Surviving a wild animal attack
Wild animals exist all over the place. If you live in an area that has woods or forestry then the chances of you encountering a wild animal will greatly increase. Typical North American wild animals that generally attack include bears, mountain lions, wolves and even dogs.
If you do not know how to survive a wild animal attack then it could cost you your life. Hopefully, you are in a position where you can at least scare away the animal or kill the animal with a weapon of your own. What you don’t want to do is try to run away from the animal. This is a common impulse that people have when they are confronted by a wild animal, but it will only result in your demise. The animal has four legs and you only have two, so it will definitely catch up to you if you try to run away. Not only that, it will attack you once it does catch up.
So what you have to do first is not to panic. Animals have a sense when their prey is scared or has fear in their eyes. That is why you cannot even look scared when facing a wild animal. Instead you need to stay static and not move a muscle. Try to avoid staring directly into the animal’s eyes because they will see that as a sign of aggression.
Now if you happen to have a weapon on you, such as a knife or gun, then it will be much easier for you to survive the attack. All you need to do is hold the knife out or point the gun at the animal and wait for it to lunge at you. Then use your weapon to incapacitate the animal. But if you don’t have a weapon, then you will have to get the animal to go away on its own. You can do this by scaring the animal by making it think you are a bigger threat to it then it is to you. The tactic that works best for this depends on the type of animal that is attacking you. If it is a large animal, like a bear or mountain lion, then the best thing to do is stand your ground. This means waving your hands erratically in the air and yelling. The animals will see you as a threat to them and will likely go away. If they don’t then try throwing rocks at it while continuing to yell. As for smaller animals, like wolves or dogs, simply slump your body and head down into sort of a submissive gesture. Again, stay immobile and wait for the animal to leave on its own.
