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Even the animals are out to get us!

Worrying news from the BBC:

"Jogger injured in buzzard attack" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cornwall/8156734.stm

I have been harassed by a Sh*te-Hawk (Seagull) in the past, assuming I was running too close to a nest. A mate was once chased by a Badger, of all things! And of course I've been attacked by dogs while running.

What's the most interesting/unusual animal you've been attacked by?

And train carefully. It's a jungle out there.

Comments

  • stratoTomstratoTom Posts: 36
    Literally just about to post this story.

    Thankfully not ever been attacked by anything, but I do get irritated with the dog-running habits round these parts; they make a beeline for your knees and the swerve out of the way at the very last minute. So naturally I'm not overly concerned by the sight of a dog running right for me. Sod's law then that the one day I take my eye off it, the beast swerves *in front* of me, making a knee high barrier which I promptly fell over.

    Being on the coast, I'm on permanent standby for a seagull attack though... I'm told they go for the eyes...
  • JessterJesster Posts: 482
    Great story Bopo, i especially love the bit where the guy reckons the buzzard mistook him for a rabbit so he decided to wear a hat! classic.

    Like buzzards are myopic....Pfft!
  • hussler.hussler. Posts: 390
    I remember during one of my first sprints I did at Derby in 2006.....

    I was hammering down this back road on the bike and it was quite misty, My glasses had steamed up and I saw some movement of a big pack of something up ahead....

    As I got nearer it was a herd of Cows....... I had to slow right down and weave through them....

    I didnt realise how big cows actually were! they are massive!! Lead to me being scared of them now! haha
    They started to panic and bolt everywhere, I was shouting at them to get out the way.... Like they could understand me and actually probably making it worse!

    Then the farmer came running over and grabbed my tri bars as I rode past.. This caused me to crash and get stampeaded by the cows:( once they cleared off I had an argument with the farmer..

    He said I needed to learn to ride a bike, I said he needed to learn to control his cows and the only reason why he was moving them was so he could go and F*ck them out the sight of his missis.... with a few more choice words.

    I informed the race organisors when I finished and they got the police in and the farmer got a visit.

    I am always weary of animals now especially cows and sheep when im out on the roads
  • JulesJules Posts: 987
    Magnificent beasts buzzards. Wouldn't want one trying to land on my head though.
  • GGBGGB Posts: 482
    Rabbits .. bloody rabbits ... on one of my cycle routes I get Kamikaze Rabbits ... 100's of them running out from the undergrowth into the middle of the road and then stopping and playing "chicken" with my bike ... its not fun but certainly gets the heart racing. I have lately changed routes due to this dangerous hazzard .... bleedin Rabbits of all things.
  • 2manykids2manykids Posts: 2
    i get hares jumping out at me, one of my routes can turn into a hare coursing track in the spring! while i'm here, i am doing my first standard distance tri on Sunday, first open water race, i've only done sprints with a pool swim before, any tips gratefully received!
  • combatdwarfcombatdwarf Posts: 258
    I have rabbits, red deer and a Goshawk that I have all nearly collided with...as Bopo says it really is a jungle out there
  • md6md6 Posts: 969
    starting to feel a little left out, i have pigeons and, well, chavs - do they count?
  • BmanBman Posts: 442
    I think a massive animal-related hazard in our parts are the dog walkers and those blasted long leashes. Cycling towards someone, you realise at the last minute that they are attached to a small poodle on the other side of the path by a thin retractable line. Not having a Penn reel to get the little bugger in quick enough, you have to slam on brakes and they smirk at you with that "Yip, pedestrian priority in the park" face.
  • JessterJesster Posts: 482
    Humans arent the only ones that come a cropper with those blasted retractable-lead thingys (more often than not, attached to terriers)

    One time I was out running with Milo running alongside and he had his legs whipped out from under him by one, like a trip wire. He then panicked and got all tangled up with his long spindly greyhound legs doing a sort of canine cat's cradle, all the while this bloody noisy little terrier was shouting at him.

