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Funny incident at the park

We're driving to pick something up from one job site then heading to another. We see a lady walking around with a leash and no dog.

half a mile away we find a rotwiler dog with no leash. I tell my friend to stop the car. Get out

*whistle* Wana go for a ride? *pats front seat* Dog hops in car.

Turns out my co worker is deathly afraid of dogs and had NO idea that telling a dog to jump into a car had ANY chance of working, so he's rather unexpectedly looking face to face with a leaping rottweiler and slams the gas. The dog falls/jumps out of the car, I almost get my foot run over, and we're both left in the gravel giving him pretty identical "what the #)(*$(#$" looks.

Not telling the people you work with you have issues can make things interesting at the wrong time.

(took about 10 minutes to catch him. The dog had no interest in my cheese sandwhich. Finally i sat on my butt, in the mudd, the dog came over. I scratched his rear end and then took his collar. Which the dog wasn't entirely okay with. My friend wouldn't get out of the car. Forunately someone else came by, and we used the clip to the leaf blower as an impromptu leash and walked him back to the owner)


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"Mr Bignorsewolf, do you know where you are?

"I'm haveing a sesimoid bone removed from the interphalangeal joint of the great right halux."

"... .... .... ok we need some more anesthetic over here"

later that same opperation

Pops awake. Makes up up signal with thumb. Nurse "yeah he needs some more..." pause... pause more up signal... more up signal... Feel it kick in. Make ok sign. Pass out.

Different surgery

Hop on table. Grab the arm rest. Shake shake shake

"What are you doing?

"Seeing whats strong enough to pull on when I pop awake

"Don't worry about it, you'll be fine.

"Surgery starts. pass out for a few minutes. Come awake. Doctor starts taping my arm down.

"I don't think thats going to hold.

Doc "Don't worry! Its silk. Mongols used to use it to stop arrows.

me: "well not so much stop the arrows as let the silk wind around the barbs so they could pull it out...

Turns out he was right about the silk. he was wrong about the table. Bent that sucker right up. And back down on the way out for them :)


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Sitting on the side of a lake in the park whittling away on a walking stick after work. I see a snake swimming through the water... cool. It gets out kinda nearish me and starts sunning itself on the rocks. Also very cool. Trying to see if its the water snake or the rattler by the way it swims no luck. Oh well. Whittle whittle whittle.

I look up and the snakes about a foot away from me. Okaay. Put the whittling project down. Hold still. No problem, I'll just wait for it to wonder off.

Wonders towards Me.

Slithes onto me.

No problem, i'll just hold still and let him leave right?

Well, he just got out of a cold lake and I'm a warm blooded mammal wearing black sweatpants in the sun ie, the best heatrock ever. He parks himself there for a bit. No problem, all i need to do is hold still.

5 minutes later a lady comes up on my right with a kid on her left, about 2 feet away from the snake.

softly: "...ma'm.... ma'm... ma'm....." a little louder "ma'm"

looks down. Sees the snake. "Oh my god is it poi

"I don't know.

"What do i ....

"walk. away. Slowly. and. don't scream.

"should i get the park ranger?

"I am the park ranger. Walk. away. slowly. Don't scream.

Half an hour later it moved on and I had the fastest run to the bathroom ever.


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When joining the peace corps you need to get everything checked out now so that you don't have a medical emergency when its 12 hours by donkey to the nearest "doctor".

Went to the doctor, had a LONG list of tests. Physical, eyes, ekg, teeth, blood work,

So I'm going down a really long checklist, comparing it to a small books worth of reports and I see somethings missing. I ask the lady at the desk "Pap smear, do I need one of those?"

She got out a no and held up a folder to try to hide her face before laughing hard enough that she would have fallen out of her chair if she wasn't leaning on the desk.


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Sweeping up some debris in the park. Pull it into a pile, Pile starts to move. Look down, there's a baby snake. In the pile. While I'm looking at it trying to make the DC 20 knowledge nature check to tell an eastern rattlesnake from its water snake mimic, a co worker who is afraid of snakes tries to step on it with her boot. Without thinking i put my hand over the poor thing

"You gotta kill em before they get big and poisonous.

"They're poisnous at any age and the kids are more likely to use ALL the venom*

"So why do you have your hand there?"

Put down shovel. Gently nudge snake onto shovel. Carry snake to safety.

Knowledge nature: fail.

Wild empathy? Epic win.

*there's debate back and forth about this, but really, does that sound like the time for THAT conversation?


