DANGEROUS WILDLIFE IN THE WILD WEST

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's time for the legendary law and order stories of
the wild West. This podcast features of forensic psychologists, then
looks at the history of the most infamous and famous
outlaws and cowboys of the wild West. So sit back,
Parker and take a listen.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Welcome everybody. Today, we're traveling back to eighteen sixty eight,
following the story of the Martinez family as they faced
the wild dangers of the journey West. But unlike many
of the tales that we've talked about, it isn't about
bandits or shootouts. It's about the terrors of the wildlife
over in Wyoming Territory. When Miss Martinez first spot of
the tracks, massive pau prince each bigger than her hand,

(00:50):
spread wide, pressed deep into the mud near their wagon camp.
Her husband had seen enough grizzly signs in their six
months on the trail to know they needed to move
move fast. But the grizzly wasn't their only concerned. Just
that morning, the sun had nearly stepped on a Western
diamondback rattlesnake, a mistake that could be fatal. There was

(01:12):
no anti venom back then. In the nearest doctor was
usually hundreds of miles away the family, Like many settlers,
learned to keep their children close and their eyes closer
to the ground. They already lost two horses to actually
a wolf pack during the bitter cold spell in February.
But perhaps the most surprising danger they encountered wasn't from
predators at all. During their crossing of the Great Plains,

(01:34):
they witness a site that would stay with them forever,
a massive herd of American bison, each beast weighing up
to two thousand pounds. While magnifica is magnificent to behold,
these creatures were notoriously unpredictable. They could tell the family
could be storre returned by a startled bull bison, leaving
them stranded in a very hostile territory. If not hurt,

(01:58):
even seemingly innocent Rai dogs pose their own kind of threat.
Their vast underground colonies could collapse under the weight of
a wagon breaking wheels or a horse's leg. In addition
to that, you also have scorpions. You have to check
your boots every morning, just in case the scorpion would
have snuck in. How about mountain lions. They were most

(02:18):
active at dawn and dusk, without making noise while traveling
through brush could save your life by warning the big
cats of your approach. These are just some of the
animals that are dangerous out there in the wild West. Scorpions,
black widows, spiders there were serious threatned cabins and outbuildings.
Their venom, of course, can be fatal. American bison, as

(02:40):
we mentioned, can easily overturn or kill multiple people, Western
diamondback rattlesnakes, wolves, mountain lions, and even the prairie dogs.
As we mentioned, a lot of dangers out there in
the wild West, besides bandits,