I have previously reviewed Dave Smith’s rundown on cougars, coyotes and grizzlies, and find it hilarious that buffalo are the animals kicking the most human ass out West, and deservedly so. People actually throw objects at these 1,500 pound battering rams to get them to move in front of a better backdrop for their photo. Some people even try and pose with these monsters. The penalty is usually getting tossed 10-15 feet in the air. And this thing will try and catch you on one of its hooked horns when you fall. Buffalo behavior is detailed, as are precautions and countermeasures and, most importantly, what won’t work.
With all of the folk lore concerning wolves eating people going back to antiquity I was rather disappointed [I’m a horror writer, okay] at the low level of wolf on human aggression. It was kind of like going to interview the Black Guerilla Family and finding them playing dress up with Barbie Dolls. Eve when it comes to rabies—the supposed origin of the werewolf myth—it turns out that skunks and raccoons and coyotes are the big carriers. What the wolves are good for is jacking up dogs. This tale of non-ripping wolves left me almost sad, wondering if over ages of being hunted by men they’ve evolved not to compete with us.
I highly recommend Don’t Get Eaten, and while your reading it, avoid all of those angry moose in Alaska who are stomping more people out per year than grizzlies and those sneaky black bears munch on combined.