LARGE ANIMAL ATTACKS - Medicine for Mountaineering and Other Wilderness Activities - page 469

ents must not plant vegetation that is attractive for rabbits or other small animals on which
these large cats prey.
Injuriesareproducedbybitingandbyclawingandaremostlylacerationsandpunctures.
Like other big cats, cougars will try to break a person's neck by biting the back of the neck
and shaking their prey's head.
Alligators
Inarecentperiodofseventeenyears,127attacksbyalligatorsandfivefatalities—a rate
of 4 percent—were reported. Alligator attacks are predatory. Typically the animal grabs its
intended prey with its jaws and rolls underwater to drown it. These beasts can move with
surprising speed on land, and individuals standing on the shore also have been attacked.
Individuals who have been attacked should fight back. The 4 percent success rate for
animals trying to obtain a meal is not very high. Poking the animals in the eyes, or in the
ears or nose, has been recommended, apparently on the basis of a few instances in which
individuals were released after jabbing the attacking animal in the eye. Prying open the
glottis, the flap of tissue that prevents water from entering the alligator's airway, has also
been recommended, but success with such a maneuver when a large animal is trying to roll
the person underwater seems unlikely.
To avoid alligator attacks, individuals should not swim at dusk when alligators are act-
ive, should not swim with a dog that would attract alligators, and should not swim alone.
Totallyavoidingswimminginbodiesofwaterorstreamsinhabitedbyalligatorsseemsem-
inently reasonable.
Alligator teeth produce large lacerations, commonly located on the torso as well as the
limbs. Their efforts to roll their prey underwater produce fractures, many of which are
open.Woundsbecomeinfected,andinjuredindividualsshouldreceiveprophylacticantibi-
otics.
Moose
Attacks by ungulates (moose, elk, and deer) are generally considered provoked, al-
though the provocation often consists of nothing more than entering the animal's territory.
These animals are herbivorous, and the attacks are not predatory.
Moose are large animals. Mature bulls weigh between 800 and 1200 pounds, and their
antlerscanhaveaspreadofsixtyinches.Cowsaresmaller,weighingbetween500and900
pounds, and are still very large animals. Even calves, which weigh 200 to 400 pounds by
their first winter, are large enough to injure humans. Moose can run as fast as thirty miles
perhour.Anadultmoosecandefenditselfagainstamaturegrizzlybear;amooseattackon
a human can be devastating.
Most attacks occur during the spring calving season or during the fall rutting season.
Typically an individual inadvertently gets between a female and her calf or walks or jogs