Most Dangerous Animal You've Handled/Been Close To

[cojo965]

I held an alligator today. Here's the proof:

Spoiler

I have also been near a wild black bear (several times, once with no one else around), a coral snake, a pygmy rattlesnake, and had a lion on my lap. What dangerous animals have you handled or been uncomfortably close to?

Edit: Oh what the hell, here is the rest of the pictures from the reptile convention.

Spoiler

Black throat monitor

Yellow anaconda

Smaller gator

 

[Marter]

I was near a bear once. I was like five years old, we were camping, and I had to go to the bathroom. So, I went to the camping ground's bathroom facility alone, didn't notice anything wrong, and then went back to the tent. My mother and sister went later, and it turns out that there was a bear cub and its mother hanging around there, as the garbage bins were right by the bathroom (because that's a good idea).

So I could've died, is what I'm saying.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I sat on an elephant at the zoo once when I was a kid.

Elephants have killed people, right?
That's totally dangerous.

I've held a large snake before but I really doubt that it was one of the dangerous ones.

[sub][sub]There's a joke in there somewhere...[/sub][/sub]

 

[Thaluikhain]

Eh, when I'm on a train, it's often full of the most dangerous animal of all.

Also, come across the odd snake.

 

[Eddie the head]

Well a few bears and a Mountain Lion. A lot of moose.(funnily enough that's the most dangerous one) If you want' to count zoo's I've seen an Anaconda, and was a few feet form one that was behind glass.

 

[Zhukov]

Like any true (blue) Australian, I've had my fair share of close shaves with the local snakes. Nearly stepped on a few. Sat on a log once and had two of them come slithering on out from underneath. Once came within arms reach of one in the water while swimming in a river.

Had to kill a few. Pin them with a rake and take their head off with an axe or gardening hoe. Didn't want to, but we had kids around. And dogs for that matter.

Honestly, I wouldn't have been in much danger on those occasions. The local snakes are all deadly poisonous, but they're also shy. They'll quietly avoid you if they can. The vast majority of people who get bitten cop it on the ankles after stepping on one.

Oh, and I once patted a cheetah in a zoo exhibit. But it was tame and there were handlers right there. Lovely creatures though, and if you scratch them under the chin they do they same thing house cats do, y'know, close their eyes and stick their chins out. They don't purr though, or at least this one didn't.

 

[SoranMBane]

Mosquitoes kill more people every year than any other (more than are killed by other humans, even), and I've been in contact with more mosquitoes in my lifetime than I could ever count. Otherwise, I've been near plenty of large dogs and horses (nice tame dogs and horses, to be sure, but they still would have been perfectly capable of ripping my throat out or pummeling me to death if they'd been so inclined). I also held a baby alligator at a fair once, and I've ridden an elephant before. I've also seen some large predators at zoos and fairs, but that's not exactly what I'd call "contact."

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot about this one time when I was a little kid and did the stupidest thing possible; I tried to pet a wild bat. It freaked out and tried to bite me, as wild animals are wont to do when careless people try to lay their dirty mitts all over them. Luckily, it either didn't have any teeth left, didn't manage to penetrate the skin, or missed the bite altogether, so I was able to walk away from the incident without contracting rabies. So, yeah, lesson learned; don't touch wild animals, no matter how fuzzy and adorable they are.

 

[Bofus Teefus]

My big fat cat. No, really. I'll rub her belly, and she'll grab my hand, dig those razor-sharp claws in, and stare at me for a minute or so, just to let me know that if I touch the belly again, she'll peel me like a banana. Little shit is vicious.

 

[Skull Bearer]

Japanese puffer fish. It was delicious.

 

[MatParker116]

Various sharks when diving a few years back it was rather nerve racking to say the least.

 

[Serinanth]

Your mom....


Ok, ok, so I dont get a low content warning, I will go with Whitefaced Hornets.

Spoiler

And by handled I mean blasted them with hornet killer 30 feet away. You dont fuck with something that has a skull painted on its face.

Now that I think of it, they also kinda look like General Grievous.

 

[DirgeNovak]

It's a toss up between a pretty big fucking wasp and my boy chihuahua the week after we had him castrated. Little guy was really grumpy.

 

[DementedSheep]

I got to go into an enclosure and pat a Cheetah at the zoo but that's not really that dangerous as they are trained and socialised (they only do this with the cheetahs and the elephants).

Other than that I think I caught a glimpse of wild boar which is about the only wild animal here that is dangerous but it was minding it's own business. They don't generally attack people.

 

[TechNoFear]

I've been bitten by Redbacks twice (Australia), 'driven' an elephant (Nepal), patted a tiger (Thailand), trod on a baby Cobra with bare feet (Thailand), been chased by a 4m shark when surfing (Australia) and climbed a tree to avoid a charging rhino (Nepal).

But the most dangerous animal I have encountered is a Blue Ringed Octopus (Australia).

A 6 year old found it in a rock pool and brought it to show me in the palm of his hand (they are only 5-10 cm but can easily kill you).

Normally they are grey / brown but when angry they go yellow with blue / purple rings.

This one was already not happy, less so when it became the first Blue Ringed Octopus in orbit (as I slapped the 6 year old's hand so the octopus flew upwards).

 

[krazykidd]

Children. One of those fuckers bit me once. People need to put those things on a leash. The worst part is people are like " but he/she/it is just a child". Next time someone get's bit by a dog i'm gonna say " but it's just a pup".

 

[Flutterguy]

I slept with a 4 foot boa constrictor around my neck on a long car ride, that wasn't very bad at all. My father signed me up for a 'sheep ride' at the rodeo when I was five, which resulted in me falling off half way through and getting trampled until a rodeo clown pulled me out by an arm. So in my experience sheep are much scarier then big snakes.

Children. One of those fuckers bit me once. People need to put those things on a leash. The worst part is people are like " but he/she/it is just a child". Next time someone get's bit by a dog i'm gonna say " but it's just a pup".

Kids would figure out their toilets way faster if we trained em like dogs. "What! what! If ya don't want me tah stick yer face in it use goddam toilet."

 

[EeveeElectro]

When I went to the Lake District I held a snake and loved it.

Spoiler

They had a Boa Constrictor but it was in a bad mood so they didn't let me hold it ;^; and it's in the UK part of an animal handling tour so I doubt they were venomous.

I was near a crocodile at Tropical World a few weeks ago but it was enclosed off.

 

[JoJo]

I sat on an alligator at 'gator world in Florida, all organised and everything, probably the 'most dangerous' animal I've touched. I've been close to bears a few times too since I worked a couple of summers at a camp in upstate New York where they used to come down to raid the bins for food, they weren't really that dangerous though as long as you kept a couple of metres away.