And I must admit, I clicked this article hoping to discover there were lions wandering around the south of France today.
That would have been plausible I suppose if it wasn't for the fact that animals that can kill humans exists in many other places, but the attitude of Americans (fortunately) doesn't.
Perhaps you meant "Unfortunately"? I know it is very vogue to bash America and Americans these days. Perhaps you have spent too much time online, or have had some very negative experiences, but I do not share your view at all. Almost all Americans I have met are kind, helpful, and friendly. Coming from Eastern Europe, it's been an overwhelmingly positive change to have the default be "How can I help you", rather than "Fuck off".
For the rest of us, it can be hit or miss depending on where in the country we're in.
While lviv and ukraine were lovely, I had to remind myself that I'm comparably wealthy compared to most of the people I was meeting and of course, money changes a lot of things.
The attitude of independence and self reliance has to do obviously with low population density, history and ancient cultural roots, but is commendable.
Judging by the news there is also a lot to complain about, and these days more then in the past, unfortunately.
But it's a bit stupid to give up on the good things of your culture because of internal bashing
> And I must admit, I clicked this article hoping to discover there were lions wandering around the south of France today.
After recently having my first encounter with a wild pig in Berlin, I was also expecting having to run from lions.
A girlfriend from Berlin once told me a story of how she had to hold out on top of a car for hours after being ambushed by hogs while coming home from a party in the early morning.
Berlin is a funny place.
Close to there, I once at night encountered the same group on the boardwalk, switched sides, and had to warn a couple that I saw a few meters ahead.
Last year ago I saw and heard the entire group go along our street at 5am or so ... (from the safety of my room). The lady who delivers newspapers around that time told me she sees them often after I warned her, and didn't seem to be particularly concerned.
I think they're very much used to humans and even with young ones not overly aggressive, unless you really push/surprise them, so she must have been unlucky.
And how was it? I've heard lots of stories of funny encounters with wild pigs in Corsica, but sadly never crossed one when visiting.
If you are, thats cool, because in general I had many close encounters with boars at dawn or night in the forest and nothing ever happened. They are interesting and smart animals and usually respect you, when you respect them and stay calm. I even was quite close to mothers with young ones and the most that happened was, they snorted angrily at me to go away.
I hope I never find a pig mom, though.
An important aspect is that you can’t take your clothes off near them: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/hey-thats-mine...
That's true but there are also quite a lot of unicorns and griffins so I'm not sure that that's a clinching argument.
The fact that heraldic lions look anything like actual lions rather than deformed dogs and sheep convinces me that they were somewhat nearby.