    Needed a fair bit of counselling and more than a few bonios after that, i can tell you.
  • durhamvamdurhamvam Posts: 246
    I used to take my dog out with the bike really early in the morning along the disused rail paths round us - by early I mean 5.30 am and I once had a run in with an escaped cow which jumped out of the bushes in front of me - luckily I swerved in time but it gave me a real fright looming out of the dark

    After that I got really powerful front lights and then bats used to swoop and catch moths in the beam, also they used to stun rabbits so we'd have to stop and turn off the lights and wait for the rabbit to move so that it wasn't hypnotised straight into the dog's smiling mouth!
  • MrSquishyMrSquishy Posts: 277
    Jesster wrote:

    Needed a fair bit of counselling and more than a few bonios after that, i can tell you.
    But you're OK now Jess, yeah?!
  • wouldnt mind giving jess a bonio

    I got attacked by the wild chav on several occassions. Iv always wondered though, when you get attacked by a swam - what does it do? i know they aggressive but i dont see them being up to much....
  • FlavadaveFlavadave Posts: 749
    comanighttrain wrote:

    Iv always wondered though, when you get attacked by a swan - what does it do? i know they aggressive but i dont see them being up to much....
    They break your arms, everybody knows that!
  • ....how?....

    Swan-jitsu?
  • JessterJesster Posts: 482
    My greyhound Pip jumped in to the river wye after some ducks one october THEN realised she couldnt actually swim. must be a bit like paddling with toothpicks. so i had to jump in after her as she was getting swept downriver. Bloody freezing it was! Two splashes behind me meant that Barney and Scrub, my two other dogs, had jumped in after me. Marvellous. at least those two could swim. Pfft!

    so there we were, all going swiftly downstream, Pip going under quite a lot. before i could reach her a large swan flew towards her, beating its wings and looking massive! we must have been in its territory or something. i was shouting "oi! gerroff me dog, you!" when it started going for me too! they look pretty terrifying from that angle, i can tell you that for free.

    after drifting past a very bemused looking man fishing in a little boat, i caught up with Pip and managed to haul her, Scrub and Barney out on the nearest bank, which also happened to be thick with nettles. Great.

    Suffice to say, we walked home a bedraggled looking bunch and got many a strange look along the main road home, Pip never went near ducks again.

    All three dogs have now passed away, though not through swan or water related incidents, just old age. I still miss them and they gave me hours of amusement!
    Rest in peace, guys. X
  • julesojuleso Posts: 279
    OK so Jess's story of triumph in a river AND a swan attack trumps any animal-related incident I've had in the past!
  • BritspinBritspin Posts: 1,655
    Nice donkey tho'....I (sad man that I am) have to stop when passing a field of donkeys & say hi, does that count?
  • julesojuleso Posts: 279
    Am I alone in having greyhound envy, by the way? (Jess's greyhounds)

    I'd love to have a greyhound but offices & dogs don't mix. Oh and it'd eat the cat. And outrun me every time!

    Sorry, slightly off topic.
  • Jesster wrote:

    All three dogs have now passed away, though not through swan or water related incidents, just old age. I still miss them and they gave me hours of amusement!
    Rest in peace, guys. X
    awwwwwwwwwww I know im going to be devistated when our weimeraner goes....we just cant convince him after 2 surgeries that carpet isnt nutritious.
  • JessterJesster Posts: 482
    @juleso, greyhounds need hardly any walking and they just like to sleep so perfect to warm your feet under the desk in the office. Plus not all of them chase cats, mine live with them perfectly happily.

    Of course it helps if their first introduction to cats is with a very tough ginger tomcat called Jake who rules the farm and never runs away and delivers a claws-out one-two sucker punch to any fool canine that tries it. and always wins!

    They dont chase cats after they meet Jake
  • Jack HughesJack Hughes Posts: 1,262
    Jesster wrote:
    @juleso, greyhounds need hardly any walking and they just like to sleep so perfect to warm your feet under the desk in the office.
    Do you find your that your greyhounds are thieving magpies? Where's the TV controls, car keys, Louboutin's, Orbea + Campag group set? All in the greyhounds bed/den.

    Very, very, very lazy dogs though. Typical sprinters.
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