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Wildest animal you've been confronted with?

Riding an R1100S through a twisty in the back roads of North Carolina, in the middle of the road- I came upon either a large wolf or coyote.
 
Really wouldn't call it a wild encounter but the strangest thing I encountered was having a 13 foot python wrapped around me for a pic.That snake was strong and heavy at about 150 plus according to the owner and I can see that as it took 3 of us to carry her to the place where we took the picture.Was in the days way before cell phone or internet so that pic is lost to history some wheres.
 
Some years ago, while on a drive to the bars on a Friday night, I picked up a young woman hitchhiker.

She asked me if I liked snakes. I thought for a moment and said something real bright like "I guess so."

"Good" she said, and proceeded to unzip her parka to show me a snake that seemed to be wrapped several times around her waist and chest.
 
Came across a big porcupine drinking from a mud puddle in WY. He slowly stood up on his is back legs and raised his little arms to appear larger. Funny little guy. Then I got lost of course.
 
Finnbow, you mean you are NOT Sam Elliott?!?

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Saturday morning, I was headed over to the closest lumber store, a few miles away. Took the back roads, through the woods. Coming around a bend in the road, directly ahead of me was the back deck of a house, with a pronounced heat signature coming off their BBQ grille. All of a sudden, I see a red fox running alongside the split-rail fence toward the road, with what looks like a shoe dangling from his mouth. I slowed to a crawl, then stopped....he came under the fence, and crossed the road right in front of me....sumbitch had what looked to be about a pound-and-a-half of sirloin steak in his mouth ! I`m sure the homeowner wondered "What the hell happened to my steak ?" :-)
 
after 35 yrs hunting off the Alaska Hyw 100 miles south and 30 miles offt he Alaska Hyw every fall , too numerous to count the amount of close calls with Large bodied Black Bears and Grizzly bears.Actually had a large black bit thru my cabin wall tent and try to pull me out thru the canvas in my sleeping bag one pouring rain night about 3 am.
Weve shot them in camp many time and had them charge in many different circumstances.
To hear them woof and pop their teeth up close is a rush,and ive only had to shoot two bears that wouldn't break a charge.Of course ive shoot many for table fair,,

hunter
 
So many I couldn't keep track of them all. Close(non-tourist totally in their turf) encounters with lethal snakes, spiders, sharks, a deadly octopus. Less deadly: dolphins, penguins, numerous kangaroos, wallabies, koalas, wild peacocks, dive-bombing magpies, manta rays, turtles and many more. A wonderful encounter with a zoo elephant that was spontaneous, transcendent and included the elephant and I holding hand/trunk tip and both crying our eyes out. Lots of meetings with domestic animals that are extremely aloof/ attack most humans, but the animals had extreme(according to their human companions) affectionate responses to me. I adore our animals friends and almost without exception they are super affectionate to me.

Most injuries caused by two legged humans. A delirious ex-SAS special forces guy beat the **** out of me late one night at work. Lucky really that he didn't use lethal force.
We had an autistic/ multiple other problems young woman who was exceptionally prone to violence admitted for over 4 months. She had completely unpredictable unprovoked explosively violent episodes. You really only had to be in her presence at the wrong time and it happened. Anywhere. For no reason whatsoever. She wasn't overly tall (5 ft 7) but this young lady was built like an Olympic Shot Putter. That was a tough protracted situation. She assaulted me on her second day there. I was coming to the rescue of two RNs who were getting severely assaulted by her. We had no idea at this time what we were dealing with. Over the ensuing months she handed out a little bit of curry to me but generally she was not as violent towards me. I think that because I was one of the very first people who took care of her on the first day and did show her a lot of kindness, I was one of the fortunate ones that she liked. I usually just got a flurry of verbal abuse and some threatening posturing until she felt that she'd let me know who was running the show. She knew that I knew what she was capable of, and she knew very well that I wasn't interested in her posturing and wasn't afraid of her. She injured so, so many people.
Another was the older bi-polar guy that was admitted for 10 months. He was very consistent. He was watched, one on one, 24/7 for the entirety of his 10 months(until he died). I looked after him for 8 of those months. He kicked me right in the face on the first shift that I looked after him. Broke my nose. There wasn't one shift(8 hours. 3 per day) in that 8 months where this guy didn't punch someone in the face. Not one. Not always one punch either. Quite often more than one episode of this per shift. He wouldn't beat the crap out of you generally. Just land either one or a couple of punches. It baffled me how good he was at getting through a persistent defensive effort to fend off his punches. After he'd been admitted for 5 months his daughter revealed that he'd been a professional boxer in his teens/early twenties.

We've had some real doozeys in the almost 10 years I've worked here and I work directly in a role where I make myself available to be assigned one on one with these people. I actually(luckily) have a track record of getting the best out of these difficult individuals and as you can imagine, the ward-staff are usually very welcoming and respectful. I work on the method of being patient, respectful, helpful, kind, empathetic and most importantly I let them indicate just how involved they want me to be. Usually we make friends from the initial meeting and I have a great shift. I love the fact that I work with difficult people and I love the constant challenge of getting inside an individual's head and pressing whichever buttons I can see will settle them down. Think of my job like a wrestle that morphs into a waltz.
 
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A stingray that put a nice slash on my leg
the day I didn't bother to wear my wetsuit pants!
 
Was hiking down Wildcat Mountain (D peak) in New Hampshire a month ago and walked past a black bear asleep in the snow beside the trail. Did not notice him until I almost tripped over him. Walked up the same trail and he was not there on the way up. Quietly walked away and then ran for a good bit.
 
I live in NYC & encounter filthy animals everyday. I am not talking about the pigeons or the rats.
 
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