People being surprised when wild animals act wild.

[Mytical]

Surprised this topic has yet to surface..did a search and couldn't find one though.

I am a compassionate person by nature, heck I even feel bad when I see a insect harmed. For some reason I have a hard time feeling any compassion when somebody who is messing with wild animals gets attacked. Then the animal is blamed, and often killed because of it.

If you are interacting with a wild animal, and do not give them the proper respect they deserve..you get what you deserve imo. If you are mauled, bitten, killed..its your own fool fault. These are not kittens or puppies..they are wild animals. Instincts, like fight or flight, keep them alive. Do not blame the animal when something goes wrong. We have reasoning abilities, we are the ones who should know better.

I've seen a fair number of videos where a wild animal has harmed a person, and everybody seems to act so surprised. A gator bites somebody's arm because they stick it in the gators mouth..a grizzly attacks a trainer...a white Bengal tiger attacks some magician..and people just can't seem to understand it. How could it happen? Oh must be the animals fault, lets kill the animal for responding the way it normally does (or would in the wild at least)!.

It's sad really. The animals are not to blame. I will feel compassion for somebody who accidentally encounters an animal and gets hurt..but if you purposely put yourself in harms way? Sorry can't feel any compassion for you at all. Even if it is accidentally, however, I will not blame the animal..it was just doing what it does..it isn't the humans fault (in that instance) that is why it is called an accident. If you go out of your way to mess with big wild animals..then yes idiot .. it is your fault that you got bit/killed/whatever.

[SkullKing]

That gets me too, only not just with wild animals. Guy provokes a guard dog, and acts surprised when bitten and tries to have it killed.

where I live there is a guy that almost had to have his dog killed because of the death of a burglar(who had already killed the other guard dog).

It is just another form of animal cruelty.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I posted on another forum about people who have chimpanzees as pets. This is what I posted; I think it ties in neatly with this topic:

There was a story on the news recently about a woman who was attacked by her friend's pet chimp... who ended up tearing her face and hands off. O_o Chimps should never be kept as pets; they are wild animals.

Chimpanzees can never be trained fully to hold no risk whatsoever of hurting their owners. Especially since people who have them as pets very rarely see them as being wild animals; more like hairy people. Other primates are kept as pets, but chimps are more dangerous than, say, macque monkeys, cuz of their immense strength. They are far stronger than humans, and are never fully tame, no matter what their owners may think; there is always that risk that they may turn on them. Males are particularly aggressive.

http://www.allbusiness.com/science-t...1971361-1.html

Dogs and cats have been domesticated for thousands of years so the risk of horrendous injury from them is very small if the animals are trained correctly. However, all the training in the world can't take away the chance that your pet chimp Billy could one day take offence to your habit of patting his head and rip your hand off, before pelting you with faeces and ripping your eyes out of your skull.

Also, chimps and other primates who are destined to become pets are taken from their mothers at a very early age. You can only imagine the trauma that they go thru. Also, while baby chimps may be cute and cuddly, adult chimps are not. An adult male chimp is ten times stronger than a human, and very capable of throwing massive tantrums which could see you heading into an early grave... in pieces.

Hell, even trained professionals who keep them have to put in place all kinds of security measures to ensure that their charges do not escape and wreak havoc. The fact is, a chimpanzee is a wild animal. No amount of putting them in clothes, feeding them cake or letting them sleep in your bed can change that fact.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-chimpanzee-at

Yet people are still surprised when their chimp turns on them. It's not a person, it's a wild animal. You wouldn't be surprised if a neighbour's pet lion or wolf did it, so why think it's different when it's a chimp?

[Mytical]

I agree with both of you. Now if a pet has rabies or whatever..I guess there is little choice...but otherwise..even if the animal bites a child it should not be put down simply because it bit or whatever.

[Dreamstalker]

In all of the 'dog bites child' cases around here it was clear (to me anyway) that the kid was doing something to somehow antagonize the dog. Although for some reason the parent thinks that "oh Johnny/Jane was just playing!" means that the animal should 'know' that too

When I was VERY young and didn't know any better, I grabbed our cat's tail and bent it in half. She turned and swatted me across the face, but her claws were sheathed so all I got was scared shitless (you can bet I learned to Never Do That Again). We don't know why she was gentle in putting me in my place, but if I took anything from that it was a warning "the next cat you do this to won't be so nice".

