One day, years ago, I had to enter a several acre pen to water four caribou—three males and one female. Though the males were quite affectionate, the female had put two adult men in the hospital…and she was not fond of me.
Awesome.
When I got to the pen, the caribou were nowhere in sight. My plan was to slip in, walk down the fence line to fill the water then walk back and slip out. Everything went according to plan. That is, until I got about twenty feet from the gate on my way back from watering. The female had spotted me and she was pissed. She charged me, pinning me against the chain link fence with her antlers. With little else to do, I grabbed them and tried to push her head to the side.
Not too bright.
She reared up and struck out at me with her hooves, missing, but scaring the bejeezus out of me. Thinking I could climb the fence to escape, I looked behind me only to realize I’d climb out of the caribou pen and into a pen with a bull moose. He was standing directly behind me, wondering what all the fuss was about. He definitely would’ve put me in the hospital, if not the morgue.
Just as I thought I was toast, the three male caribou came to my rescue. Two of them chased the female away, while one escorted me safely to the gate.
Think you could do better than me? Then ask yourself this: What would you do if a cute and cuddly Koala chased you down? Or better yet, how would you handle being surrounded by a herd of wild, salt-starved bighorn sheep?