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I've had my wrist in a wolfs mouth, been clawed by a hawk, beaten in the head by a swan, nommed by a snapping turtle, had a pitbull latch onto my arm, and been headbutted by a horse.

My worst animal related injury was when i was 10. My sisters fat rabbit got out of the cage and was hopping around the yard. I picked him up... and all 4 legs, with overgrown nails, proceeded to shred my arm of skin from the elbow to the wrist.

My sister of course was screaming about "my poor rabbit" for all the blood I got on it.


Was the wolf actually trying to bite you or merely playing/threatening?


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Drejk wrote:
Was the wolf actually trying to bite you or merely playing/threatening?

He was telling me that he was done with his belly rubs, but couldn't get up :).

At a wolf center, he flagged me down for his belly rub in a bad spot, in the trail around the edge. he was rolling left and right for the belly rubs, then tried rolling left and right to get up, but between being in the trail and my hand on him couldn't get up. So he grabbed my wrist and I said "oh, sorry..."


These are great stories!

What state are you in? What kind of park ranger are you?


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BigNorseWolf wrote:
Drejk wrote:
Was the wolf actually trying to bite you or merely playing/threatening?

He was telling me that he was done with his belly rubs, but couldn't get up :).

At a wolf center, he flagged me down for his belly rub in a bad spot, in the trail around the edge. he was rolling left and right for the belly rubs, then tried rolling left and right to get up, but between being in the trail and my hand on him couldn't get up. So he grabbed my wrist and I said "oh, sorry..."

And here I'd thought you were letting him hold your wrist in his mouth as a pledge you would remove the chain when the game was done. :)


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Fergie wrote:

These are great stories!

What state are you in? What kind of park ranger are you?

I'm in NY. The wolf center was in idaho. Most of these are from a long time ago, I haven't been able to do that sort of thing since i got hurt in the park.

I was the park ranger at a pool in bear mountain state park which.. amounted to pretty much being a bouncer slash janitor. It's pretty funny watching people from NYC with NO experience with wildlife interacting with it (when the wildlife is shockingly use to people)

Some more fun from the pool...

Lifeguard tips over a garbage can with a raccoon inside

Raccoon wakes up, bleerily looks around, heads over to the pool for a drink and hides under the lifeguard chair.

My boss takes a pool brush and starts trying to poke the thing towards the bulding.. ie, 100 feet with NO cover. I try explaining why thats not going to work, he throws me the brush.

I tell the lifeguards to move. Going to push him the other way. Move guys.. guys? FIiiine..." Ignore the raccoon hissing bloody murder at me and nudge him out of the chair and towards the lifeguards, they scramble, and he goes off the edge of the pool and down into a little cave behind it.

Woke him up at lunch time to leave him some bottled water and half my sandwich.

___

Having lunch sitting on a rock wall. Eat one half of the cheese sandwhich, reach down to make the other half right next to me. No bread. I look down and there's a raccoon pretty much picking my pocket, holding the bread and reaching a little paw up for the cheese. We both look at each other for a second, scamper away from each other , and give each other a quick "okay, you're outinthedaybutnotrabid/human but a good human right?" looks and go back to our starting positions. I could see she was nursing cubs, so i made the sandwich, added some mustard and handed it to her. (i don't normally recommend feeding wildlife, but the raccoons there were so used to people that ship had sailed and gone around the globe)

So as far as the raccoons were concerned it was paradise. You'd sleep in a can and people would drop ice cream on you all day.

Showing the new girl how to change the bags on the garbage cans across from the ice cream machine.

"Step 1, kick the can"
"why?"
Kick can. BIG raccoon pops out HISSSES.
"Because you don't want them to do THAT when you're bending your face over the top.

Guy with a dog off leash.
"S'cuse me sir you need to get a leash for him. if you don't have one i can scrounge up some rope.
"Nah it's okay he's very well trained
"It's not just for him we have wildlife he....
Raccoon pops out of the can. HIIIIISSSSSSES
"... You trained the raccoon to do that on cue didn't you?

Seeing eye dog got a little too close to the trashcan .

Raccoon pops up dog snarls and starts going forward and back. You can see the poor things brain trying to go in two different directions. he's supposed to lead his human away from that sort of thing . But he has to stay in between the raccoon and his human to protect his human.

