What Local Animal Are You Most Afraid Of?

[mokapi]

Despite being a naturalist, I am *terrified* of turkey vultures. Terrified. One hit my windshield once and I didn't drive for a week.

I'm the Bee Queen in my circles, but wasps, yellow jackets, and hornets terrify me; I'm also reeeeeally not keen on spiders. I've been finding the 4-6" female fishing spiders in my basement and in my compost bin the last few days, and they're enough to completely stop me in my tracks. Camel crickets and house centipedes will also make me absolutely lose my mind. Ugh.

MeganLLB : 24 lbs. is way too big for a hawk to carry away; a golden eagle could do it, but I doubt you're in an area with a plethora of golden eagles. Most hawks predominantly eat mice, squirrels, and other avian species; bald eagles are actually fishing eagles, falcons eat songbirds and insects, etc.

I've never had an attacking pitbull (that's one of the dog breeds I'm least worried about...unlike shepherds, malinois, akitas, huskies, and terriers, lol), but a few years ago I was living at my then-boyfriend's grandma's house temporarily, and she had these two fat pugs and a fenced-in yard. The pugs and my small dog were playing in the yard, and a big, loose akita broke through the fence and started running towards the dogs, clearly ready to attack. I've never seen a dog look that ferocious. Mrowmrow (about 8 lbs.) slipped out in front of me when I pulled open the door to chase off the akita, and he jumped on the dog's face and absolutely shredded it, and clung to its face/throat/back while i ran away. I was terrified that it would kill M, but he came running back to me about 30 seconds later, so puffed up I thought he'd never settle down and spitting out tufts of dog fur. Luckily, in the place we are now, the only dog that ever gets loose is my own, LOL.

 

[MeganLLB]

mokapi That's a relief about the hawk, that always worried me, but yea bosco is heavy, not fat, but heavy for a small breed.

It was a shepherd who bit him twice, but is always the pitbulls that are loose. They are just chained up in a yard all day. And the last dog I know of that got killed was killed by a pitt that had a history of known aggression, was returned to the shelter 3 times, adopted out again 3 times, and the shelter continued to adopt out pitts that were showing signs of aggression and had dogs on the adoption floor that had severely attacked its employees. The police opened up an investigation into the attacks within the facility and why they are adopting out dogs that are not safe to adopt.

And from what I hear, that happens often in shelters with dogs especially pitts, or at least more often than people want to admit.

And my poor Bosco has no sense of danger whatsoever. Just took him in a walk yesterday, had dogs on the other side of the road barking at him, pulling at the leash, and he just happily trotted along, and looked at them with not a care in the world. He has gone up to dogs at the beach that were ready to bite him, I had to go and get him. he would ready give his head over to a dog's muzzle and have no idea. Always having to watch for him

 

[muffy]

Has anyone mentioned hawks? I'm pretty scared of hawks. Walking along the beach with my dog in the open and here comes a hawk circling above us...I've known of people who have had their dogs and cats picked up by hawks in their back yards. They just swoop down and grab them and then they are gone. I'm always afraid of that. My dog is small, but he's 24 lbs. Is that too much for a hawk to carry off? It could def get my cat but she's always on a leash.

Also afraid of all the loose dogs around. I have seen so many pictures on Facebook of dogs that have been killed by pitbulls and their owners post pictures of their clothes covered in their dogs blood. My dog has been attacked twice, and everytime I see a big dog, I fear Bosco could be attacked. and there would be nothing I could do to save him.

When I had Muffy I was afraid of a hawk getting her. She was only 8 pounds. Her brother, Robbie, was 26 pounds. I was not so worried about him.

I hate to see loose dogs running around the neighbor. You are always seeing someone on Judge Judy being sued because they let their pitbulls run loose and injure a kid or someone's pet.

Muffy

 

[Willowy]

Hawks are small. Barely 2 pounds under all that fluff. They can't take more than 3 or 4 pounds and that would be pushing it. They may swoop and cause all kinds of lacerations but they sure can't fly off with a cat or dog unless it's under 4 pounds. The most a Bald Eagle has been documented carrying was 15 pounds. Great Horned Owl can take about 10 pounds. There are a lot of myths and urban legends out there.

Turkey vultures are thoroughly harmless (to living creatures ), unless they fly into your windshield! Yikes! That must have been scary.

Loose dogs are a problem. People should never let their dogs run loose .

 

[arouetta]

Turkey vultures are thoroughly harmless (to living creatures ), unless they fly into your windshield! Yikes! That must have been scary.

Someone needs to tell my cat that. A turkey vulture landed in the yard, in clear view of the window my cat was in. He freaked out, slammed against the blinds and scrabbled around until he figured out how to get out of the window. He was clearly terrified.

 

[Norachan]

I used to live in a part of Japan where hawk attacks on small dogs were pretty common. People used to walk their dogs in little jackets that had two huge eyes painted on the back. The eyes used to put the hawks off from attacking. They'd look down and see these two huge scary eyes staring back at them.

They were pretty simple, something that you could quite easily make yourself with a dog-sized t-shirt and some fabric paint.

 

[muffy]

I used to live in a part of Japan where hawk attacks on small dogs were pretty common. People used to walk their dogs in little jackets that had two huge eyes painted on the back. The eyes used to put the hawks off from attacking. They'd look down and see these two huge scary eyes staring back at them.

