THE REVENANT: HUMANS WHO SURVIVED
THE ENCOUNTER WITH THE BEAST.

Humans are on the vertex of the food chain(?) It is believed to be true, but the outcome of the human vs. bear or tiger MMA is clear. At least almost always. Almost – because some humans won the fight with the dangerous beasts without rifles or other human stratagems using tricks that could never strike an ordinary human.

1. [XXXVII.] TARIEL TELLS OF THE KILLING OF THE LION AND THE PANTHER.

Below is an extract from the 12th century poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin" by Rustaveli:

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	   899."Displeased at the lion, I thought, 'You are out of your wits,

	        Shame on your behaviour. Why assault your beloved?'

	        Then I unsheathed my sword, rushed forward and struck at him fiercely,

	        Thrust the blade right through his heart, freed him from all earthly troubles.
	   
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	   900."Thrownig my sword on the ground, with my hands I caught up the panther,

	        And for the sake for whom I am burning, I strove to caress her.

	        But with its blood-shedding paws it fiercely attacked and smote me.

	        Violent fury now siezed me and enraged in my heart I slew it."
	   

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The hero of this poem is not an ordinary human. He is a trained warrior, fighting all alone with the whole army, tearing to pieces enemies with his bare hands. The following stories may witness the scenes with human vs. lion vs. tiger in the poem to have been real.

2. Informal parley with the tiger.

Two Indian teen-agers, Reni Hansa and Ram Prased from the vilage Sarau, Manipur State, set out early in the morning to mow down a little bit while the dew is still on the grass which makes the mowing easy and efficient. The meadow was not far away right over the village fence.

When the friends approached the forest edge, all of a sudden a tiger jumped out of the thicket and threw Ram down. Reni was not taken aback. He grabbed a weighty stone and hurled it at the head of the predator. And ...

the true hit must have made the tiger's ballance shaky so much that he tumbled down. On hearing the noise, neighbors came running next towards the mess, some tied up the tiger, others took care of the Ram's wounds -- fortunately the teen-ager got away with slight cuts.

In the judgement of experts, at present this is the single known event when the tiger was struck down with the stone the same way as our distant ancestors practiced in prehistoric times

3. Carl Akeley cut off oxygen supply to leopard

Carl Ethan Akeley was a taxidermist, sculptor, biologist, conservationist, inventor, and nature photographer, noted for his contributions to American museums, most notably to the Field Museum of Natural History and the American Museum of Natural History. He is considered the father of modern taxidermy. Also known as the inventor of the gun-concreting method of wall plastering with the cement mortar.

He knew much about animals, but was a rather complex person and was from time to time tempting his own fate.

During the expedition in Africa, Carl came across with a wild leopard. Though Carl had a rifle with him, he did not shoot. It seemed the expedition has come to an end, but Carl did not loose his head: with his left hand he grasped the animal at his neck, and stuck his right hand deep into it’s throat. The cat must have been surprised first at the dinner behaving somehow unusually, but soon she (it was a female leopard) realized she is suffocating.

Not paying attention to the pain, Carl kept pushing his hand deep in the animal’s throat until the latter gave up the gost.

4. Richard and Angela Moyer had a sparring with bear in their reception room.

Richard Mayer lived in Perry-County, Pennsylvania. At 3 o’clock he swung the door open to let the dog out. The dog must have felt something dangerous and did not come out. Instead, a bear suddenly fell upon the man right at the door of his own house.

Let’s reiterate: Moyer was not hunting or going for a walk at the forest reserve. He just stood half-asleep in the doorway of his own house and calling his husky and pit bull mix pet. And discovered himself under the bear.

On hearing a noise, his wife came out to see what is happening between the dog and the man, but instead witnessed a fight of a man with a bear. She managed to draw the bear’s attention away from the man, but unfortunately bears can draw their attention away from the dinner if they see the other, more annoying, dinner. So that the bear left alone the husband, but got down to the wife instead.

Of course, Richard did not want to throw himself into the bear’s embrace, but he did not want to leave his wife with the bear, too. Because of that he literally kicked the bear out. (How did he manage this? – He has no clue.) And the beast, not expecting this kind of behavior from the prey, left ignominiously.

Angela and Richard survived, though severely injured. And yes, we know what you want to ask about – the dog is O’K.

5. David Parker killed a cougar with a penknife.

In August 2001, 61-year-old David Parker was going for a walk at night in British Columbia. It came on to rain and David plunged under the rock ledge to find himself tête-a-tête with a cougar. The latter was so happy (dinner!) that immediately fell on the man.

Parker realized instantly that the only chance to survive the rendezvous is to keep his jugular vein safe. But he picked up a rather unusual safeguarding method: the cougar had already scalped him and a piece of his own scalp hanged down over the eye temporarily making Parker half-blind. The next strike knocked Parker face down on the rocks resulting in a jaw fracture. Next the big cat get down to the fresh dinner, of course, and…

received a penknife in the neck. When falling down Parker used the short time gap to take his penknife out of the pocked and achieved success and control of the battle. Miraculously he managed to go through the predator’s neck with a tiny piece of steel.

Despite the serious trauma, he walked half a mile to get the aid. Obviously, Parker’s face was left with a terrible scar, but Parker is alive while the cougar is not.