What is going on? I have been looking for stories of women defending themselves against attackers and I found a bunch of articles about women punching, hitting sharks and saving puppies and kittens against pythons! I have never had an issue with sharks – I’ve seen a few blue sharks and leopard sharks while scuba diving but I have had an altercation (for me) with a Torpedo Ray.

Jessica Alba reportedly while filming “Into The Blue,” had to punch a shark in the nose that got too close to her – story here. Another woman kayaking off of Australia, had a Great White capsize her kayak and try to eat her. She responded by hitting the shark repeatedly with her paddle until the shark swam away (story here)! Both of these woman let the sharks know there would be no easy meal here! I found a promo picture of Jessica posing for the release of her movie, “Into The Blue.”

Photo from: http://www.320by480.com/wallpaper/?id=1102

Where I live in San Diego county, in the United States, I don’t have to worry about pythons, but the other day I was walking along a path for lunch and almost stepped on a rattle snake! The snake was sunning itself during the afternoon sun and I got within 5 feet before it and I realized there was a problem! I stopped and the snake slithered away. I managed to set my palm treo into camera mode just before the snake escaped into the bush.

One woman in Melbourne, Australia, had recently lost a cat to a python and saw a python making towards her fence where her kitten was playing! The lady saw the snake grab the kitten and she attacked the snake! The woman punched the snake until it released the kitten and she fell back to escape (not without injuries) – story here.

One woman in Hong Kong was walking her dog in a park when a 15 foot python attack and entwined her dog! The lady kicked and grappled with the snake until she finally freed the dog somehow. Read the full article about this amazing rescue here.

To continue about the Torpedo Ray, I was diving with two buddies off of Point Loma (off San Diego, CA), looking for abalone but we were not having any luck. One of the guys saw this slow moving ray swimming right by him. He figured he would stuff the ray into his bag and take the ray home (to see if the ray tasted good). The guy grabbed the ray (no stinger) and I saw his eyes get big and he let go of the ray!  I figured the ray did not fit into his little goodie bag so I opened my bag to try.

The guy shook his head no! and I shook my head yes and grabbed onto the Torpedo Ray! I got the shock of my life and dropped the ray in short order! When we got back to the boat my other friend was laughing at us… telling us that he knew what a Torpedo Ray was from the Jacques Cousteau specials on TV and could not believe that we both had tried to grab that ray!

All of these women had to protect themselves and their pets from sharks and snakes! The first thing women need to know about self-defense is that they have to be willing to fight back! Predators of the animal variety are not that different the bad men… they do not like prey that fight back! Women that fight back have a better chance of getting away and surviving than women who are too frightened to respond.

Part of fighting back is believing you can do something. Part of believing you can do something can be achieved by taking a local self-defense class or getting a legal self defense weapon. One of the websites I always recommend is Defend ThySelf becuase many of these self-defense weapons can work against people and animals! Whatever strategy women use in their overall defense strategy, remember that you may have to defend yourself against sharks and pythons! I salute these brave women that were not wiling to let sharks and snakes intimidate them and saved themselves and their pets!