Dangerous animal

“ In view of the tragedies and near-tragedies that animal trainers and keepers have been through during the past twenty years, I am desirous of so vividly exhibiting the wild animal mind and temper that at least a few of the mistakes of the past may be avoided in the future. Fortunately I am able to state that thus far no one ever has been killed by an animal in the Zoological Park; but several of our men have been severely hurt. The writer hereof carries two useless fingers on his best hand as a reminder of a fracas with a savage bear. How Dangerous Animals Attack Men. ”

“ Luther Snow said, with sincerity in his voice.
“But, Will, I hope the beast didn’t scratch you anywhere,” Frank went on; “for you know it’s sometimes a dangerous thing to be wounded by the claws of any wild beast that lives on animal food. Lots of hunters have died from blood poisoning, even when they thought the scratches hardly worth washing, they were so small.” ”

“ Excepting a few species, it is a singularly harmless animal while undisturbed, but is ferocious and dangerous when attacked, or when defending its young. Its sagacity, strength, and surprising tenacity of life, render it a formidable combatant. It is remarkably adroit in guarding itself against the blows of an antagonist, and will ward off even the heaviest with wonderful dexterity. ”

“ Even the harmless appearing deer may, and do, inflict severe injuries by striking with the fore feet or hooking with the antlers, and bears often strike or bite, once they have lost their instinctive fear of man. When any animal becomes dangerous, the only solutions are to eliminate the danger by killing the animal, or to live-trap and remove it to a more isolated section of the park. ”

“ All animals were dangerous, except Nailer, the two cats, and Jackie the bullfinch. Every animal had its special recognized methods of attacking you. Horses bit, bats got into your hair, earwigs got into your ears, swans broke your leg with a blow of their wings, bulls tossed you, and snakes 'stung'. All snakes stung, according to Mother, and when I quoted the penny encyclopedia to the effect that they didn't sting but bit, she only told me not to answer back. Lizards, slow-worms, toads, frogs, and newts also stung. All insects stung, except flies and blackbeetles. ”

“ An animal of this description is said to possess wonderful daring and instinct, making him by far the most dangerous of the class, attacking not only tame animals in the corrals, but even individuals are frequently assailed and devoured by him. It is said also that when he has once tasted human blood, he becomes insatiable in his eagerness to procure this luxury. ”

“ It is known that the flesh of game is uneatable during this period, and that many fish, at spawning-time, become poisonous. It should not be forgotten that, during the same period, the animal becomes vicious, violent, aggressive, and dangerous. ”

“ In like manner, too, the teeth and claws of certain predatory animals are worn as charms against the animals themselves. I have ascertained that men engaged in menageries and wild-beast-shows wear upon their watch chains teeth and tusks of dangerous animals as a "danger charm," which brings this belief down very close to our own doors. ”

“ It is interesting to note that these dangerous implements are used purely in self-defence. All species are conspicuously coloured, one being yellow brown [71] with large bright blue spots, another black with round white spots. The largest are black, and so conspicuous on the sandy bottoms they frequent that none but the most unteachable animal, human or otherwise, can incur the dreadful penalty of careless interference with them. ”

“ Having made itself thus secure, it attacks its prey, and draws out the flesh, while the other tries to contract 147 itself, but all in vain, in consequence of the separation of the shell, thus effected by the insertion of the wedge. So great is the instinctive shrewdness in animals that are otherwise quite remarkable for their lumpish stupidity.
In addition to the above, the same author states, that no animal in existence is more dangerous for its powers of destroying a human being when in the water. ”

“ Thus nature has prepared a destruction for these dangerous animals, which would otherwise be as numerous as flies, and become the absolute proprietors of the surrounding country; even at present, notwithstanding the comparatively few that escape, their number is almost incredible. ”

“ Though nearly blind, and therefore incapable of following its prey by sight, it would be active beyond conception, springing this way and that way as it goes along, leaping with lightness and quickness upon any animal which it meets, rending it in pieces in a moment, thrusting its blood-thirsty snout into the body of its victim, eating the still warm and bleeding flesh, and instantly searching for fresh prey. ”

“ Now he is about the worst dreaded of all the smaller creatures which wear either fur or feathers, shunned and hated by all his kindred, just because of his bad reputation. First, because of his cruel manner of dealing with his prey, for he just yearns to kill any young bird, or small stray animal which happens to cross his evil trail merely for the sake of the kill, and he does it so craftily that he will usually leave a mere pin-prick of a wound, perhaps, in his victim’s neck to show just how it died. But always before he leaves he’ll make sure to suck every drop of blood from its small body. ”

“ Many instances can, no doubt, be cited of men having suddenly been charged and either killed or badly maimed by one of these animals. If all these cases, however, had been thoroughly investigated, I believe it would have been found that such unprovoked attacks had for the most part been made by wounded animals lying in thick cover or long grass, which were suffering from injuries inflicted either by lions or by human hunters. Such animals would naturally be morose and dangerous to approach. ”

“ In such a situation, if eye, hand, or nerve fail him, the odds are that the creature will kill him instead of his killing it, for, as has been truly said, dangerous wild animals when wounded, or provoked beyond endurance, will hunt a human being as a terrier does a rabbit. ”

“ When other species become really noxious it will be time enough to treat them in the same way. As a rule, the harm done by birds popularly but falsely supposed to live on food fishes, and by birds of prey, is grossly exaggerated. ”

“ There is nothing in its appearance, except that sinister proximity of its eyes, to betoken a creature so eminently dangerous when wild, no significance of cruel fury in its voice, no profession of murderous strength in its limbs. ”