They were pretty simple, something that you could quite easily make yourself with a dog-sized t-shirt and some fabric paint.

I bet that was an odd sight to see.

Muffy

 

[JMJimmy]

Squirrels hands down the scariest creature around

 

[surya]

Squirrels hands down the scariest creature around

What? Baby squirrels are cute.

 

[zed xyzed]

Ticks!!! Lyme disease and the Powassan Virus scare the heck out of me

 

[IndyJones]

What? Baby squirrels are cute.

You want to lend me $100 CAD to replace the bird feeders I lost to these rats? Oh and want to pay for the damage to my roof?

Not cute at all when the little pests nest and crap in your roof and attic and chew your wires.

Resorted to a lethal exterminator to get rid of them.

 

[surya]

You want to lend me $100 CAD to replace the bird feeders I lost to these rats? Oh and want to pay for the damage to my roof?

Not cute at all when the little pests nest and crap in your roof and attic and chew your wires.

Resorted to a lethal exterminator to get rid of them.

No, I'm not going to pay for your roof. Calm down, I just said the babies are cute.

 

[Willowy]

Squirrels bite badly, too. Don't mess with squirrels! I would never touch a squirrel. Not sure I'd say they're the scariest though .

 

[tarasgirl06]

I love and advocate for all animals except the canidae. And my most feared local animal? The human sociopath and psychopath. Far and away more dangerous than any other animals on the planet. The photo of the alligator makes me very sad and very angry.

 

[kashmir64]

bald eagles are actually fishing eagles,

Not always. We have bald eagles up here in the winter. I almost hit one with my car. It was in the road eating road kill. I had no idea they did this, but there it was.

 

[Willowy]

I always see bald eagles eating roadkill. If there's a dead deer in a ditch sometimes an eagle will lay claim to it and stay there guarding it for a week, until it gets too rotten for the eagle, then he lets the vultures have it. They also like to hang around hydroelectric dams because the fish get stunned going through the turbines. They're lazy .

 

[JMJimmy]

What? Baby squirrels are cute.

Canadian city squirrels are crazy man. They're so fearless I saw them among a quarter million people down at the water front for Canada day in Toronto. They chew through houses. And those eyes... their like looking into the soul of the devil

 

[doomsdave]

I am afraid of the big tree roaches crawling on me when I'm asleep. They crawl on the ceiling. I'll knock them down for my cats to chase. They get it cornered and I try to kill it, when it gets away and comes toward me, I scream like a dork.

Go to the auto parts store, and get some brake cleaner.

Hit a roach, it does this Cossack dance then dies. Mua ha ha ha!

I also had a kitty that liked to eat them. Pounce, pat, pounce, pat, crunch crunch crunch.

 

[doomsdave]

Here in the extreme northwestern corner of Orange County California, there's no wildlife for people to fear.

Unless a mountain lion comes in the 'hood. They are around. There's that one in the Santa Monica mountains, made the cover of Nasty Geo. They do take people now and again. Not a myth, alas, and not just little kids. Magnificent! Please don't eat me, in your magnificence.

When it gets dark, I'm going to schlep up the hill near my home and watch the fireworks in multiple municipalities with my buds who have a Maine Coon mix, a Siamese, a blue-eyed white guy (cat) and an acre in God's lap. There they've got rattlesnakes, bobcats, and coyotes up the wazoo. And a herd of Mule Deer. Mongols schmongols these thunder devastation in their wake.

Oh, I guess if a Mule Deer buck gets pissed, he's a real handful, too. Rottweilers on acid beware.

For cats, coyotes are the predator of terror. They like my place. They come around, poop all over, you don't see them, and neither did the cats till it was too late.

Don't worry about tarantulas. Africanized bees are a problem, but, well. I worry about the wild cars and their wilder drivers more.

But, the mountain lions are smart and adaptable and if they make a comeback, could be interesting.

 

[doomsdave]

What animal (humans don't count) in your area are you most afraid of and why? Have you ever seen one? Have you had a close encounter with it?

For me, it's alligators. They're stealth predators and once they grab you, you're not likely to get loose. It's usually over and there's not much left to find. We have a state park full of them and there are warning signs everywhere. They turn up everywhere after a flood or during mating season. Pools, schoolyards, parking garages, porches. Even if you do escape, alligator mouths are teeming with nasty bacteria and those can kill you almost as easily.

A small town near here has a Gator Fest every year. Maybe this photo of a 13' 8.5" 900 lb. gator will show. I held a 3' baby gator with its mouth taped shut. It was pretty placid but it could have taken a hand off without blinking.

Second place would be big sharks for the same reason. However, their attacks are often survivable.

Gators are formidable.

And edible.

Great in gumbo, on the grill, or pan fried Zanzibar style. That they can eat you only adds to the fun.

They're not endangered. They breed more aggressively than [people]. That doesn't justify wanton slaughter, but.

If you're in gator country be careful. Disney found out, to their sorrow along with the family of a little kid. This is NOT a disrespect to anyone. Just be careful. This lovely Earth can be deadly sometimes.

Disney alligator attack: Resort to add warning signs, source says - CNN.com