One of life's simple pleasures is to get out into the wild and enjoy a nice hike surrounded by nature and wildlife, getting away from all the pressures of life. But, occasionally the wild can remind you humans are vulnerable creatures, especially to some of the hungrier wild animals.
All Dee Gallant wanted to do was go on a nice hike on a Vancouver island with her dog, Murphy. She was only a few miles into her hike in South Duncan, Vancouver when she realized a hungry cougar was slowly stalking them from behind.
At first, Gallant says she was curious about the creature - after all, she'd never seen one so close before. Then, she realized the animal was beginning to approach her and her dog. She yelled, and the cougar halted its advance.
But the animal didn't retreat. Instead, it stood its ground the middle of the road, watching them.
Gallant tried waving her arms and yelling at the wild animal, hoping to scare it off with "bad kitty!" and "get out of here!" But, still the cougar didn't budge.
Then, she did the only other thing she could think of. Gallant took out her phone and pulled up the loudest bands she had on her playlist: Metallica. Her weapon of choice against the hungry cougar? 'Don't Tread on Me.'
As it turns out, Metallica's 'Don't Tread on Me' is the right choice to make when trying to scare off hungry wildlife. Gallant said the cougar ran off after the first few notes of the song, the music apparently too much for the wild animal to handle. She continued the rest of her hike blasting the song on repeat to keep the curious, hungry cougar away. She says she took other precautions as well, like standing in the middle of the road and keeping her dog, Murphy, close.
Gallant says she wasn't scared during the incident that lasted about five minutes.
"I actually thought it was really cool that I got to see a cougar for so long," she told CNN. "I thought it was exciting."
"I definitely think Metallica saved the day there, for sure," she added.