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
14 comments:
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.
I 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 . . .
The 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.
Some 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.
TXRed
Based 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.
I 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.
Few 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.
I 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.
If 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
I 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.
Also, 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.
Here we go! 2013 in Canada
https://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.)
Another has seen them while camping on the regular. They seem to have set up a semicircle of habitation around the city.
Peter'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.
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