Normally you just grab the dog by the collar and yank em back, but you can't really do that with a person attached and they were REALLY close. I stepped in between them and given the choice between putting a few things near and dear to my heart right next to a snarling raccoon or putting my derriere in the teeth of a dog that I had every reason to believe had its shots... I chose the later.

The lifeguards of course, kept offering me places to sit for the rest of the day. I decided to stand.

___

We had a large colony of bats hanging out in the ceiling. One of them slipped off while sleeping, went to fly out the door , and ran smack into the middle of a large co workers belly and spread out like a batman decal. He didn't notice. The coworker he was talking to did. Stopped talking mid conversation and ran away. The guy with the bat on his stomach "huhed?" looked down and started shaking his shirt "GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!"


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thejeff wrote:
BigNorseWolf wrote:
Drejk wrote:
Was the wolf actually trying to bite you or merely playing/threatening?

He was telling me that he was done with his belly rubs, but couldn't get up :).

At a wolf center, he flagged me down for his belly rub in a bad spot, in the trail around the edge. he was rolling left and right for the belly rubs, then tried rolling left and right to get up, but between being in the trail and my hand on him couldn't get up. So he grabbed my wrist and I said "oh, sorry..."

And here I'd thought you were letting him hold your wrist in his mouth as a pledge you would remove the chain when the game was done. :)

hey! thats the sort of mistake you can only make twice..

The Exchange

My god, all those stories are incredible!

Personally I don't fear animals, but I can't really do anything with them, except sneak close enough to them to take photos.

I'd think that raccoons are more dangerous then random rattlesnakes and all that, because raccoons are used to being with humans.

Generally isn't it that wildlife is more scared of you then you are of it?


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Just a Mort wrote:

My god, all those stories are incredible!

Personally I don't fear animals, but I can't really do anything with them, except sneak close enough to them to take photos.

I'd think that raccoons are more dangerous then random rattlesnakes and all that, because raccoons are used to being with humans.

Besides needing a rabies shot and some stitches. i'm at a loss to how a raccoon is going to do serious damage to someone.

Quote:
Generally isn't it that wildlife is more scared of you then you are of it?

With good reason. I'm reminded of sandpoints sign: take a moment to see you as we see you with a bit of old mirror.

Humans are a 200 pound ape with magical powers with the ability to summon swarms of other 200 pound apes with magical powers. The more lethal humans can kill you just by looking at you and calling down thunder, even the most unprepared human can hurt you at a distance by picking up the earthy or uprooting a tree to beat you with.

They are some of the kindest, most benevolant deities, offering you food for nothing or to get your head stuck out of something, but also the cruelest, harming you in creative ways for no reason what so ever. God help you if you hurt one, there will be 100 of the things trying to kill you and everyone related to you for years at a time.

and they absolutely freak out over nothing. They make the most awful screams and thrash around. to most animals we're HUGE. I don't think a raccoon really gets the concept that they can scare us , but humans really should understand the concept that this weird thing 10 times their size flailing their arms around SHOULD scare the heck out of them: try to imagine NOT being scared of an elephant running around, waving its trunk with a tree in it. Try to imagine trying to explain to a bat why the giant monster they can't even hurt with their teeth acts like they're ON FIRE just because you went near them.

Humans are the oddballs. People SHOULD be able to understand that. Few do.


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Had a pair of raccoon kits in a portable garbage trailer.

Normally you toss in a stick or plank, give them some space, and the raccoons crawl out. These were young, so mom hadn't shown them that trick apparently.

Climb in, take a garbage can, put it down scare the raccoons a bit, they run for the safety of the garbage can , tip can up and then you dump them out.

Second day doing this one of the kits runs behind me , grabs onto my leg, and is holding onto the back of it, peeking around my leg... at me, and then hiding their face. Behind me. From me. It was so cute. And scary. It's weird to want to laugh, awwww, and EEEEEEP! all at the same time.

Sometimes I think i register as an object more than a person when animals are looking at me.


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At the aformentioned wolf center, we had a freezing cold night for april. In the mountains. Even by idaho standards. The cabin tent i'm staying in has a cast iron stove, so i'm throwing nothing but kindling in there and have it going red hot all night long.

Wake up the next morning, there's a pile of coyotes outside the tent opposite the stove. I mean i knew they came in packs but not piles. I walk past them without noticing, hit the road, look back and see them. The one on top yawwwwns, gives me a "what are you looking at?" look, and goes back to sleep.

****

Same place. the Coyotes are being a lil extra active right next to the wolf enclosure in the middle of the night. Wanted to make sure everything was okay, grab walkingstick and headlight and head out to look.

