People being surprised when wild animals act wild.

[tabbyblack13]

Has anyone ever seen videos of deer attacking people? A lot of the comments I read and see on these videos is summed up as "Why did Bambi attack?". Just because it is a prey animal doesn't mean it can't do any damage. Those antlers are very sharp and deer are very strong. If one of them gets mad at you, start praying.

Owning any wild animal should be left to professionals such as animal trainers, wild life rescues, and Zoos. The public at large should not own any wild animals.

[blas87]

Male deer in their rut are almost as bad as drunken frat boys.

I had one attack my car, because I happened to come down a road where two males had their antlers joined in a fight, and apparently, that was rude, and as soon as I thought they were gone..........BAM! One ran right into the driver's side of my car.

[BrenDAnn]

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but Animal Planet has a show on this very topic, or at least did last I knew. The people keep a wild animal as their pet, then wonder why they get attacked later on. Personally, I can't stand the show and the stupidity within it. A wild animal is always going to be wild, and do what wild animals do, period. End of story.

[Racket_Man]

I think Irv Posted a thread a while back either here or on CS (CITO maybe)about a dim bulb that climbed into the bear pit at the local zoo park. naturally the bear did attack and was put down cause everyone wanted that "vengance" against a man killer.

I see the same thing with Sharks. hmmmm person swiming in the ocean gets bit/chomped in half/mauled by a shark and everyone is up in arms over the shark just doing what comes natually ie. EATING. there is no "I WANT REVENGE AGAINST HUMANS CAUSE THEY KILLED MY BROTHER" type of thing just natural hunger and "is it GOOD to eat?"

the only "wild" animal we humans have really "domesticated" as companions are the decentants of wolves ie. dogs but that took maybe 50,000 years to "perfect". not something you can do overnight.

[Eisa]

Don't remind me of the "cute animals that can kill you" articles on Cracked... I still remember the adorable barn owl snarfing down something live. -shudders-

I know dinosaurs aren't alive today, but it also reminds me of in the Jurassic Park movies. How they wanted to be all "oohhhh dinosaurs are so cute and awesome and would make a GREAT theme park...sure we'll make the carnivores too and life will be awesome!" Yeah, it didn't work that way, now did it.

I love squirrels and chipmunks. I think they are absolutely effing adorable. And there is no way in hell I'm gonna try to get super near one, or try to touch one, because I know better. It will hurt.

Same with strange dogs and cats. LOVE dogs and cats. Especially fluffy cats. Not touching one or going near one. Except the random cat outside that came up and started twining around my legs, and then went up my leg because it wanted to be petted. It was an adorable floofball. <3 Who purred the whole time. I'm pretty sure that cat was an oddity, however.

[Ginger Tea]

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.

With regards to Captain Dickhead, I wonder about the population of braincells in his head quite often, im sad he didn't get more than a nip, yes I do mean loosing a finger or hand, after some of the things he said recently, which I might post a thread on, he needs to learn from his mistakes instead of doing them over and over, or talk about doing something REALLY stupid next time hes abroad.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet, but Animal Planet has a show on this very topic, or at least did last I knew. The people keep a wild animal as their pet, then wonder why they get attacked later on. Personally, I can't stand the show and the stupidity within it. A wild animal is always going to be wild, and do what wild animals do, period. End of story.

Exactly what I said earlier in the topic about people who keep chimpanzees as pets. People think that they're cute and cuddly; well, a male chimpanzee in a tantrum could fucking well rip your face right off. Not so cute now, is it?

[Boozy]

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

I fully expect my dogs to know that when playing with my nephews. Dogs are remarkably good at differentiating between pups and adults, and can apply it to the human world too. I expect my dogs will walk away if they're getting annoyed, and will give a warning bark or growl if one of the boys has a hold of their tail or something. And they do. I supervise them when they're playing, but I don't have the slightest concern about my dogs around toddlers.

There are no doubt some instances where a sociopathic child has got some poor animal literally trapped, and the poor thing has to defend itseld physically. But these cases are few and far between. It's more common for people to blame children when their vicious and poorly-trained dogs attack.

[SkullKing]

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.

I agre on people killing just for the pelts being wrong, however, at lest where I live, killed gators have their meat consumed, so you may have one of those. the same applies to other pelts, like rabbit.

[Blue Ginger]

Saw my first ever raccoon up close in Canada last week. They are so cute ... on the other side of the fence. I backed away from them very quickly.

When I was about 10 at a wildlife park, I saw a Japanese tourist going running up to a wombat. She picked it up to give it a cuddle. The wombat did what any self respecting wild animal does and attacked. It shredded her arms with its claws. Lucky for her there was a staff member nearby and she was not too far from the entrance for the ambulance. Poor wombat must have been so freaked out being picked up.

[Mytical]

Most domesticated pets are good natured, and prefer flight over fight. Animals are also more intelligent then a lot of people give them credit for. Despite generations of domestication, however, animals are still animals. In the wild the adults will be patient and gentle with the children..but they do not always know how strong they actually are.

Use to disciplining the child by a swift, but gentle nip or a bat with a paw..when a child does something the animal does not like..that is how they say "STOP". It might be a bit harder then they intend, injuring the child. Still not the animals' fault. They almost always give warning signs (growls, hisses, trying to move away)..if the behavior is not stopped..they will stop it.

[Lace Neil Singer]

Back when I was a kid and we got the family dog from the dog shelter, there was an incident on the day we brought her home. My little brother was messing around and he tripped over and sat on the dog, who bit him. We put the dog outside, but my brother also got told off for playing the fool around her. Seeing as she'd been abandoned by her old owners, taken to the shelter then a couple of months later, brought to a new home, it was obvious that she was feeling mixed up and needed understanding rather than punishment.

She never bit anyone again after that; my parents impressed on us and on visiting children that when the dog went to her basket, she was to be left alone as it was her way of saying she'd had enough. A lot of the time, when children get bitten by dogs, it's cuz the kids are ignoring the dog's signals that they've had enough and their parents aren't smart enough to lay the law down.

[Nyoibo]

When I was about 10 at a wildlife park, I saw a Japanese tourist going running up to a wombat. She picked it up to give it a cuddle. The wombat did what any self respecting wild animal does and attacked. It shredded her arms with its claws. Lucky for her there was a staff member nearby and she was not too far from the entrance for the ambulance. Poor wombat must have been so freaked out being picked up.

Oh hell, you do not mess with a wombat, they will, to use the vernacular, "fuck your shit up" Damn things are basically furry tanks, I've seen cars come out second best against them.

[Andara Bledin]

Use to disciplining the child by a swift, but gentle nip or a bat with a paw..when a child does something the animal does not like..that is how they say "STOP". It might be a bit harder then they intend, injuring the child.

It's not necessarily that they don't know how strong they are so much as how delicate we are. Unlike the vast majority of other mammals, humans lack the protective fur covering and extra folds of skin that protect animals such as dogs and cats.

^-.-^

[Dreamstalker]

I fully expect my dogs to know that when playing with my nephews. Dogs are remarkably good at differentiating between pups and adults, and can apply it to the human world too.

Understood completely, I was talking about a random dog/child pairing where the child doesn't know or wants to ignore the animal's signals. The parent thinks that the dog is at fault because it should know their precious was just playing (usually the 'just playing' behavior is something that could be mistaken for aggression)

Although there was a case earlier this year where a family dog (I think it was a Golden) attacked a child...the dog was poorly trained, possibly suffered from 'rage syndrome' and the kid was beating on it.