Althouse: Man versus beast stories of the day.

May 19, 2025

Man versus beast stories of the day.

1. "Man 'jumped' by coyote saves himself by strangling it for 10 minutes: 'Either him or me'" ("He jumped on me and I caught him in the air, he was biting me, and so when I threw him down and I’m trying to slide out of the way, he just kept coming.... I had to rip my left hand out of his mouth, and when I got my left hand out, I just choked him all the way till the police got there....")

2. "Man dies in bee attack despite frantic escape attempt that had him drive through neighbor’s yard" ("Stephen Daniel... frantically jumped into his vehicle to get away, but the bees followed him inside and continued to sting him until he crashed into Chrishae Cooper’s property...").

28 comments:

tommyesq said...: Once you jump in the car and the bees follow you in, why start the car and try to drive away?; 5/19/25, 2:07 PM
Anthony said...: I run trails at the south end of the Tonto and the thought of being attacked by either coyotes or a mountain lion is always somewhere in the back of my head. Not sure how it would go against a lone coyote, but I'd rather go mano a mano with a single one of those than a mountain lion. The latter is about the only critter down here that could legit kill and eat you. (A pack of the former is another story)

I wonder if said coyote wasn't rabid or otherwise ill. They very much tend to keep their distance from people.; 5/19/25, 2:25 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Good to know. Late, late at night, in PHX, when walking our small dog, I carry a 9 mm (G43, though I used to carry a G19, which is at our place in LV now) with JHP ammunition for the coyotes like bing nearby. Used to also carry mace, and it might be preferable. HX PD officer told me I would be fine shooting to protect the dog.; 5/19/25, 2:29 PM
mikee said...: Coyotes and ____ ____ and bees, oh my! This post should have been a trifecta of critter attacks, just for the paraphrase of the line from Wizard of Oz. May I suggest the gator fatality in Florida yesterday? Coyotes and gators and bees, oh my!; 5/19/25, 2:36 PM
Quaestor said...: Honeybees or yellowjackets? While Africanized honeybees have been known to launch mass-attacks because of vibrations of the sort created by lawn mowers, in every case I've heard of the person operating the mower got too close to an apiary hive. Wild honeybees are cavity nesters that usually establish their hives quite far above the ground. This report suggests the victim was swarmed from an underground colony, which is much more typical of southern yellowjackets (Vespula squamosa).; 5/19/25, 2:52 PM
Aggie said...: Sounds like ground hornets to me, too. Honey bees can only sting you once, because they rip the stinger and part of their guts off after they sting - but some hornets can go right on stinging you. And there are people that only find out they're allergic when they get stung and start going into anaphylactic shock. RIP, poor guy.; 5/19/25, 2:55 PM
rhhardin said...: Wrap your fingers around his lower law. Something about it makes him open wide and try to push your hand out with his tongue.; 5/19/25, 2:56 PM
Aggie said...: "Once you jump in the car and the bees follow you in, why start the car and try to drive away? "

To go for help, of course.; 5/19/25, 2:58 PM
Eva Marie said...: Man versus beast: Scott Adams; 5/19/25, 3:10 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: “the thought of being attacked by either coyotes or a mountain lion is always somewhere in the back of my head.”

Good strategy. Apparently, mountain lions, being felines, are triggered by potential prey trying to escape. Which means that bikers, and especially runners, are in danger as a result. So, a bit over 30 years ago, a cat took a jogger by Idaho Springs, in CO. Likely dropped onto him from one of the big pine/spruce/fir trees there - that’s apparently their favorite tactic. They like to drop onto prey from where they are hiding above them, and break their necks (as opposed to big cats that prefer strangulation).; 5/19/25, 3:10 PM
typingtalker said...: " ... the bees followed him inside and continued to sting him until he crashed into Chrishae Cooper’s property..."

I blame global warming.; 5/19/25, 3:14 PM
Bob Boyd said...: A coyote is a big step if the only thing you've ever choked before is a chicken...which is most guys.; 5/19/25, 3:31 PM
n.n said...: Be wary of the bipedal beasts who come bearing bennies.; 5/19/25, 3:54 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: I'm sure some here might remember that runner in CO who got jumped by a mountain lion while he was jogging and killed it with his bare hands. Despite the fact the lion was a juvenile, that was still quite the feat, and it was even more memorable because he almost got jumped by another cougar at the press conference they held after he got out of the hospital.

Look it up. That chick was biting her lip the whole time he was talking. Cougars dig any man that can kill mountain lions with their bare hands....hell, anything with your bare hands. Don't let anyone tell you different.