They of course stay just out of headlight range, doing the "glowing eyes in the dark" thing. Keep yipping... and my headlight dims and goes dead like a scene out of a horror movie.

Nope. Back to the tent. Didn't see nothing. Nope.

The Exchange

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Generally it's the smaller animals that I feel act in unpredictable ways.

Get close to a wild monitor lizard to take a picture? Not a problem.

Pick up my friend's hamster? Get bitten.

Try to catch a small chick? Get mother hen chasing after me, and run off. Yeah, I sorta had that coming...but the little chicks were so CUTE! Couldn't resist trying to cuddle one.

Yeah I'd think its the smaller species that have something to prove.

We went feeding wild boars at night, we stayed in the car and threw packets of noodles out. Figures if they look like pigs, they should eat like pigs too. Which they did.

And I'm not a 200 lbs ape. I'm much smaller.

Animals like to shelter in the most unexpected places. Especially warm placea. I ever saw a cat come out from under a car><

Luckily so far I have yet to see anyone start their car and run over the cat hiding underneath.


Just a Mort wrote:

Generally it's the smaller animals that I feel act in unpredictable ways.

Get close to a wild monitor lizard to take a picture? Not a problem.

Pick up my friend's hamster? Get bitten.

Try to catch a small chick? Get mother hen chasing after me, and run off. Yeah, I sorta had that coming...but the little chicks were so CUTE! Couldn't resist trying to cuddle one.

Yeah I'd think its the smaller species that have something to prove.

We went feeding wild boars at night, we stayed in the car and threw packets of noodles out. Figures if they look like pigs, they should eat like pigs too. Which they did.

And I'm not a 200 lbs ape. I'm much smaller.

Animals like to shelter in the most unexpected places. Especially warm placea. I ever saw a cat come out from under a car><

Luckily so far I have yet to see anyone start their car and run over the cat hiding underneath.

Well, nearly anything will bite if you pick it up. And mamas will attack anything messing with their kids.

Which is why it's so sad when someone starts trying to pet the bear cubs.


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Why americans don't use public transportation.

I'm heading to a convention this weekend

Option 1: get in a car and drive 3 hours. Park and walk in.

(if i had a car i would be taking this option)

option 2: Get ride to commuter train station at 11 pm.

Take commuter train to nyc

Wait 4 hours for 4 am train (always an interesting visit to grand central overnight)

Take train for 4 hours.

Walk or bus mile to center, with enough clothes for weekend, gaming books, and a pair of kindles. Dice. etc.

9 ish hour trip.

On the way back

take train to philly.

walk half mile to bus stop.

wait an hour for the bus to NYC

walk to shuttle train. take shuttle train to train station

train station home

taxi from train station to (or ferry, and then taxi if i'm late/early enough)

and it's not like i'm in the boonies. This is in a commuter corridor for NYC. This is as GOOD as public transport gets outside of a major city.

The Exchange

Cars are cheaper in America then they are down here. Granted, our public transport is better.


I always felt like Major cities should just have a few Huge parking spots outside of the city as your going in and then the city itself was nothing but public transportation for getting around inside the city itself. bypass all traffic around said city.


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I hear you. I took AMTRAK out to Omaha, NE this summer, then back from Galesburg IL, a week or two later. (NOTE: Galesburg has a cool shop called, I think, Roll20, that I wish I had been able to check out more during my visit. The logistics of getting myself and a bicycle back and forth were kind of ridiculous. Also, it wasn't exactly cheep.

Just a quick idea... Check out Vamoose Buses. My girlfriend takes them to DC, and it might give you more options then trains - maybe. Also, they are cheaper then most other options, but better then something like Grayhound.

I was just in Bear Mountain a few days ago. Took Seven Lakes Drive out to the circle near Sabago Beach, but all the good secondary roads are still closed. Funny, even though it was warm most places, there was still some snow and cold air deeper in the park.

I did notice the Park Police handing out dozens of tickets to some groups of hikers who had parked their cars near the entrance to Perkins. Ouch! Sometimes car ownership can have it's downsides!


Fergie wrote:

.

Just a quick idea... Check out Vamoose Buses. My girlfriend takes them to DC, and it might give you more options then trains - maybe. Also, they are cheaper then most other options, but better then something like Grayhound.

See this is another problem, seeing which mass of independant means of transport go where...

