[at-l] Bear Phobia

[dfaddleton@mindspring.com (David)]

>          A tiger's groan is like nothing you would ever want to hear alone
> out in the woods *believe me!

Three times in my younger days on the Indian Subcontinent I have encountered
the himalayan snow leopard.

Twice the leopard came out of the woods and walked the length of the veranda
on the second floor of the boys dormatory. We saw it pass by the open door
from our room. This was no dream. Unless all of us had the same dream at the
same time.

The third time involved a trail hike to Kalabagh. The trail ascended over an
approx 10,000 foot bare ridge-top, and down the otherside where it came to a
fork in the middle of a pine forest. I was left at the fork to instruct
straglers on the route to the rest-house, a relic of Pakistan's colonial
past, still run by the original care-taker's descendants. The house
contained very old china and a register with entries dating back to the
1870s . . .

As I waited in the darkness, I heard the grunt of the panther as it circled
around the spot at which I was waiting. I never saw the creature, but
believe me you know the sound when you hear it. At some point I decided I
had had enough of listening to the leopard and not seeing it and decided to
amble on down to the rest house. At some point I started run. I told the
rest that if there were straglers I would not go back alone and I would not
go without some sort of weapon. The next morning we found the remains of a
goat just off the trail near the fork where I had been waiting.