There is even a scientific name for it........HAC (Human Animal Conflict). The HAC describes the worrying rise in animal attacks on humans and is a field of science that is growing with demand.
It has been reported in the Daily Telegraph's article 'Mad Cows (and livid lambs)' and in the Greek newspaper TA NEA in their article 'Τα ζώα παίρνουν το αίμα τους πίσω' that animals are taking revenge on humans by their increasing number of attacks on them for everything that humans have put them through.
How does this make me feel? There have definitely been documented attempts of revenge on humans by animals, however, I feel that it is important not to assume that the whole animal community of this planet is planning revenge on the human species (although in my mind they should!!!!!).
This phenomenon can be explained although it is important to previously categorize animals and the types of attacks on humans. It is dangerous to generalise so much as this could lead to great misunderstanding and increased levels of fear towards animals.
The wild animals that live in groups are, in my opinion, overexposed to human greed and brutality and have suffered greatly as a result for many many years. I believe it to be true that many of the animals, that are now adults, lived a childhood witnessing brutal killings of their families or stress due to lack of land or food. They suffered a lot of stress and disruption leading to distressed adult minds that recognise humans to be the source of their pain. " When you see reports of elephants running into crops or attacking people, they're highly stressed," and "there are multiple stressors - violence, lack of food, lack of water; their families are being broken up; their society is collapsing. All of these things are human-derived."
I also believe that wild animals have been living too closely to humans for a number of years which gives them the ability to observe and understand us better but also to realise what we can offer them.
When it comes to domestic animals I think that the story is very different though. As far as domestic animals are concerned I can say with confidence that problems arise due to lack of knowledge of their natural behaviour and ethology and lack of their specific needs being met. This is where anthropomorphism is taking place, not when discussing wild animals that have blatantly had enough of the long years of abuse.People are still not realizing that cats and dogs are descendants of wilder animals and that they are not humans and cannot be treated as such without severe consequences. Pet violence against humans is, therefore, for the most part, human derived as I guess is also the violence shown by the wild animals!!!!!!! Draw your own conclusions!!!!
