Run in with wild life

I've had up close encounters with wildlife before. While on a high adventure, we ran into a couple of adolescent bears that were looking for food. Luckily this happened close to an outpost so we were able to call for a group of rangers to chase them off.

I also usually go snorkeling whenever I do go to Southern California, Florida or Hawaii. One trip to Sanibel Island off the coast to Tampa, I happened to be swimming less than fifty feet from a good sized hammerhead.

 

The worst thing I can come across are birds of prey. I did see one years ago in my backyard, devouring his freshly caught prey. But that was about it. Unless you count zoo animals.

 

One time I was at a campground, returning back to the campsite and walking back with one of my friends. Suddenly my friend stopped me, pointing out there was a snake winding through the path. I thought it was a large piece of wood (about five feet long, I want to say), until my friend alerted me and I realised that it was moving. I have been grateful for this.

Other than that, no, no real run-ins with wildlife. I don't really live in an area close to wildlife, or where it's even abundant. Unless geese count. Those things are aggressive.

 

A vulture once. Scary but wasn't too bad

 

I saw a big dog once in the woods behind my cousins house, it wasn't a wolf, just a big black wolf that growled at us.

 

We have snakes around here all the time in summer (but that's rural Australia for ya). They're mostly just pythons and whip snakes, but occasionally we'll get an eastern brown. I've never been injured by any before though.

 

Do owls count? We found some fledgling horned owls in our backyard a while ago. We called animal services, but they said they're fine and that they're just learning how to fly. They're grown up by now though. I predict we'll have a drop in rodent populations pretty soon.

There's also this murder of crows hanging around our neighborhood that caw up a storm whenever an owl's nearby. They're jerks and they drive us crazy.

 

Ooh boy. I'm Australian, so it's pretty common to have run-ins with the local poisonous wildlife. But most of the time, they don't bother you as long as you don't bother them.

This one time, my little sister almost stepped on a death adder while we were hiking. To be more accurate, she was running ahead of our group and stepped over it and didn't even notice it was there until we caught up that we realised what had happened. Another time, I saw a red-bellied black snake living behind a brick at the top of our driveway that I named Hermy, but I think it got eaten by a kookaburra a few days later as I never saw it again. R.I.P Hermy.

Another time when we were camping, a kangaroo got into our tent. I know they're not poisonous, but they've been known to disembowel people before. But this one just hopped out after my brother started yelling at it. I also once almost had a run-in with a drop bear, but it might have just been a fat koala.

 

Welp, being Australian means a lifetime of interesting encounters of course. Mostly, the poisonous/deadly things are small and the bigger things aren't so much. I've seen wild emus (I mean, they are bigger than me and can be aggressive so thats a bit scary when actually confronted with), wild kangaroos literally lying outside the window today and most days whilst I'm on the computer, they are also fine as long as you dont get to close to a large male (Again bigger than a person is dangerous), wild echidna (not really a threat but not good to hit with a car), wild snakes (just gotta hope for the best because we primarily have brown snakes and that's stupidly deadly), all manner of horrific spiders, centipedes and so on that don't really need describing, and in fact, I think the worst reaction I've had is to a Koala because it was on the ground disorientated and I went out to see what it was doing there and it must have had something wrong with it because it chased me around in circles and it was legitemately concerning that i thought it was going to try and claw at my leg, which sounds funny but koalas are a lot bigger in reality than pictures make them out to be.

There was that time i literally jumped out of a moving car because the spider going for me was so big and I screamed and rolled onto the side of the road in front of all the morning city traffic so, that was dignified too.

 

There are some turkey vultures that hang out on the swing set in my yard, deer that eat in my garden, and actual turkeys that saunter through my lawn. Early Thanksgiving, anyone?

I usually watch all of this from the safety of my screen porch, since the animals are too shy to approach humans.

 

I have been reminded that there is a substantial amount of geese near where I live. This reminds me of my experiences with said geese.
I used to take walks around that area often, long before the geese arrived (they are an invasive species), and they do not tolerate being messed with. I've even seen them attack dogs on occasion, that got a little too close for comfort.

I myself never had any skirmishes with them, but only because I knew better and chose to give them a wide berth.
... ...I hate geese.

 

Honestly the worst thing you'd get over here is a spider or stray cat/dog. Y'know unless a snake or something escapes its owner.

 

I was at my grandmother's house, and a moose got stuck in her neighbor's backyard. I don't know why or how it got there, but it was there.
#MissingNo

 

Once, I saw a fox outside my hotel window. My dad was close to it XD

 

I haven't had any real 'close up encounters' with dangerous animals, however I have seen many a snake, including a time I nearly stepped on one.
We have Garter Snakes, Cottonmouths, Copperheads, Rattlesnakes, and several other kinds. I've personally seen Scarlet Snakes, Racers, Rat Snakes, Western Ribbon Snakes, Plains Garter Snakes, and Rough Green Snakes. My dad has seen and killed Copperheads, Cottonmouths, and Rattlesnakes out beyond where he lets me wander.
We have Falcons, Vultures, Owls, Eagles (including a nest in the meadow not far from my home, I think it may be Bald Eagles?? Not sure?), and Coyotes as predators. Prey animals include Catfish, Squirrels, Deer, Rabbits, and various birds including Geese/Ducks.

 

So... many... snakes... *cries*

Let's see... I've been really close to bison and bears while working here at Yellowstone, but with one exception I was always in a moving vehicle and the animals know enough to give most vehicles enough berth. The sole time I wasn't, a bison was just chilling right outside my dorm, munchin' on some grass. People were all like, 'get back inside! it's too close!'; me, I'm like, 'heya, M. Bison. goin' to work; see ya 'round!' and walked off like it was nothing. Naturally, the bison was too focused on its snack to pay me any mind. XD