If that guy didn't take her by the hand someplace private after that press conference he's certifiably gay.; 5/19/25, 5:09 PM
Iman said...: “I run trails at the south end of the Tonto”

And what does Tonto - who must be hella old - have to say about that, Anthony?; 5/19/25, 5:22 PM
Iman said...: Kemo sabe!; 5/19/25, 5:22 PM
Paddy O said...: I've been around coyote areas most of my life, and have had 2 incidents where a large one approached me. The first time I was sitting on a lawn chair in a open wooded area near a county park. It was traveling with two other coyotes down the trail and it veered off to check me out. It circles around me about 15 ft radius. Not seeming aggressive just curious, but I had my large bag ready to block it off and some spray (at the time I was working seasonal for the USPS so had some apparent training).

The second time, not too far away from that one, walking on a concreted walk/trail near my house with a friend. Large coyote walked toward us, likewise not at all afraid, and that was the first time I could tell I was being sized up by a predator. We yelled and made dramatic stomps toward it, it kept coming. We got bigger and louder, it finally turned.

I've live in the mtns since then and chased coyotes at times, which never looked scared as much as confused.

Up here, the only time I was scared was when I was making my way through thigh high snow without snowshoes and heard a pack yelping on the other side of the ridge. I got myself the other direction.

We also have regular black bears and bobcats, but likewise I'm only really nervous about running into (rather being surprised by) a mountain lion.; 5/19/25, 5:51 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Knocking on someone’s door is just not in the cards. “No soliciting” is the number one yard sign made in China. I know a little bit about that after delivering over 12,000 Amazon packages.; 5/19/25, 6:32 PM
TaeJohnDo said...: In Illinois, I was weed whacking some brick steps near the fireplace when I felt a burn on my arm. I thought I must have brushed up on the muffler but then felt another, then another…I looked down to see several hornets aggressively circling my torso, and then saw with horror a massive flight of hornets boiling from the ground. I dropped the weed wicker and ran like hell around the house into the garage. I then feel another sting, and another - there were several hornets on my sweat pants and t-shirt, so I fling off my shirt and drop my pants and start to stomp the hell out of them, when I notice the neighbor and her two daughters heading up the driveway to deliver girl scout cookies. I quickly hit the garage door switch and as the garage door goes down, I see the youngest girl, big round eyes filled with wonder, bending to follow the door down, fascinated by her neighbor dressed only in tennis shoes and underwear stomping the ground and swatting his belly and sides.; 5/19/25, 8:00 PM
Bob Boyd said...: I wonder if coyotes ever get killed by bees.; 5/19/25, 8:16 PM
Aggie said...: "I wonder if coyotes ever get killed by bees. " Too smart. My dogs came around once, when I first started tending bees, because they were curious about my strange suit. They learned very quickly, too.; 5/19/25, 8:44 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Just coincidentally today, my partner was telling about her two boys running into the house, at their ranch in MT (5 miles down river from our house there now). They thought that it would be great fun to whack a hornet’s nest with a stick. Her husband (at their ranch time), grumbled about having repeatedly warning them, as he was donning full protective gear to go deal with the problem. The boys did learn there lesson, both from their stings, and the extra chores that they were assigned.; 5/19/25, 9:49 PM
Fred Drinkwater said...: Yellowjackets can fuck right off. Horrible critters. I looked up the composition of their venom, after an intimate encounter. Chemistry straight from the devil.; 5/19/25, 9:51 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: It’s part of why you need men, most often to adequately raise boys. She would likely have just treated their stings and commiserated with their pain. Boys need actual consequences for their actions to learn.; 5/19/25, 9:51 PM
Mason G said...: "Boys need actual consequences for their actions to learn."

They would have learned from their mother. It just would have been a different lesson.; 5/19/25, 10:53 PM
Iman said...: “I wonder if coyotes ever get killed by bees.”

They might, but they do get killed on a regular basis by birds.; 5/20/25, 12:05 AM
boatbuilder said...: I have read that yellow jacket stings include an "alarm pheromone", which triggers the other yellow jackets to attack and sting the "threat." This is consistent with my own experience of being stung multiple times in the same attack, and the experience of that poor guy who died.
The yellow jacket sting is nasty, but nothing compared to the bald-faced hornet.; 5/20/25, 6:31 AM
Aggie said...: @boatbuilder, same thing for honey bees. Once they decide to sting, they release a phermone at the site that draws other bees directly to the vulnerability. That's why you have to be extra careful when you don the bee suit, to make sure every single potential opening has been checked. I use duct tape just to be sure.; 5/20/25, 7:57 AM