“ Yet no; for there are most beautiful animals that are really bad and most dangerous—for example, the lion, the tiger, and the leopard; whilst others, as for instance a spider, a mouse, a tarantula, a black beetle, a worm, and a scorpion, which do no harm, or very little, seem to us so ugly, so repulsive, that we are obliged to turn away from them. ”

“ In their turn they are pursued and harassed by crowds of beasts and birds of prey, as bears, wolves, foxes, dogs, wild cats, stoats, weasels, eagles, hawks, and owls, and never spared by man; even the domestic animals not usually predaceous, as cattle, goats, and reindeer, are said to join in the destruction, stamping them to the ground with their feet, and even eating their bodies. ”

“ It produces no baneful effects except it be mingled with the blood; it may be received into the mouth and swallowed with perfect impunity, though any scratch or ulceration of the surface would render such an experiment highly dangerous. Several circumstances affect the result of a poisoned wound; the injection of the venom into an artery, the heat of the weather, the more direct and forcible character of the stroke, the vigour of the reptile, the time that has elapsed since it last exerted its powers, and the debility of the sufferer, are all important circumstances. ”

“ They then acted as very dangerous and efficient mammal traps and bird traps—and now continue so to act, for the small mammals and the birds of the neighborhood still wander into them, get caught in the sticky substance, and die, as I have myself seen. ”

“ The idea of any snake wilfully and maliciously premeditating an attack upon a man is quite out of the question, unless it has been either teased or excited by a dog when hunting. The same principle will hold good in the case of animals. No snake that feeds only upon rats, mice, and such small animals would seek to attack a dog, or any creature that was not its natural prey, and the actual danger from such reptiles is quite insignificant. ”

“ They then attack the wingless body with ruthless violence, biting at it like a hungry cat at a slice of meat, or perhaps more like a herd of wolves at their prey: they soon deprive it of life, haul it to the nest, drag it up the side, and literally tumble it into one of the holes. ”

“ Nature has provided for many animals and insects a certain species of aggression and defense. Some snakes crush their victims in their folds; others carry poison in their teeth; the wasp and scorpion sting you; the ant poisons with its bite; the vampire sucks your blood; while the pole-cat protects itself by its insufferable odor—
"'Their power to hurt each little creature feels,
Bulls use their horns and asses use their heels.' ”

“ Although these animals have a most innocent countenance, the large males are very dangerous when brought to bay. I know an instance of a gentleman, who was endeavouring to assist his dog in killing one of them, having his clothes severed in front and the skin of his body just scratched by a cut from the hind leg. ”

“ Any highly specialized creature, the higher its specialization, is apt to be proportionately helpless when once its peculiar specialized traits are effectively nullified by an opponent. This is eminently the case with the most dangerous poisonous snakes. In them a highly peculiar specialization has been carried to the highest point. They rely for attack and defence purely on their poison-fangs. ”

“ We may also speak, in this category, of animals which seek assistance, while young, from neighbours of whom they take advantage during their life, and utilize them even after their death; these are insects of various orders. They are in general more cruel than beasts of prey, which often contend on equal terms with their victims. Here we have an enemy which furtively introduces itself into its neighbour, who is nearly sucked dry before he suspects the danger to which he is exposed. He harbours unawares the assassin who is about to murder him. ”

“ But it would plainly be to the advantage of a defenceless animal, one without poison-fangs or sting and without an ill-tasting substance in its body, to be so marked and shaped as to mimic some other specially defended or inedible animal sufficiently to be mistaken for it and thus to escape attack. ”

“ He is tied to a tree which is in the path of this bashikouay army. What a terrible death it must be!
THE ATTACK. Every animal that lives on the line of march where they have spread is pursued, and, though instinct seems to indicate the forthcoming danger, many are caught. In an incredibly short space of time the mouse, the insect, and many small animals are overwhelmed, killed, eaten, and their bare skeletons only remain. If they ever get into a fowl-house, it is all over with the fowls. The insects seem to be the greatest sufferers. ”

“ Some animals, such as wild beasts, serpents, &c., are in their nature ferocious, noxious, or venomous, and capable of injuring the health, or even of destroying the lives of men and other creatures of a higher rank than themselves ”

“ In that country there are several small and dangerous snakes; but it has been found that the dogs’ sagacity has been such that they, of their own initiation, immediately become alive to the dangerous natures of these reptiles and that they will return to the shooter when they get near a snake, either in the grass or on a branch overhead. ”

“ Its peculiar buzz when once heard can never be forgotten by the traveler whose means of locomotion are domestic animals; for it is well known that the bite of this poisonous insect is certain death to the ox, horse, and dog. ”

“ The risks that are run in following wounded animals are far greater than the prime attack. Should an animal charge without being wounded, it may generally be turned by a steady shot, if not absolutely killed; but when badly hurt, the onset of a beast is spasmodic, and nothing but death will paralyse the spring. ”

“ Unerring in aim, and secure of its holdfast, it allows its victims no chance of escape, one miserable scream, and their fate is sealed. And even if the prey detects its coming enemy, and seeks safety in flight, its only hope is to slip into the thick bushes and trust to concealment: resort to the open field is all but certain death. Nor is it fastidious in its choice of food—leverets, young rabbits, mice, partridges, thrushes, blackbirds, sparrows, larks, pipits, and many others are equal favourites. ”

“ The beasts of prey are the terror of the weaker species, which cannot even assuage their thirst in the hottest season without halting upon the margin of the stream and scrutinising the country right and left before they dare stoop their heads to drink. Even then the herd will not drink together, but a portion will act as watchers, to give notice of an enemy should it be discerned while their comrades slake their thirst. ”

“ In their world, up in the air, down on the ground, in earth dens and even in the water, are beasts of prey that devour them. The very names of some of them are enough to frighten their victims into spasms. ”