Quote:
I was just in Bear Mountain a few days ago. Took Seven Lakes Drive out to the circle near Sabago Beach, but all the good secondary roads are still closed. Funny, even though it was warm most places, there was still some snow and cold air deeper in the park.

Microclimates are a funny thing. its why the park is full of mushrooms.

The barriers are an absolute PITA to get there and tie down with wire, so they're not removed until we're sure we're done with the snow. trying to drive on those back roads would be dangerous, trying to plow them would be suicide.

Quote:

I did notice the Park Police handing out dozens of tickets to some groups of hikers who had parked their cars near the entrance to Perkins. Ouch! Sometimes car ownership can have it's downsides!

There is a small (free) parking lot just a little ways north of there. Still, you don't want to have to drive an ambulance through a mess of parked cars when someone took a header off the cliff or somehow manages to get lost when the directions are "up" and "down."

Not nearly as fun as parking below the pool and walking to the top though.

Whats the best all night pizza place near grand central? There was a place a few blocks north ? Uncle pauls?


That's funny, I have hiked up most of the other peaks surrounding it (Timp-Torne, Dunderberg, etc.) and ridden my bicycle up to Perkins many times, but I never actually hiked up Bear Mountain itself.

Which side of the Hudson do you live on? (I'm in Croton.)

Hmm, I don't know much about that area. It is weirdly dead after 10pm or so, and most things are very expensive. It always annoys my girlfriend, but I sometimes stop at the dollar a slice place that is located between 45th and 46th on Lexington. I don't know what time they close.


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Fergie wrote:
That's funny, I have hiked up most of the other peaks surrounding it (Timp-Torne, Dunderberg, etc.) and ridden my bicycle up to Perkins many times, but I never actually hiked up Bear Mountain itself.

They redid the Appalachian trail a few years back (irony, id go work on that for free on the weekends) I haven't gone up that.

My favorite way is to start in bear mountain, turn left at the inn, go up the paved road/trail to the ski jump, walk up the ski jump (there's stone stairs) and keep going up. There's some amazing views half way up. But you are off the trail and there is the occasional rattlesnake. (all of which i've had polite dealings with)

Quote:
Which side of the Hudson do you live on? (I'm in Croton.)

west side small town near newburgh.

Quote:
Hmm, I don't know much about that area. It is weirdly dead after 10pm or so, and most things are very expensive. It always annoys my girlfriend, but I sometimes stop at the dollar a slice place that is located between 45th and 46th on Lexington. I don't know what time they close.

pizza is one area where i will shell out more for quality :)


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Fun with snakes:

We had a prison work crew that worked with us in the park sometimes. Unlike our union, they didn't have to work in the rain, below 20 degrees, and wouldn't work in areas not checked for snakes.

So how do you check for snakes? You walk through the area. Guesse who got that job? The druid.

Walk through. nothing. nothing nothing. 2 minutes later someone's walking right behind me

"ksh ksh ksh SKH KSH KSH SKSJHKSHKSHSKSHKSKHSKHS"

"Yo... you gotta stop telling them to do that"

____

6 foot black rat snake hanging out in the work site

*reach down. Pick up. put it over my neck, hold arms out*

"Hey... that poisonous?"

puts face directly to snake.

"Hope not..."

___

Black rat snake hanging out on the pool, getting some sun.

People see it, scream, start throwing waterbottles at it.
Pick it up "it's harmless, don't worry it..
People KEEP throwing waterbottles
___

garter snake hanging out on the pool deck. Pick it up. Snakes fine

walk it past a bunch of kids, who start screaming and splashing me

Snake no longer fine. Bites me. Hangs on.

*sigh..FINE* Hold out snake to kids. Hanging off of my thumb. They scream and run away.

Councilor comes up to complain. Follows me into the bathroom where i'm prying the snake loose

"hey, why are you scaring the kids with a fake...."

Sees the snake moving. Turns around. leaves.


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The job: move some old dumpsters

Take prybar. Turn them so the forklift can get them. Forklift moves them.

Insert prybar. Lift a dumpster up a bit. Spider sense starts tingling.

Shift a little away from the dumpster, lift it up at a safer angle

entire area under the dumpster is covered in snakes.

Nope. Walk away.

I overhear a conversation later with the boss

"..why didn't that dumpster get moved?

"Whole lot of snakes under it

"Don't you have someone that plays with those for fun?

"Yeaaah.He took one look under there and walked away , So this is as close i'm getting to it"

Shadow Lodge

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It was an honor to run a table for a RL druid, sir.

