In the first installment of this series, I wrote about my wife and sons’ determination to continue a family hike even after a man coming down the trail warned that a mother bear and her cubs were just around the bend. Granted, they suggested we take a different trail in the opposite direction, but I was shocked that anyone was considering any route other than the one that led directly back to our car.
At least no one in my family suggested giving the brown bears our lunch, like the woman in Tennessee who gets on her knees to feed a black bear in a viral video. A man interviewed by NBC Nightly News says the obvious: “It’s kind of mind-blowing when you think about it, cause they’re wild animals. They’re not like your neighbor pet or dog." Although he’s not identified as a wildlife expert, you don’t have to be one to understand his commonsense observation.
The NBC Nightly News segment reports that this is just one of many recent examples of people behaving recklessly among wild animals. The most shocking incident is a man goading a pack of wolves (yes, wolves) at Yellowstone National Park. Only one word comes to mind to describe this guy, and the man who filmed the video expressed it:
Kerbs can be heard yelling, "What an idiot!" as he films the man, who first runs towards the wolves, then sprays something believed to be bear spray at them while backing away.
“He almost didn’t make it out alive,” Kerbs wrote in an Instagram post.
Related: Predator Watch: 'Bambi Will Mess You Up'
It's true God tells Noah and his sons in the Bible: “And your fear and your dread shall be upon all the beasts of the earth and upon all the fowl of the heaven; upon everything that creeps upon the ground and upon all the fish of the sea, [for] they have been given into your hand[s].” But wild animals are still wild and will attack if they're hungry or feel threatened.
Wildlife expert Ron Magill tells NBC Nightly News: “People are approaching animals, feeding animals. They don’t realize: This is not Disney. This is not going through the Jungle Cruise. We have to learn to coexist with these animals. We cannot try to make them our pets. They will never be our pets. You might be able to take an animal out of the wild. You will never take the wild out of the animals.”
Related: Predator Watch: The Coyotes Living Among Us
The most infamous example of the truth of that lesson is the attack on magician Roy Horn, whose white tiger, Mantecore, mauled him in 2003 during a Las Vegas show. He survived the attack, which horrified the audience, but was left partially paralyzed.
So don’t make tigers, wolves, or bears your pets, and don’t try to pet them. “Lions and tigers and bears. Oh my!” Most people won’t be like the “idiot” above and encroach on an obvious predator. But what about wild animals that are smaller and more innocent? I’ve always been wary when I see people approach squirrels and feed them. An overreaction? Well, what do you know. From the NBC Nightly News segment:
Wildlife animal expert Ron Magill says feeding animals not meant to interact with humans can have dangerous consequences. In a neighborhood outside San Francisco, residents say multiple people were recently viciously attacked by a squirrel that experts say may have become aggressive because it was being fed by humans.
Would you ever risk approaching a wild animal? Have you seen someone else do it? Share your experience in the comments below.
