What is your most terrifying animal encounter?

1. I'm from Florida and I was volunteering at a local nature conservancy. One of our tasks was to remove fallen logs that were blocking up a creek after a big storm. The creek was about chest deep, 15 feet wide, and opaque brown (Many Florida freshwater ways are browns b/c of tannins leached into the river from trees). As I'm moving logs I notice a ~12 ft. alligator on the embankment I hadn't noticed before. It then slid into the creek I was in. I was with a land manager who was moving logs with me, and a herpetologist (who was in the canoe). I asked them what to do and they responded,"Well, those logs aren't gonna move themselves, and that gator's probably just trying to get away from us." Still, spending 30 minutes in a creek you can't see anything, knowing there's an alligator lurking near your feet, moving logs WHICH LOOK LIKE FUCKING ALLIGATORS was one of the most nerve-wracking things I've ever done. Edit:: Definitely didn't expect this to blow up! I've told this story a million times and it usually gets a "Huh that's wild" reaction. But, most of my coworkers and many of my friends are natural resource workers, so they're used to this stuff.
   — A_sweet_boy


2. When I was 12 a young stallion decided he wanted to play with me and almost killed me. He kicked and bit me and tried to trample me. He was my pet and was only treating me the way he'd treat a peer. I even knew that while it was happening. I made a huge mistake by turning my back on him while he was playful. He bit me and pulled me down. Knocked me down a couple of more times with a forefoot when I tried to get up. Reared up over me to stamp me a couple of times too. Still have the scar on my leg and that was a LONG time ago. Literally pissed myself during. My dad basically saved my life by chasing him off. His response was - that was close! What did you learn?
   — colmwhelan


3. When I was young, I went fishing with my dad and my best friend. We waded out through some deeper water to reach the shallow sandbar, where we fished for quite a while. The tide came in, and the water that had been just above my ankles was now above my waist. Suddenly a large shark, about 7-8 feet, crashed through a school of mullet only a few feet away from me. Dad saw it, my best friend saw it, and for a second we all three just kind of froze with our mouths hanging open. Quietly, calmly, Dad told us to walk back to shore, splashing as little as possible. We did. But the tide had come in, and I wasn’t as tall as the other two guys. The deeper water between the sandbar and shore reached their chests, but I could hardly keep my head above water while my feet barely bounced along the bottom, and I struggled to hold my fishing rod up out of the water. I was completely helpless, while we knew that a hungry shark was swimming somewhere in the area. It felt like a scene out of a nightmare, trying to run from an invisible monster, but my feet could barely touch the ground and I was hardly moving. I know— and even knew in that moment— that I had little chance of being eaten by a shark, especially one who is focused on fish. Still, if I ever WERE to be attacked, that was the moment, and I was utterly defenseless. A few years later, a man was killed just a few miles away when he jumped off his dock and into the path of a large bull shark that was chasing mullet.
   — TryCoserious






4. At the time I was working until 1am so I wouldn't get home until 2 or so. I opened the door to the house and felt what I thought was a breeze come by my leg. I don't really pay attention, walk over to my desk, put my keys down and turn the light on. Right when I do so, there are two possums in the act of mating in the middle of my kitchen. They screamed, I screamed and we began the three hour dance of getting them out of my house. I ended up trapping them in a dog cage and dumping them out in the middle of my back yard. Edit: To avoid confusion they were opossums, not their Australian cousins!
   — terrid2331


5. I've been woken up by a bear sniffing my head once. Was cowboy camping (no tent) in Lyell Canyon in Yosemite once, when I hear something sniff right next to my head. My sleep addled brain thinks it's a ranger on a horse telling me to move my camp (had hiked about 20 miles that day. You have to be at least 4 miles into the canyon to camp, and I wasn't 100% sure I'd made it far enough since it was dark when I set up camp). Anyways, I say "just one second", sit up, grope for my flashlight and turn it on to see a black bear a couple feet away. I holler, he tears off, I get out and empty my bladder, and try to fall back asleep until I hear him coming around again. I make a bunch more noise, decide I'm not getting any more sleep, break camp and slowly night hike until the sun rises.
   — WestBrink


6. Being charged at by a bull. I was told the bull wasn't hostile but turns out he was towards men. I had to jump a channel to avoid him.
   — FuckReddit6






7. Getting a group hug by a swarm of [these](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/Portuguese_Man-O-War_%28Physalia_physalis%29.jpg) painful little fuckers, while treading water about 100 meters from the shore. EDIT: Do not use vinegar to treat bluebottle stings and do not attempt to rub or scrape the tendrils off. Use the hottest running water you can bear to wash them off. They have jelly like tendrils embedded with tiny stingers which remain in the skin if you physically remove them. Hot water cooks the tendrils kind of like eggwhite and they fall off. I recommend getting buckled drunk for pain relief.
   — phailanx


8. I was very drunk at a wedding on a large property in rural NSW. I like to wander and explore when I drink. I was alone and suddenly confronted with a wombat. Wombats are massive balls of muscle. Being the drunk idiot I was, I was all like “awww hello me wombat” and began to approach it. The wombat did not like this. It charged me. It was so fast. My heart stopped and I turned and ran as fast as I could. The little bugger nearly caught me. I sprinted back to the wedding in fear for my life.
   — Allow1986


9. There was a bee in my car once.
   — chasethreilling






10. Once I tried to chase a possum off my lawn and it started chasing me back so that was pretty startling. That or the time me and a buddy were camping a little outside town and could hear coyotes howling from what sounded like all around us
    — BLut91


11. Growing up, my grandma babysat me. She lived with my uncle. He had a Rottweiler, who was very friendly. One day, when I was 9-10, I decided I wanted to pretend to be a wrestler. I did this by putting white masking tape on my hands and arms. I ended up fighting stuffed animals and all that. When I got tired, I just grabbed some action figures and went to the carport, which had deer stands. This was where the Rottweiler also slept. So the dog was asleep when I got there. I started playing with the toys. A few minutes later I heard the dog stirring. I pay no mind to it. I then hear growling. I turn around and the dog is growling at me. I try to let her know it is me but she is still growling. I then slowly back away and she lunges at me. Being the somewhat smart kid I was, I noticed immediately she was going for my arms. I rip off the masking tape, throw it at the dog, and run back into the house. Avoided that dog for days until I was asked to feed her. She was friendly again.
    — RetroWillis