Dr. Doolittle never had these problems. Androcles made friends with a Lion. The family dog or cat is a treasured part of the family. What went wrong in these cases?

Til We Meet Again

Your odds of being murdered are about 1 in 20,000. Your odds of being killed by a bear? One in 220,000. While the number of attempts may differ, there is no explanation for what happened to Bob in Washington state in April of 2015. Bob was jogging his regular route in the vicinity of McChord AFB with his jogging companion, a dog named Abby.

Abby spooked a bear they happened upon and the bear then charged the jogger as his dog ran past him. Bob received various injuries to his body. What makes this a strange animal attack? While there are several people killed each year by bears, bear attacks are still considered rare. This was Bob’s second bear attack. His first one was four years ago in 2011 when he was jogging the exact same path with his dog, Abby.

Bob says there will not be a third strange animal attack. In his own words, he is “getting too old to fight ’em” anymore.

There Goes the Neighborhood

Rye, New York is a gorgeous, upscale city just north of New York City. It is the third most expensive city in the country if you want to buy a home. It is also being invaded by coyotes.

Over a nine day span, two young girls were attacked in separate episodes. Both survived but the city has been put on high alert. Parents are advised to keep children within arm’s reach. Dog walkers are asked to carry a large stick. Helicopters patrol in the night sky. A random gunshot can be heard. Are the strange animal attacks over?

Shame, Shame Shamu

A killer whale, also known as an Orca, is one of the most beautiful creatures from the sea. Its piebald coloring instantly attractive, they appear to have an almost natural smile. That may be true in the wild where they are not considered a threat to humans, but that is changing when they enter captivity.

In 2010, a trainer at Seaworld of Orlando was playing her part in the Dine With Shamu show. In front of a crowd of horrified park visitors, Tilikum grabbed Dawn Brancheau by her ponytail and pulled her underwater. The water quickly turned blood red.

There have been at least 35 reported strange animal attacks from Orcas in captivity since 1968. Four of them were fatalities.

Unwelcome guests

Be very careful when buying a home. Not everything is always disclosed to the new owner. One such couple was not told their ‘new’ home was also boarding spiders. Namely the deadly brown recluse spider. After the new couple moved in, spiders started showing up everywhere. It got so bad, they literally burst out of the walls. It is thought that over 6000 brown recluse spiders were living in the house.

Feeding Frenzy

The most well known shark attack is thought by many to be a piece of fiction. It really happened. On July 30th, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was sunk by a Japanese submarine killing 300 men. Left in the water were almost 900 men trying to survive. Luckily, many of them wore life preservers. But, by the time the men were discovered four days later, only 330 survivors were left to be rescued. The other 550 men were stalked, hunted and killed by a large group of sharks who fed for days on the remaining US servicemen. The reason why many people believe this to be fiction is the story was retold in the classic shark movie, “Jaws,” by Quint (played by Robert Shaw) who was the captain of the boat hired to hunt down the Great White Shark responsible for greatest strange animal attack of fiction this side of Moby Dick.

 


Have you had any close calls with an animal?


 

 

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