I've always been annoyed by the PETA types and their "green" allies who want to reintroduce predators to areas where they'd been eradicated, and protest that we can coexist with predators without fear of them. Trouble is, nature really IS "red in tooth and claw", and predators have no fear of humans unless they learn it the hard way.
Two very recent examples:
Wisconsin Duck Hunter Claims He Killed Wolf In Self Defense
Man in Cañon City area claims self-defense after killing a mountain lion
The first incident was solved with a shotgun, but the second saw (of all things) a spade adapted as an emergency defensive weapon. Kudos to the man concerned for quick thinking.
In Africa, where I was born and raised, there'd be no argument about this whatsoever. It's an old and true saying that "In Africa, everything bites". Another is "Africa wins again!" If a wild animal of any sort approaches you, you put it down, no questions asked, no hesitation whatsoever. If you don't, you'll likely find out that you're either being digested, or have contracted rabies or some other delightful disease. I fear Americans have lost that awareness that in the wilderness, you are not at the top of the food chain - far from it!
I'm glad to read that both of the victims survived those animal attacks. May others learn from their example.
Peter
Nobody seems to remember that the Texas and the southwest United States were once well within the natural range of the Jaguar. They were eliminated for a reason. There have been cryptid type sightings. Have you ever seen a Jaguar in person? People are not going to like it if they are reintroduced. I can tell you that if I am ever confronted with one in my wandering around in the outdoors I'm going to start shooting and we can discuss legalities and environmental sensitivity at a later time.
ReplyDeleteI was informed by my National Guard unit's recon detachment NCOIC, an Airmobile trooper in Vietnam before I encountered him in the early '80's, that a properly wielded entrenching tool is the most devastating close combat weapon you may have available. He never disclosed how he arrived at that conclusion . . .
ReplyDeleteBased on several years' service in Africa, I can confirm that from personal experience. The Spetsnaz entrenching tool with its fixed handle is particularly well suited to sharpening and defensive use. See https://www.coldsteel.com/spetsnaz-special-forces-trench-shovel/ for more information.
DeletePeter's link looks like a short spear with an oversized head that can double as a shovel, assuming it is properly sharpened. I can very much see that being considered a most excellent CQC weapon.
DeleteA slightly different take on the 3S solution: Spade, Shovel, and Shut Up. And conveniently provides means for the second part.
DeleteThe PETA and Greenie types are evidence that we have willfully thwarted Darwinian selection and society is much worse off for having done so. If these idiots are so obsessed with having dangerous wildlife close the easy solution is to drop them into a zoo habitat of a dangerous predator and let nature take it's course. Animal gets fed and society is minus one more moron.
ReplyDeleteSome time ago, at a remote park in Kansas, something stalked me in tall grass (six-feet tall). I suspect it was a bobcat, but it might have been a mountain lion. I got the heck away from the grass and hiked a different part of the park. I also had a chat with a state park ranger in a different flat state, who said that no, officially they had no mountain lions in the state, but who also agreed that avoiding a certain rugged section of the preserve wouldn't be a bad idea. He knew that I knew that the mountain lions didn't pay attention to the media or to state line signs.
ReplyDeleteTXRed
As someone who grew up with the OG Gameboy and Pokemon games, your comment about "tall grass" made me chuckle.
DeleteI would argue that the incident with the shovel demonstrates not only that human beings ARE at the top of the food chain, but that it is an earned position.
ReplyDeleteFew people today realize just how dangerous a human being is capable of being.
Even fewer understand how important it is that good men and women should be dangerous, but not destructive.
I went fishing with a guide in Alaska back in August 1981. He was under federal indictment for shooting and killing a grizzly bear in their camp from a previous fishing expedition. The grizzly was getting ready to eat one of the fishermen and would not go away when the yelled at it. He shot it with a Remington 458 Magnum that he kept in his floatplane.
ReplyDeleteI believe part of the 'blame' for this falls on Disney and their 'friendly' animals... Truth is, they are NOT friendly, and we are NOT at the top of the food chain when we are on their territory.
ReplyDeleteIf you're going to reintroduce predators, you also need to make hunting them legal. And if they're found on private land the owner should be allowed to shoot them on sight
ReplyDeleteI recall several years ago, and I forget exactly where, a fellow was accosted by a mountain lion in his yard near his back door and killed it with a cold steel boar spear that he had in his house. I thought that the company should use him in it's advertisements. And I've thought about getting one myself ever since.