The Exchange

the jeff wrote:


Well, nearly anything will bite if you pick it up.

Yeah, I've just been told not to pick anything up. I wouldn't throw water bottles at one. But I sure as heck wouldn't pick one up.

There's an episode on most poisonous snakes on animal planet or something. About if you got bit by some snakes, its certain death without medical attention.

Good thing that garter snake wasn't poisonous.

Could you teach me animal empathy so I can get animals to sit around long enough to take photos of them? I promise, I never use flash. I know it irritates animals, like how someone shining a torch into your eyes would irritate you.

P.S Those birdies keep flying off before I can get a good shot.


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For some reason, animals do not like cameras.

The wolf mentioned above that i was bellyrubbing didn't want to come near me when i was holding a cam corder: not even up to my eye just holding it. I had to drop it off and do a second lap to say goodbye. For a camera you probably want a setup where you can look like you're looking in another direction, or even not exactly AT the bird. They can tell.

I think it looks like a giant eye to them, and anything paying that much attention to them usually spells danger.

Everyone has their own way of doing it. For me i run wild empathy off of constitution. Yes. You can bite me. I don't care.

Don't look like a human. Humans= danger. Sit down and curl up , or wear something that breaks up your shape. Around less aggresive critters I'll shut my eyes and kinda doze off a little.

RELAX. You cannot fake not having adrenaline running through your system and oozing out of your pores. If you are nervous, they will know. That will make them nervous. This builds off of itself: if you're relaxed around critters nothing happens, so you can be more relaxed around critters so...

Figure out what the animal wants, and how the animal thinks they might get it. You may be a friendly human. The animal cannot know that (well, some of them seem to, but not most) Animals are risk adverse, they have to be. A minor scratch or injury that would leave you at home popping antibiotics with your foot up watching tv will leave them starving for a week. "mostly harmless" won't do. You have to look harmless. Consistency works here : if the critter knows you do x at y time they get used to that. If a fox sees you walking the same patch of woods every morning , and you walk that patch of woods, its "that human is in the woods, as usual" not "OH #)*(#$ a human"

Adapt to the critter. Different animals have different body languages and signals. Covering my face with the bill of my hat works great with deer. Wolves? Not so much: they want to see your intent in your eyes and if you can't show that they get suspicious. Cute puppy noises show a dog you're a harmless puppy. They sound like wounded prey to a wolf, so it makes you sound delicious

Unfortunately, this goes tripply for birds. They're delicate, you cannot "limp" on a wing until you get better, and their flight or fight response is ACTUAL flight, so it works really really well. Given that you need a reason for the birds to be there (birdseed, if doable), it needs to be there ALL the time

Not everyone is going to mesh with everyone or every species: Horses don't like me. I had trouble getting along with the girl wolves. The alpha female didn't like many humans, the other female was usually very cuddly , but i scared her (possibly because i wasn't allowed to sit, and even kneeling i was a fair bit bigger than her) The lone wolf warmed up to me a lot considering he was going through, the alpha thought i was a great thing to scent roll around on (PROBABLY should have tried to get into town for a shower a little more often), and the other male thought i was the best but scratcher and shoulder massager ever (even nudging the shy female over to me, with what i can only imagine was "here, you gotta try this! He gets your whole back with one paw...)


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Garter snakes are a harmless nuisance, nothing more. Their bite doesn't even hurt that much - granted the first time it hurts a lot because of natural panic and surprise. Getting attacked by a Swingline stapler is worse than a garter snake.

Where I live, it's very easy to tell the native venomous snakes from the non-venomous. Rattlesnakes (timber and eastern) and water moccasins are dangerous and everything else is safe. It's the spiders you have to watch out for (brown recluse, black widow, etc).

One time...25ish years ago...I was out hiking in some woods near my grandparents' house. Stepped on a timber rattler. Figured that one out when it started rattling and I finally could see it. It was just cold enough out that he wasn't particularly alert but not cold enough yet for seeking shelter. I was at least a couple miles from the nearest house, and the nearest hospital was another 25 miles from there. I was lucky (granted, had it been warmer, it would have warned me before I got anywhere near that close).


Vanykrye wrote:

Garter snakes are a harmless nuisance, nothing more. Their bite doesn't even hurt that much - granted the first time it hurts a lot because of natural panic and surprise. Getting attacked by a Swingline stapler is worse than a garter snake.

