Top 10 INSANE Animal Attack Survival Stories

Top 10 Most INSANE Animal Attack Survival Stories

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You might want to think twice about taking that hike after this video. Welcome to WatchMojo.com, and today we’re counting down our picks for the Top 10 Craziest Animal Attack Stories. For this list, we’ll be looking at some of the most insane stories of people who were attacked by wild beasts, and lived to tell about it.

In 1997, while paddling on a bodyboard trying to catch a wave off Hawaii, a tiger shark snuck up on 18-year-old Coots from below and grabbed his legs, shaking him viciously. Out of instinct, Coots socked the shark in the face twice, and it let him go. As he paddled back to shore, he realized he’d lost his leg in the incident. Ironically, the upbeat surfer is now part of an effort to protect sharks from being hunted. According to marine ecologist Boris Worm, an astonishing 11,000 sharks are killed each hour, mostly for their fins, but Coots and his organization have succeeded in helping pass state legislation to protect the animals, and is hoping to spread more awareness internationally.

#9: Roy Horn

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One half of famed Las Vegas entertainers Siegfried & Roy, Roy Horn has no bad blood with his attacker either. In the middle of a show- on Horn’s birthday no less- the duo’s white tiger, Montecore, bit into his neck and began dragging him off stage. Horn was rushed to the hospital, but lost a severe amount of blood, and is still partially paralyzed. Witnesses disagree on exactly what happened, but Horn himself has said the tiger was just carrying him off stage when it saw him in distress after he reportedly had stroke-like symptoms. In fact, the entertainers didn’t hold the big cat responsible and Roy even said he didn’t want anyone to harm Montecore.

#8: Ben Nyaumbe

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While farming in his native Kenya, Nyaumbe stepped on something squishy and was suddenly brought to the ground into the clutches of a python. It wasn’t the snake that was getting a meal though, oh no - Nyaumbe was the one to take a bite out of his opponent’s tail while struggling to save himself. During the 3-hour struggle, the python brought him up into a tree, but Nyaumbe used his shirt to try to distract and possibly suffocate the animal. Help arrived after Nyaumbe managed to make a call on his cell phone. The python was then brought to a sanctuary; however, it escaped soon after, and is probably now roaming Kenya awaiting round 2 with his farming nemesis.

In 2003, 13-year-old Bethany was taking a morning surf in Hawaii. She was lying on her board with her arm hanging in the water when a 14ft-long tiger shark latched onto her, biting near her left shoulder. While friends were able to bring her to safety, Hamilton lost her arm and later had a custom prosthetic made – which she rarely uses these days. Though most people would quit surfing an incident like this, it was just the beginning for Hamilton: she started shredding just one month after the attack, and went on to compete in many surfing competitions, decimating her competition in 2004 and 2005. As for the shark, it met its demise the day of the attack when some fishermen caught and slaughtered it.

Back in 1999, this 68-year-old was deer hunting in Kodiak, when a 750-lb grizzly bear decided to take up a hunt of its own. Moe and the beast fought until the man stabbed it in the neck. After backing off, it circled Moe, ready to finish him. Things were looking ...grizzly... but as the bear pounced, the man right hooked it in the face, knocking it unconscious. Moe then claimed total victory and shot the bear dead. Gene Moe had to have 2 skin grafts and 500 stitches, but he made a full recovery. As for the bear... well... let’s just say it’s in stable condition... on Moe’s wall.

Most guys would at least like to trade names and digits before getting attacked by a cougar, but Frank Harmes wasn’t so lucky. While walking his dog in Morgan City, Alabama, Harmes came face-to-face with a mountain lion. The man tried to scare it away but the big cat wasn’t falling for it and leapt on him. Down on the ground and about to be torn to shreds, Harmes used his pocketknife to stab the panther – or cougar, if you prefer - repeatedly. The pain eventually registered, and the predator ran off. While Harmes was left alive, his injuries necessitated multiple rabies shots.

In 2003, while travelling around Loango National Park in Gabon, this explorer wandered upon an elephant calf. Unluckily for him, it was with its mother, who did not take kindly to Nash crashing the party and charged at him, trying to gore him with her tusks. Nash parried her and jumped onto them, holding on for dear life as the elephant continued charging. If he lost his grip, his adventures would’ve ended right there. Eventually, the protective mother lost energy, either because she was tired, or felt her baby was safe, leaving Nash with a boss story to tell at parties.

Don’t let those cute hippos from Fantasia fool you; these creatures are dangerous towards humans, killing an estimated 500 of us annually. Zambezi River guide Paul Templer knew this, but it didn’t make his near-death experience with one any easier. While working the river one day, he noticed his co-worker fly out of his kayak. While reaching for him, Templer suddenly went blind and deaf. Was he dead? Templer managed to feel around with his free hand and realized he wasn’t... he’d been swallowed! When the hippo surfaced, it swung him around like a rag-doll, before spitting him out. In the end, Templer suffered excessive blood loss and lost his left arm - but he survived.

In 1823, this fur trapper stumbled upon a grizzly bear and her two cubs in snowy South Dakota. Glass was absolutely mauled by this bear, but his partners helped him kill it. Believing Glass was dying, General Ashley and the team left him for dead. Two volunteers were supposed to bury him when he died, but they left early, taking his weapons and gear to re-join the party. However, Glass eventually came to, with a lot more fight left in him. He set his broken leg, and began the 200-mile journey to the nearest settlement. Along the way, he allowed maggots to eat his dead flesh to prevent gangrene and fought wolves for raw bison, but he never did exact fatal revenge on his former colleagues.

Considered a pioneer in the field of taxidermy, Akeley was also a biologist, nature photographer and inventor. In the 1890s, during the adventures he documented in his book “In Brightest Africa”, he came across a hungry leopard. After he shot at the varmint with a rifle, it pounced on him and caught his arm instead of his throat. This would be the leopard’s undoing, however, because it allowed Akeley to shove more of his arm down its throat, suffocating it from the inside! While Akeley could have replaced the leopard as a jungle predator after this attack, he just went back to being a badass scientist, continuing to contribute to museums and taxidermy.