When Man is the Prey: True Stories of Animals Attacking Humans

By Michael J. Tougias

Book Overview

Since we humans have evolved into the dominant species on this planet, we sometimes fail to recognize--and respect--the ever-present threat posed by the animals we love or fear, hunt or fight to protect. Many of nature's most lethal residents have combative skills that have been honed by millions of years of adaptive survival, and it takes only a second for an otherwise evolved individual to become a helpless victim. WHEN MAN IS THE PREY is a one-of-a-kind collection of real-life encounters between man and beast that explores the uneasy relationship that humanity has with its native habitat. From bears, boars, and black dogs to swimming with sharks and dancing with wolves, the stories in WHEN MAN IS THE PREY offer a fascinating, frightening, and enlightening look at the natural world and its many creatures.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312373007
• ISBN13: 9780312373009
• Release Date: November 2007
• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Length: 448 Pages
• Weight: 1.07 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

OUCH !

Yup, the 454 Casul Super Red Hawk is always in my chest holster loaded with Corbon 335 gr hard cast bullets... WAY TOO MUCH protection but I feel safe in the deep woods.. WUSSY ??? I guess so..lololol But a WUSS IN ONE PIECE !

A Correction and An Epilogue

In the book, the author relates that 20-year-old engineering student Chris Palumbo was injured when his left arm was attacked by an alligator, leaving it severed in two places. Actually, it was the right arm, and the surgeons at the University of Florida medical school's teaching hospital (which was literally only about 7 miles away) were able to save the arm, but only by way of a series of sugeries over the succeeding two-and-a-half years, and at a cost in current terms of upwards of probably a quarter million dollars. The first surgery alone took over 10 hours, and the initial hospital stay was approximately six weeks. Moreover, even after the treatment was completed, the arm was left with a 50% permanent disability rating per AMA guidelines. I might add that while the author says that when he was growing up he only saw alligators at an tourist-oriented alligator farm, for most Americans the remoteness of contact which he conveys would have to be extended to watching *Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom* on TV, listening to the narration of Marlin Perkins as he sat just as comfortably in a TV studio someplace as we would be at home. While somewhat dated, this book is still written in a compelling style and thankfully does not encourage the currently popular view of the wildlife preservation community that wild animals deserve greater protection at law than do human beings.

Excellent book!

Loved this book. I couldn't put it down once I started. The author does an excellent job recounting the horrendous animal attacks experienced by those unfortunate ones. Although the accounts are sad, they are also educational for those of us who ever spend time outdoors.