Anyone elses hearts melt when a wild animal trusts you enough that they go up to you or even let you touch them?

[Still-alive]

I dont just mean pets here i mean stuff in the wild like chipmunks or deer or swans… of birds. Animals like that.

this little squirrel just randomly when up to me when i made this noise with my voice and even stood up to greet me. Probably wanted food but still… just made me feel special lol 😂❤️

stood on its hind legs when i called for it lol 😆

[WindAtMyBack]

I lived at an apartment that had some raccoons hanging around. There was a mama raccoon with a litter of three kits. The mama would not come up to me, but she'd stand back and let the little ones come to my apartment door for handouts. So they all knew me.

Several months later I was taking some trash out to the dumpster. One of the kits (now a teenager) was stuck in the bottom of the dumpster. The dumpster had recently been emptied and it was too deep for it to get out. The only other thing in there was a can of red paint that had broken open. The kit had red paint on it. When I looked in, the kit stood on it's hind feet and stretched it's front paws up wanting to be lifted out. I didn't think it would intentionally hurt me, but I thought it might scratch me like it's climbing a tree. So I got a small step ladder for it to climb.

A few days later I was walking in another part of the apartment complex and heard some noise by the dumpster. I went to check it out and saw a raccoon with red paint on it. It was the same raccoon and was stuck again. When I looked in, the raccoon looked up at me and I swear it looked embarrassed. I got it out again. It walked about ten feet away and turned to look back. It gave me a look like "Yea, I'm a dummy. Thanks. I won't do it again."

I never saw it again. Or if I did it had gotten the paint off.

[VIVANT]

lol I’m embarrassed 😂

[WindAtMyBack]

@VIVANT

It DID look embarrassed.

[VIVANT]

No I believe you!! I just think it’s so great 😀

[WindAtMyBack]

@VIVANT
It had a look like "Oh no, it's you. Yea I'm a dummy."

[call_me_scar]

Yeah this bird dint fly away when i walked to my car so i gave it a bread stick the other day

[VIVANT]

I’ve had wild birds wild ducks squirrels chipmunk a skunk young capote a fox a bob cat & a snake ask for help directly, went on a hike with a wild deer, played hide and seek with a wild boar and I once did tai chi with a black bear. All very endearing & memorable experiences…. It’s always an honor when wild animals let me into their world, even just a tiny bit 💕

[Guardian45]

Oh you're NOT just slipping that in WITHOUT an explanation! "Tai Chi with a black bear"?

[VIVANT]

@Guardian45 😂 well it was def impromptu

When I was about 6, visiting friend of my great grandmothers in the countryside. One day I was out in the back of the house having a picnic with the wild squirrels chipmunk birds caterpillar butterflies & the odd rabbit or skunk that were able to make the occasion. My great grandmothers friends lived on a large property so the “back yard” was a field. When I was in the middle of lunch with my furry friends, I spotted a relatively smallish black bear a good 500 feet away.

It looked very calm and I felt conferee and honored by its presence. I liked that it wasn’t running off or of course charging towards me I started to do small movements (in my mind I was showing it friendliness ) it stayed calm just staring.

So I imagined I was one of those people in the movies who are all one with the earth and all the animals trust them lol so I tried some of the tai chi moves that I knew that I’d recently learnt. I thought if I was in flow, the bear would feel me being calm with the earth and would trust me and we’d be fiends if at a distance.

Well one good turn deserves another lol

Each move I did, the bear did something similar - if not precise. I thought we were bonding over the natural flow of the universe expressed through our kinetic symmetry or something lol but I think the bear may have been showing me it was higher & tougher.

We stood there for a good hour. Until my Great grandmother came rushing out to make me come inside bc there was bear sighted - I’m like yeah nana - you must mean my good friend Wally over there 😅😃😃
😂

Honestly I’m still not sure to this day, if the bear was light heartedly amused by our interaction or posturing to me as threat , but in my innocence I did not expect anything negative so I had a lovely time and I guess I was lucky too that it wasn’t grouchy 😂

😊😊

[petitedollbabee]

I got to touch a pukeko once. They’re normally very skittish and don’t go near people. I was feeding it bread and then it let me pet it.

[WindAtMyBack]

Be careful feeding bread or crackers to birds. For many birds it's VERY bad for them, even deadly. This is especially true of waterfowl. I don't know if pukeko are considered waterfowl, but they hang out by water.

I used to give bread and crackers to ducks all the time until I found out it can kill them.

[CloudMassacre]

There’s a deer that chills near my work and it saw my coworker hanging out with the company cat, and the deer slowly came up and licked her knee and sniffed the cat.

[Apulu_Imback]

OMG yes I love it!! Even the squirrels in my garden occasionally come near me when I'm feeding the birds.

[Apulu_Imback]

This pigeon even let me pet him. And an cat also played with me. It was so adorable.

[Sour-rose]

Yes. It means i'm cool and I now have the achievement of being trusted by animals like i do with humans.

[Dazed0N0Confused]

I always assume it has rabies, to be perfectly honest.

[menina]

Not me because I don't see wild animals often.

[GoodGuyBreakingBad]

Yes, It is amazing when wild animals let us pet them

[Msputiton]

I would never give a wild animal the chance to come up to me

[douride2]

Trying to pet a wild animal is just crazy and a little stupid.

[Zolly99999]

Yes definitely!

I had a saltwater fish tank years ago and I had one fish I could pet

[Dnice1]

Yeah it's so cool! I've had a few encounters like that

[Guardian45]

I had a squirrel run up NY leg to get a piece of my sandwich! Freaked me out! But I am known as a pelican whisperer! True story!

[Guardian45]

my**

[Dinosaursandanime65]

I think I talked to birds once. That was a remarkable moment

[Dinosaursandanime65]

Yes, experiences like these are indeed some of the most memorable.

[berwise13]

We have a bull that walks right up you can pet it but boy is it scary it's huge

[SandandWaves]

happens all the time

[clampfan101]

I’m sure it would. Cute story.

[Likes2drive]

Yeah it’s nice when they do

[art84]

Had some cats from next door come to me.