Dangerous Animals
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It's
very easy for us to be complacent about our strengths given that
we are the most dominant species on the planet, but take away the
weaponry and armour that civilisation affords us, and we stand alone
in the wilderness as the naked and defenceless ape.
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Venomous creatures, how to avoid them, symptoms of bite or sting and treatment. |
Pause for claws; fangs a lot Dangerous animals, where they hang out |
Travel - it's an education!
A
few years ago trekking around Papua New Guinea, in the middle of a tropical
nowhere, some small animal bit my leg. A spider? At the time it wasn't
painful, but the site soon became a growing, red, wet and painful wound,
also known as a tropical ulcer. I cleaned it, applied antiseptic and a
bandage and continued on my way.
The hole got bigger.
Days
later I visited a tiny missionary hospital where the charming nurses scrubbed
the hole with soap and hot water and gave me antibiotics. I took the pills
for 7 days.
The hole got bigger.
I visited a dive centre at Madang where they have a lot of experience
of coral infections. They scrubbed some more then poured pure bleach into
the hole until it stopped bubbling - apparently indicating that all bacteria
were dead.
The hole got bigger.
A
few days later I met a young Australian gold prospector in the highlands.
He told me to cut a piece of papaya and tape it, fleshy side down, onto
the wound. I did so and the hole had dried up by the next morning. I applied
more papaya and the day after that the hole started shrinking. Jeez, thanks
mate! Owe you one!
Papaya, a sweet tropical fruit, is also good for curing tummy bugs and constipation I'm told. It's the complex enzymes they say...Don't travel without one!
'When all the dangerous cliffs are fenced off, all the trees that might fall on people are cut down, all of the insects that bite have been poisoned ... and all of the grizzlies are dead because they are occasionally dangerous, the wilderness will not be made safe. Rather, the safety will have destroyed the wilderness.' R. Yorke Edwards
See various Dangerous Animals in action in our Travel Videos
Bugbog Pages
Do you have any advice or anecdotes about encounters with dangerous animals?
