(Once upon a time....)
My girlfriend and I went out hiking to enjoy each other's company and appreciate the view. We encountered a lot of wildlife, including a herd of cattle that was grazing in the area. As the day passed on and our fatigue settled in, I began to distract myself by greeting the cows and attempting light conversation for fun while they ate.
After about eight of these facetious attempts at communication, we heard a very clear, "Hello!"
Our eyes became about this big:
(Disclaimer: My eyes aren't blue. Neither are Jenn's.)
The voice continued, "I'm up in the tree."
Sure enough, there was a man standing in a tree about fifty yards from us. (At least we weren't crazy.)
A cow was standing at the base of the tree, her eyes locked on him curiously.
The tree wasn't quite this tall, but you get the idea.
Work with me here.
The man explained, "I came here to take some photographs and the cow got very curious and came straight at me. I hopped up into this tree to get out of the way and it won't let me down. I've been here for about 10 minutes hoping that someone would come by. Can you help me?"
With the utterance of those magic words, I boldly strode into action. Putting on my best "Cow Whisperer" face, I approached the cow slowly and repeated my greeting.
(This is a pic from summer 2008....two years and lots of pounds ago!)
My goal was to distract the cow long enough for the nice man to climb down from the tree and move away. Once I had the cow's attention, I jingled my car keys, paying close attention to the cow's body language, in case it showed any signs of aggression.
(We interrupt this blog entry to bring you a quick lesson on reading animal behavior.)
Animals display various postures and behaviors which may be strong indications of their stress level. With cows, this mostly occurs in their stance, tail movement, and the position of their head. (Yes, that's pretty much the entire cow - keep working with me!) When you approach an animal, these indicators may tell you if they have gone into a fight-or-flight mode: a sure sign that you've invaded its space and may be in trouble, as the animal may believe that you're threatening it, challenging it, or making a territorial claim. This can often be seen by the motion of the tail: a cow that is grazing and generally 'chill' will have her tail down and relaxed, while a cow that feels threatened may hold her tail away from its body.
The main sign of trouble is when the animal makes a threatening posture in return. With the aforementioned cows, this may take on an almost bullish posture, with the body facing you full-on, the shoulders firm, and the head slightly bowed. She may even shuffle towards you briefly, to scare you off. When this happens, back away slowly to about 20-25 feet away, keeping your eyes on the animal and body facing towards her. Hopefully she will lose interest in you (once she no longer perceives you as a threat) and then go back to whatever she was doing.
(Before you are too impressed, it should be noted that I have absolutely no training in animal husbandry or wilderness survival; however, I am very grateful for the writings of Dr. Jack Albright, professor emeritus of animal science and veterinary medicine at Purdue University, who managed to state very clearly in writing exactly what I was feeling, and I am fortunate to have encountered his work 2 days after my cow incident.)
So back to the cow, yes? I was jingling my keys and...
(Thanks to the creator of Roflbot, a free online utility
that helps me, and now you, to convert random pictures
into comic masterpieces.)
Sure enough, this was a textbook encounter. She glanced at me, curious at first about my keys, and I advanced gently, watching her posture carefully. When she turned towards me and began walking, I backed away to a safe distance, and the nice man in the tree fled to safety along an adjacent equestrian trail.
He eventually met up with us to share the rest of his tale and express his gratitude.
The best part of it all? He volunteers for the park and just had a training on managing cattle. (Kids, this is called irony....it'll help you in a literature class someday, I promise you.)
And for my girlfriend and I? Well, we chalked up a good ten-mile hike, another act of kindness, and a story for the water cooler.
Have a great day!
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