my heart.
The article didn’t have much advice on deer, either. We have plenty of deer in our back yard. While there is an occasional report of someone being stabbed by antlers or cut up by deer hooves, the most dangerous behavior of wild deer has to do with standing in the middle of the road. More than 100 people are killed in car and motorcycle accidents involving deer every year.
I suspect that the most dangerous wild animal in our part of the world is probably the mosquito. We don’t have any reports of Zika virus around here yet, but there have been some pretty serious cases of West Nile in our community.
At any rate, you can read in the New York Times about what to do in the event of several other types of animal attacks. I’ve read about bear attacks in the past. I get the part of playing dead once the bear has actually bitten or clawed you. I think that would require a significant amount of self discipline, but fear can help you do things that you might think otherwise are impossible. The main thing with bears is avoiding the attack in the first place. I’ve done a fair amount of hiking in bear country and simply making noise can help the bear to see you. We used to hang a metal Sierra cup on our backpacks where they would bang against the frame to make noise. There are those who believe in bear bells. Basically walking with friends and talking works pretty good. According to the New York Times pepper spray is a good thing to carry in bear country. I can’t argue with that. They also recommend it for mountain lion attacks. All I’ve got to say is that if the bear is close enough for pepper spray to work, that’s way closer than I’d like to see a bear.
I also read about repelling sharks. It says to pound on the nose or scratch its eyes. Eye poking is also recommended for alligator attacks. It doesn’t say what works for crocodile attacks, and I thought that I once read that crocodiles are more likely to attack humans than alligators. I’m not sure i’d pause long enough to tell the difference if one was attacking, however. The recent tragedy in Orlando with the little boy and the alligator is frightening enough to make one think that it is a good idea to avoid the waterfront in the evening and morning hours and to keep small children away at all times.
According to Google, the ten most dangerous animals are (in order from least to most dangerous): Cape Buffalo, Cone Snail, Golden Poison Dart Frog, Box Jellyfish, Puffer Fish, Black Mamba Snake, Saltwater Crocodiles, Tsetse Fly, Mosquitoes and Humans. There wasn’t any advice about any of those animals in the New York Times article. I would have thought they’d want to provide special attention to the last one on the list. After all sightings of those beasts are fairly common in New York City.
It was scanning the New York Times last night that I discovered a fairly lengthy and detailed guide, written by Elaine Glusac, on what to do when a Wild Animal Attacks. I would think that wild animal attacks are relatively rare in New York City, but I guess that the residents of New York travel quite a bit. The article includes advice on mountain lion attacks based on literature from the Mountain Lion foundation. I basically knew the information. Stand tall. Open your coat and raise your arms to make yourself look bigger. Maintain eye contact. Speak firmly. Throw objects at the mountain lion. Don’t run. If attacked, fight back. Punch the animal in the ribs and head.
The truth is that I grew up in Montana and I’ve lived in the Black Hills for more than two decades. I’ve seen a mountain lion in the wild a total of two times in my life. Both times I was in a car and the animal was moving away from me at a pretty good pace. I’m not saying that an encounter with a mountain lion is impossible, I just think it is rare.
About 20 people have been killed by mountain lions in the past century. To put it in perspective, fatal bee stings are far more common than mountain lion encounters.
Still the New York Times has advice on mountain lion attacks.
The article didn’t have any advice on encounters with buffalo, but it seems to me that we hear more about people who are gored by buffalo (American bison) each year than about other animal attacks. They move a lot faster and are a lot more easily agitated than most people think. I’ve witnessed some pretty stupid behavior by people trying to get pictures of buffalo.
There was no information on what to do if you sight a rattlesnake, something that is fairly common around here. We haven’t had one in our yard yet, but I know it is possible. We’ve seen a fair number of them on hikes around the plains and hills. On the other hand, they aren’t as dangerous as we’ve been led to believe. With all of the excellent medical care available, people rarely die from snake bite. I once read that only one in 50 million people will die from snakebite, which doesn’t exactly strike fear into my heart.
The article didn’t have much advice on deer, either. We have plenty of deer in our back yard. While there is an occasional report of someone being stabbed by antlers or cut up by deer hooves, the most dangerous behavior of wild deer has to do with standing in the middle of the road. More than 100 people are killed in car and motorcycle accidents involving deer every year.
I suspect that the most dangerous wild animal in our part of the world is probably the mosquito. We don’t have any reports of Zika virus around here yet, but there have been some pretty serious cases of West Nile in our community.
At any rate, you can read in the New York Times about what to do in the event of several other types of animal attacks. I’ve read about bear attacks in the past. I get the part of playing dead once the bear has actually bitten or clawed you. I think that would require a significant amount of self discipline, but fear can help you do things that you might think otherwise are impossible. The main thing with bears is avoiding the attack in the first place. I’ve done a fair amount of hiking in bear country and simply making noise can help the bear to see you. We used to hang a metal Sierra cup on our backpacks where they would bang against the frame to make noise. There are those who believe in bear bells. Basically walking with friends and talking works pretty good. According to the New York Times pepper spray is a good thing to carry in bear country. I can’t argue with that. They also recommend it for mountain lion attacks. All I’ve got to say is that if the bear is close enough for pepper spray to work, that’s way closer than I’d like to see a bear.
I also read about repelling sharks. It says to pound on the nose or scratch its eyes. Eye poking is also recommended for alligator attacks. It doesn’t say what works for crocodile attacks, and I thought that I once read that crocodiles are more likely to attack humans than alligators. I’m not sure i’d pause long enough to tell the difference if one was attacking, however. The recent tragedy in Orlando with the little boy and the alligator is frightening enough to make one think that it is a good idea to avoid the waterfront in the evening and morning hours and to keep small children away at all times.
According to Google, the ten most dangerous animals are (in order from least to most dangerous): Cape Buffalo, Cone Snail, Golden Poison Dart Frog, Box Jellyfish, Puffer Fish, Black Mamba Snake, Saltwater Crocodiles, Tsetse Fly, Mosquitoes and Humans. There wasn’t any advice about any of those animals in the New York Times article. I would have thought they’d want to provide special attention to the last one on the list. After all sightings of those beasts are fairly common in New York City.