Wild or habituated, when humans come in contact with critters that
have not, over many generations been domesticated, we run high risks
of not knowing all the permutations of behavior. It's within that window
of unawareness, even in our own back yards, that folks get hurt.
After all, we're a pretty arrogant lot. One fellow, the deputy mayor
of Delhi, India last week, got himself iced by a habituated monkey
(macaque) that attacked him. (Perhaps we could turn a few macaques
loose in Washington). I've had three very close encounters =96 each
with a different critter species =96 and have been especially lucky.
Others haven't.
Bernie
On Oct 31, 2007, at 6:35 AM, lupusdomesticus wrote:
> --- In Marc Myers <>
> wrote:
> >
> > Jeepers Bernie, you mean all those Tarzan movies were true?
> > Nothing in the article suggested sexuality.
>
> There was an article about the Borneo ogangutangs "trained" for return
> to nature in Outside Magazine a few years back. The point of the
> article was how futile it was to try to turn tame apes into wild ones
> again. One difficulty and danger was that the animals were not afraid
> of humans anymore, and after they realised that they were stronger
> than humans the orangs were downright dangerous to the workers. There
> also was (at that time) at least one rape case, in which the female
> worker was wise enough not to resist.
>
> Thus it is not great news that this has happened more than once, and
> it seems to be a real, not imagined danger to female visitors.
>
>
>
Wild Sanctuary
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Glen Ellen, CA 95442
707-996-6677
http://www.wildsanctuary.com
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