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A woman fended off a cougar which was coming after her while she was walking her dog, and she did so with the help of a song by the iconic heavy metal band Metallica.
Dee Gallant was walking her dog in British Columbia, Canada, when a cougar appeared and moved toward them last Tuesday, July 23.
She was going up a logging road when she felt a “funny feeling,” as per her Facebook post on the same day.
“I looked to my right and quickly realized I was being stalked by a predator about to bite off more than he could chew… literally,” she said.
Gallant tried to scare it away using her “mean voice” and calling it a “bad kitty,” as seen in a video she took of the encounter with the animal.
After realizing her efforts to make it go away were not successful, she decided to try a new tactic.
“I quickly rifled through my iTunes and found Metallica ‘Don’t Tread On Me’,” she stated. “As soon as it started to play it he buggered off into the bush.”
“I guess he didn’t want to eat anything that leaves a Metallica taste in his mouth,” she joked.
Days after her encounter with the wild animal, a member of the heavy metal band caught wind of Gallant’s story.
James Hetfield, the main songwriter of Metallica, reached out to Gallant last Friday, Aug. 2.
“I couldn’t even believe he was calling me,” Gallant told KelownaNow yesterday, Aug. 3. “I had hoped I would hear from them but when I first put it out there I didn’t expect it to go this far.”
After their talk, Gallant received a selfie of Hetfield, smiling while holding up the classic devil horns, via a text message. The photo was accompanied by text that read: “Thought you might like some confirmation that it was me.”
“Don’t Tread on Me” is a song from Metallica’s eponymous fifth album. JB
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