Testing the kindness of dangerous animals is a losing proposition

Over the years I have observed countless examples of people getting into trouble because they got too close to dangerous animals. Why? In most of those situations the trouble, if it happens, begins with ignorance and ends with surprise, usually followed by pain or, if the person is “lucky,” with embarrassment.

Unfortunately, I’ve observed a lot of this. And there is a lot more that I haven’t witnessed, thank goodness.

Here is a good example. There is a nice zoo in Kingston, Jamaica. The Hope Zoo is a lot bigger and more impressive than most people might think. It is well stocked with big cats, some bears, and a lot of wild exotic animals from around the world.

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The zoo has some African lions. And there were some contractors working around the lion exhibit. Well, one of those contractors, name not given, thought the lions were nothing more than tame tabby cats and not to be feared.

So he stuck his finger through the wire to scratch the big male lion’s nose. And that big male lion did what lions have been doing for eons. It bit the guy’s finger! And it held onto that digit for several minutes until a savvy keeper got a hose and hit the cat with a powerful stream of water.

The finger? That's gone, according to reports.

The lion? Not to worry. It's being held blameless.

But there is a brand new sign on the outside of the cage. It reads “Lions Are Dangerous. Do not put hands or fingers inside the enclosure.”

Bad judgment leads to tiger death

On a much sadder note, a man identified only as a custodian at the Caribbean Gardens in Naples, Florida, violated zoo rules in 2021 by entering an area near a tiger exhibit, a place where he should never have been.

Then, according to witnesses, he began either petting or feeding through a fence by sticking his hand in the enclosure.

You can probably guess what happened next. The Malayan tiger, “Eko,” (a critically endangered sub-species of Bengal tiger) grabbed the man’s arm and attempted to pull him into the tiger exhibit.

Then, according to the Collier County Sheriff’s Dept., deputies tried yelling, pounding on the walls with their hands, and kicking on the cat’s enclosure in an effort to get the tiger to release the man’s arm, but nothing worked.

There was nothing left for the officers to do, forcing one of them to shoot and kill the tiger.

The custodian was a member of a cleaning crew at the zoo. He was not an employee of the zoo. He was assigned to clean rest rooms and the gift shop, but decided to pet or feed the tiger instead.

This buck finds safety in sanctuary

I rarely (if ever) write about items that might bring a smile to the lips of any antihunters.

But the following piece is worthy of print, even if someone who does not approve of hunting smiles as he or she reads the print with a smile on his or her lips. It seems that at least one deer in Sturgis, Michigan, knows precisely how to find a safe haven, at least with respect to opening day of deer hunting season.

A 10-point buck, described as a true or “Worthy” trophy, apparently sought sanctuary inside a southern Michigan church on opening day of that state’s deer hunting season in 2021. The animal gained entrance just like a common outlaw, by crashing through a stained-glass window.

It seems that pastors inside the Grace Sturgis Church, a nondenominational church, discovered the deer during the afternoon and observed it as it paced rather nervously around inside the sanctuary.

Once discovered by humans, the excited deer began running around the far side of the vestibule, including a trip upstairs to and around the balcony. Then it went back down the stairs, found another window, and crashed through it to successfully make its escape back into the wild.

And the onlookers did see a small amount of blood on its hair, but nothing to be concerned about.

This “illegal” entrance by the deer must have occurred either the previous night or early on that Monday morning, which also happened to be the opening day of the regular big game rifle season. Regardless, the buck had apparently had enough excitement for one morning, and it exited the church the same way it had entered, only using a different window to make its rather spectacular exit.

And just for the record, I made several phone calls to various places in that part of Michigan, and no one that I talked to had heard about any hunters who shot at or even observed a 10-point buck in that area of the state. I believe that deer made a clean getaway.

Thoughts on chipmunk behavior

I received an email from Meagan, a young lady with a question about chipmunk behavior. It seems she has quite a few of these cute but often destructive little critters running around her home and sneaking (stealing) sunflower and other seeds from a bird feeder near her house.

And her question is: Why to some chipmunks leave the feeder on a dead run across the open yard with their tails sticking straight up in the air, while others leave almost casually, in no apparent hurry at all and with their tails sticking out behind them?

The easy answer is that I do not know the answer for sure. And apparently nobody else does either. This subject, to the best of my research ability, has never been studied scientifically. But I have observed the same activity, and have a few thoughts on a possibility.

First of all, I have observed the same behavior with local red squirrels as well as my local chipmunks. And my observations are that adult chipmunks (and red squirrels) run fast with their tails up to avoid predators.

And, if a predator such as a Cooper’s hawk, Goshawk or Barred owl (or other similar avian predators), or a red or gray fox or house cat attacks the tiny critter, quite often they will strike at the tail instead of the victim’s body, ending up with a mouthful of fur. Currently I have a local chipmunk with half it’s tail missing. I call it “stubby.”

Immature chipmunks and red squirrels often go slowly across open areas of lawn, making tempting targets for predators. If they survive their first winter, they might just live a longer and happier life.

Len Lisenbee is the Daily Messenger’s Outdoor Columnist. Contact him at lisenbee@frontiernet.net.

This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Leave dangerous animals alone or you may get a painful lesson