ReplyDeleteAlso, here in Oklahoma, we are getting coyotes and bobcats in my freaking neighborhood on the edge of the 2nd largest metro in the state. And while I have no personal experience of it, I often hear reports of black bears and even cougars in places where they should not be here.
ReplyDeleteHere we go! 2013 in Canada
ReplyDeletehttps://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2416702/Man-kills-cougar-spear-attacks-wife-garden-mountain-cabin-remote-Canadian-island.html
I know a number of people who enjoy camping outside of Canon City and have reported mountain lion tracks outside their tent the next morning. (The Husky they were camping with was whining and freaking out the entire night.)
ReplyDeleteAnother has seen them while camping on the regular. They seem to have set up a semicircle of habitation around the city.
I'm an Aussie so don't get to read many "attacked by wolves" or "attacked by mountain lion" stories. Ours are usually "negative interactions" with sharks or crocs.
ReplyDeleteThe tone of the language used in the wolf & mtn lion stories surprised me. It read like the attacked men were "claiming" self defence when they actually went out and specifically targeted a poor defenceless predator. We know what they _REALLY_ did.
Made the red curtain of blood start to come down over my vision. That South Park episode where everything was "coming right for me" so he blew it away.
In Australia, if a person has a "negative interaction", and gets bitten in half, a leg torn off and maybe both hands as for good measure, the media makes out it's somehow kinda their own fault for going into the water. I hate the media so much for this sort of "narrative" BS written by the laptop class whose only experience outdoors is walking from the office to the sushi bar and then starbucks at lunchtime.
There is far less tolerance for this in the tropical areas where crocs are common. But they still write their articles trying to blame the victim for straying into a predators' domain.
You may think that you hate the media enough, but you don't.
DeleteIn a similar vein, a few years ago the Massachusetts Dept of Wildlife or some such, tried to re-introduce rattlesnakes to an island in a large reservoir. They said the snakes used to be common hundreds of years ago. They said the island isn’t really used by people very often. The lake is used by boaters and fishermen. I don’t know if the plan ever came to be, but I thought it was a really stupid idea. Several fishermen I knew had the same opinion.
ReplyDeleteSouthern NH
Colorado is claiming that guy that killed the lion with a shovel was not self-defense. Seems to me if I can hit a lion with a shovel, it's self-defense
ReplyDeleteIt's not "Colorado" saying its not self-defence, it's the govt bureaucrats in Colorado claiming it was not self-defence. Minor difference.
DeleteI blame Disney.
ReplyDeleteThere is good reason that some of us call the animal rights scum PETAphiles.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem with the release of predatory animals into the chambers of Congress. It's about time they have a fair fight with equals.
ReplyDelete"I believe part of the 'blame' for this falls on Disney and their 'friendly' animals..."
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. It's a combination of Disney (and others) anthropomorphizing animals and the fact that the vast majority of people these days live in cities and suburbs and have no experience with animals other than pets (and the occasional rat).
Back when humans were engaged in eliminating the predators, most of the population lived in rural areas and it was commonly accepted that it was us or them. We chose us.
Now most people live in the cities (and don't grok those strange hicks that live in the hinterlands), think that animals are just furry people with the same motivations and ability to reason, and that we should sit down and have a chat to explain to them why we shouldn't try to kill each other rather than defend ourselves when they attack.
And that's part of the reason city folk fairly routinely get killed when they venture out of the concrete jungle...they think it's a great idea to get up close and personal with that bobcat/mountain lion/bear/bison etc for a selfie or whatever and the critter disagrees.
We have a bobcat and a whole herd of black bears who get water from the spring on our remote getaway/zombie refuge/future retirement home. I put up a trail cam and was a bit surprised at the number of critters capable of outright killing me who live nearby. I've seen the bobcat live and in color, but the bears are pretty sneaky. Luckily the types of critters we have aren't generally aggressive toward humans, but I still keep my .45-70 close to hand when I'm out there...and I'm very, very watchful when I have my dogs out there with me. They're not small dogs, but no match for a bobcat or a bear.
Politicians are the most dangerous predators, yet people cuddle them.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what the big deal is. After all, it WAS a 50-caliber Desert Eagle shovel. Cat didn't stand a chance.
ReplyDelete