Where I live, it's very easy to tell the native venomous snakes from the non-venomous. Rattlesnakes (timber and eastern) and water moccasins are dangerous and everything else is safe. It's the spiders you have to watch out for (brown recluse, black widow, etc).

One time...25ish years ago...I was out hiking in some woods near my grandparents' house. Stepped on a timber rattler. Figured that one out when it started rattling and I finally could see it. It was just cold enough out that he wasn't particularly alert but not cold enough yet for seeking shelter. I was at least a couple miles from the nearest house, and the nearest hospital was another 25 miles from there. I was lucky (granted, had it been warmer, it would have warned me before I got anywhere near that close).

You must be in the TN area

The Exchange

I'm pretty cool around animals. I try not to make too much noise, sudden movements when I'm trying to get a shot. I'm not sure if feeding the birdies is a good idea because the parks specifically state no feeding the animals.

Apparently it gets them too dependent on humans, and in the case of monkeys, too aggressive. Yes, the monkeys will snatch potato chip packets out of your hands.

The bigger the snake, the less likely its poisonous, generally. The more colourful the snake, the higher chance its poisonous.


Just a Mort wrote:


Apparently it gets them too dependent on humans, and in the case of monkeys, too aggressive. Yes, the monkeys will snatch potato chip packets out of your hands.

I was mugged by monkeys once as a child.


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My first wild monkey I ever saw was a Vervet which ducked into the jeep I was in looking for food. Looking up from digging things out of your backpack to see a monkey staring at you from a foot away is a surprising experience.


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Bird center in upstate new york had an emu enclosure. We were in there clearing some brush.

Someone left their backpack on the ground. The birds knew to plant a foot on the backpack and unzip the bag with their beak, and then rumage through looking for food.

___

Doing a bat survey. you catch the bats in what amounts to a volleyball net

We're sitting around waiting for the next net check and we hear THUMP

We look over, giant hoary bat stuck in the net. he hit it so hard the net tangled up around him.

Try to take him out with my gloves on, no dice.
My partner tries to take him out, the bat bites him through the gloves "ow ow ow"

Well, at this point we can either cut the net (which will mess up our results for the rest of the week long canoe ride) or hurt the poor thing to get him out or...

Take off the gloves start getting him out. I whittle and used to work for a living, so when he's biting into my thumb it's pretty much just callous and scar tissue.

Adorable little bat *Nom nom...nom? Well THATS not working.. FIIIIINE*
and let me untangle it.
___

When we were examining the bats , instead of the "proper" grip i would just wrap my hands around the entire thing and let them stick their head out so we could ID them. Apparently it was warm in there, because they wouldn't try to get out, and when I let them go they'd tend to try to hang out on my hand for a bit.

___

Wildlife class. We're helping folks in the montezuma preserve id some ducks.

the "proper" way to hold them is face down both hands around the wings. Don't talk cute to them, don't pet them.

This worked fine for me. I put both hands around them, they almost meet around the bird, bird doesn't move. Wait it line, tag it, sex it, and off it goes with an apology.

Behind me someone is trying that and the thing is flopping around, getting lose, and pecking them in the face.

behind them a girl is holding it like a kitten, petting it , making cute animal noises at it and barely holding it at all, and it's just sitting there resting his head on her

should have had her give the how to...


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The last one was one of those prices transformed into swan duck.

EDIT: If his duckness wasn't taking advantage of the situation to put his head or appendage on her breast (like kittens often do when held by a woman) he might have been her brother, meaning she was a princess...


Vidmaster7 wrote:


You must be in the TN area

Illinois. Basically the same as far as wildlife is concerned.


Vanykrye wrote:
Vidmaster7 wrote:


You must be in the TN area
Illinois. Basically the same as far as wildlife is concerned.

They are terrible at geography...


I admire people willing to take a bit of pain to help animals. Kudos to you, druid.

A question: How frequent is rabies infection among bats? How do you relate to that?

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Big Norse Wolf wrote:


Someone left their backpack on the ground. The birds knew to plant a foot on the backpack and unzip the bag with their beak, and then rumage through looking for food.

I always worried if the birds might eat the bag that the food was in. Like the way turtles mistake plastic bags for jelly fish, eat them and die :(

Falcons calm down when they're hooded. Dows that work for bats as well? Or echolocation makes them different?

I'd love to treat a duck like a kitten really! Can you hood a duck like you would a falcon?


