With few headline-making wild animal attacks this week, I thought it was a good opportunity to use this "Predator Watch" column to list some of the ways you can protect yourself should you ever be unlucky enough to find yourself in such a situation.
Unfortunately, you can't rely on your instincts, as more often than not it’s the counterintuitive action that will most likely help you survive. A personal example: just this week, upon encountering a coyote on an evening walk in my neighborhood, I immediately turned around and walked the other direction to try to avoid upsetting it, as unlikely as an attack from a coyote might be (and even though I've done this before and know not to). Of course, this is the exact opposite of what experts say you should do. Turning your back on a coyote can trigger its predatory chase instincts; you're supposed to face it, clap your hands, and try to look big.
I discovered a short YouTube video on the Watt If? channel titled “13 Animal Attacks You Could Survive (If You Know This)” that provides similar survival tips, although they are presented in a very simplified form. Before laying out the one move most likely to keep you alive for each animal, it introduces perhaps the most counterintuitive rule of all — one that applies to most animals: don’t run. Listening to your body, it must be remembered, is often the thing most likely to get you killed.
Bears: You definitely don't want to run from a bear. Barry Olson, who survived a 2022 grizzly bear attack in Wyoming, did exactly the right thing when he encountered the bear on Francs Peak, a 13,164-foot mountain. The bear attacked him before he could even get his bear spray. "They say the bear attacked me five times, but I’d almost call it like one attack,” he told news site Cody Enterprise. “After it got me the first time, bit me and shook me around, I tried to go for my bear spray again because he paused. But it was only a pause of a couple seconds. Then it was on top of me again. After that, I just played dead."
Playing dead is your best chance of avoiding actually being killed. The Watt If? video explains:
If a brown bear or a grizzly charges you, do not run and do not fight. You cannot outrun it and you cannot win. Drop to the ground, lie on your stomach, lace your hands over the back of your neck, and play dead. Stay down until it's long gone.
Here’s the problem: you have to do the exact opposite with a black bear. You shouldn’t play dead in that case, but instead try to look big, scream, and even throw things. If it does attack you, fight back while aiming for the eyes and nose. The video’s easy-to-remember guidance is: “If it’s brown, lie down. If it’s black, fight back.”
What if it's a polar bear that is coming at you? You'll want to fight back in that case as well, as it likely sees you as a food source:
Moose: Moose, which injure more people each year than wolves and bears combined, are one of the few animals you want to run away from because they won't chase you that far. Unlike polar bears, they don't view humans as food, but they don't like when we are in their way. Pro tip: "Put something solid between you and it, a tree, a boulder, a vehicle, and keep it there."
Just this week, a moose attacked a 62-year-old hiker and his dogs on a trail in Colorado. Colorado Parks and Wildlife says attacks are increasing and put out this video about simple precautions to take to avoid dangerous encounters with the state's largest wild mammal:
Sharks: "Playing dead here just turns you into a floating snack," the Watt If? video warns. So if you don’t have a scuba tank at hand like Police Chief Martin Brody did in Jaws, what should you do?
If a shark gets aggressive or starts circling, don't splash around helplessly. That looks exactly like a wounded fish. Face it. And if it comes in, hit the sensitive spots hard—the eyes, the gills, the tip of the snout. Be big. Be loud. Be the most annoying meal it has ever tried to eat, because sharks want easy, not difficult.
Here's video of a man fighting off a shark this month in Panama City, Fla. The man, a Navy employee in his 20s, was swimming on his lunch break with a friend. Fortunately, he survived the attack, but with serious injuries to both arms.
Cougars: People have also successfully fought off cougars, which is what is advised if one attacks you. If you have time before that, though, you should definitely not turn and turn but try to look big — “lift your jacket over your head” — and make a lot of noise.
There’s a graphic video at this link from June of a woman in British Columbia who rescued her goat by fighting off a cougar. The only running this brave woman did was toward the cougar. I'm not sure I could have done the same.
Crocodiles and Alligators: If you're on dry land, run straight — not, contrary to popular myth, in zigzag — away from the water's edge as far as possible. The Watt If? video says you only have one real chance if one of these animals grabs you in the water: "Attack the eyes over and over. It is the only spot soft enough to make those jaws open."
Of course, if you're in Florida and it's the end of breeding season for alligators and the start of nesting season, you might want to avoid getting in the water at all. This week, a snorkeler was attacked by an 8-foot alligator in a river in Marion County.
I've covered some of the wild animals one might encounter in the United States, but if you're planning a safari to Africa in the near future and want to know how to survive a hippopotamus or elephant attack, check out the entire Watt If? video. And if you've ever fought off a wild animal or escaped an attack, please share in the comments.