[Andara Bledin]

a white Bengal tiger attacks some magician..

To be fair, they both defended the tiger in that case and he was quarantined to ensure he was healthy then returned to the tiger enclosure.

^-.-^

[Nyoibo]

I've seen a fair number of videos where a wild animal has harmed a person, and everybody seems to act so surprised. A gator bites somebody's arm because they stick it in the gators mouth..a grizzly attacks a trainer...a white Bengal tiger attacks some magician..and people just can't seem to understand it. How could it happen? Oh must be the animals fault, lets kill the animal for responding the way it normally does (or would in the wild at least)!.

In most of those cases however the handlers will be some of the first people to come to the defence of the animal, provided they survive that is.

[Mytical]

Which is a good thing, and they should. If anybody should know that an animal, being true to its nature, is just being an animal..it is the people that are around them the most. Blaming an animal for attacking is like blaming a fire for burning..at least imo.

[Ginger Tea]

I think it was Chriss Rock who had a skit on this
"people say that Tiger went crazy, Tiger didn't go crazy, Tiger went Tiger."

and also (I might post a longer OT post about this) whilst on holiday to Serbia Captain Dickhead decided to stick his hands through the cage of a Puma and call it over with "here kitty kitty" at first it sniffed then licked his finger then he was shocked that it bit it, he didn't have his finger bit off and he like an idiot didn't bother to get first aid, he told me he just wrapped it in blue paper from the toilet also didn't get a tetnes shot either.

[Mytical]

I think it was Chriss Rock who had a skit on this
"people say that Tiger went crazy, Tiger didn't go crazy, Tiger went Tiger."

Its funny cause it's true As for somebody sticking a hand (or other body part) inside a cage..you just have to wonder what the heck is going on in the person's head. If anything.

[Talon]

People acting all shocked and outraged - pure ego projection. The person who behaved inappropriately would sooner twist their own head off than admit they screwed up. As for the spectators, I would hazard a guess that they don't like the idea of being taken to task by a being they see as clearly inferior.

In most of those cases however the handlers will be some of the first people to come to the defence of the animal, provided they survive that is.

Case in point: Kevin Richardson, called by some the "Lion Whisperer".

I've read his book "Part of the Pride", where he described being attacked by one of his lions - a declawed one at that. He admitted that it was his fault - he screwed up, he misread the lion's warning signs, and you only get one warning with lions. After that, well it's the proverbial tap on the shoulder. Coming from a lion, that tap put Richardson in the hospital.

On a separate note, the aformentioned lion didn't hold any sort of grudge against Kevin. He's been attacked more than once, and still maintains that he'd rather spend time with them than people. Wild animals may be dangerous, but they're not vindictive or deceptive.

[SkullKing]

Not just big animals either, people who see a cute animal, like an squirrel or racoon and thinks cute=pets

I remember cracked on run an article along the lines of "cute animals that can kill you"

[bara]

If you are interacting with a wild animal, and do not give them the proper respect they deserve..you get what you deserve imo. If you are mauled, bitten, killed..its your own fault food

Fixed that for ya!

And raccons are one of the fluffiest looking critters in the world.. that can eat your face.

[Ladeeda]

I think most animals are cute, including spiders, scorpions, and your average oversized sewer rat.

Doesn't mean I want to get anywhere near them. Well aware they are venomous or disease-ridden, and either way incredibly dangerous.

[blas87]

I am against circuses for the very reason it's animal abuse. You don't make people pay to watch people treat animals poorly for entertainment.

That and no matter what happens in my future money-wise, I'll never own any fur coat or fur shoes or gator shoe or belt. People killing animals just to make clothes is wrong. We are not a primate society any longer. Hunting deer for food is different than slaughtering animals to make clothes, and hunting gators to make belts and wallets. That's just idiocy.