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I don't need to worry about hurting the poor staples when i pry them out :)


Home from gadcon

*faceflop*


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At a wolf center, there was a wolf sitting out in the open field gnawing on yesterdays lunch. I saw a flock of Ravens fly out of a tree and land around the wolf in a circle. The wolf in back lifted up the wolfs tail and when the wolf whirled around, the crow in front snapped up the unattended meat and they all flew off to share it.

In game terms. the crows had a plan, they synched their initiative, landed to encircle the crow, everyone readied an action for the crow in back to lift the wolfs tail, then the two in back aided the tail lifters armor class while the two in front aided the steal manuver: way more planning and cooporation that most pathfinder parties.


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BigNorseWolf wrote:

At a wolf center, there was a wolf sitting out in the open field gnawing on yesterdays lunch. I saw a flock of Ravens fly out of a tree and land around the wolf in a circle. The wolf in back lifted up the wolfs tail and when the wolf whirled around, the crow in front snapped up the unattended meat and they all flew off to share it.

In game terms. the crows had a plan, they synched their initiative, landed to encircle the crow, everyone readied an action for the crow in back to lift the wolfs tail, then the two in back aided the tail lifters armor class while the two in front aided the steal manuver: way more planning and cooporation that most pathfinder parties.

Studies have been done that ravens will often follow with wolf packs, some even say scout for them. Prehistoric humans picking up on this and kill-stealing the wolves noticed by way of their ravens is believed to be the origin for Odin, and his association with those two animals.


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Crows are awesome. Have you seen the TED talk on the crow vending machine?

I hear them in my neighborhood all the time. It sounds uncannily like they're communicating to one another... I make sure to say hi whenever they're nearby. Can't take the chance...

I would like to welcome our new corvidae overlords, and point out that as a trusted member of the forum community, I can be useful in rounding up others to toil in their underground road-kill caves...

The Exchange

I agree. There was a fighter who ran into black tentacles the party wizard cast when we could have sniped him from range(I silenced the whole area, so said boss wasn't going to be able to ddoor out).

Then I've currently halted my ROW game because the party can't agree on religious tenets and alignment issues. What a thing to be arguing about in the middle of a dungeon. Geez.


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At the park we were driving behind one of our garbage trucks heading for a late lunch when it smacked into a goose. The thing broke a wing and got knocked into the lake. Around the end of march (probably why i was thinking of this today)

A goose drowning just seemed wrong. So after a little bit of hemming and hawing about getting in water that cold (there was ice on it that morning) , while at work, i figured it was my lunch break I could do what i wanted. Took off the shoes, took off the shirt, hopped into the water.

Approached the goose. It wasn't happy. Swam/flopped its way out into the middle of the lake.

*sigh* swim out PAST the goose. chase it to shore. I chase it down with a kinda zig zags pattern , and after WAY longer in the water than i thought it would take, it winds up on shore.

Reach my hand down

BITE BITE...bite? Well THAT Doesn't work. FINE. do what you want

Pick up the goose, hop in the car with it on the front seat, in between me and the driver (the guy mentioned above who took off with the rotwiler)

Radio the zoo we're coming in with a present for them... static.

Stop at one of the parks thats right on the road. Tell the guy to call the zoo, we're bringing them a goose.

guy huh? The goose leans forward and HONKS at him

"one of these"

We drive it in , i'm sitting in the car for a bit. Wildlife rehaber comes over, and you know they see weird stuff all the time because my sasquatchesque keister, stripped to the waist, covered in lake water doesn't even make her bat an eye as we get the goose into the cage.

Next day the guy at the zoo tells me "Thanks for coming in to to work today. You just made me ten bucks. Half the crew thought you'd be out to day. Me, i remember when you worked at the pool..."


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quibblemuch wrote:

I would like to welcome our new corvidae overlords, and point out that as a trusted member of the forum community, I can be useful in rounding up others to toil in their underground road-kill caves...

they are not only communicating, they have languages and accents. IE, if you play the "PREDATOR!" call from south carolina crows, north carolina crows fly away. new jersey crows just go "what?"


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The Sideromancer wrote:


Studies have been done that ravens will often follow with wolf packs, some even say scout for them. Prehistoric humans picking up on this and kill-stealing the wolves noticed by way of their ravens is believed to be the origin for Odin, and his association with those two animals.

They will definitely do this for carrion they can't get into easily. "Hey, you, four legged fuzzy can opener with teeth. Come over here and open this up"

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