{ "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "NewsArticle", "@id": "https://badiyaa.com/metallica-cougar-dee-gallant-vancouver-island/#article", "mainEntityOfPage": "https://badiyaa.com/metallica-cougar-dee-gallant-vancouver-island/", "headline": "Vancouver Island woman scared off a cougar in 2019 by playing Metallica’s Don’t Tread on Me on her", "description": "Dee Gallant scared off a cougar near Duncan on Vancouver Island in 2019 by playing Metallica's Don't Tread on Me on her phone.", "datePublished": "2026-11-10T12:15:00+00:00", "dateModified": "2026-11-10T12:15:00+00:00", "author": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Badiyaa Editorial Desk", "url": "https://badiyaa.com/author/editorial-desk/" }, "publisher": { "@type": "NewsMediaOrganization", "@id": "https://badiyaa.com/#organization", "name": "Badiyaa", "url": "https://badiyaa.com/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://badiyaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/badiyaa-logo-color-600x60-1.png", "width": 600, "height": 60 }, "email": "badiyaavideo@gmail.com", "publishingPrinciples": "https://badiyaa.com/editorial-policy/", "correctionsPolicy": "https://badiyaa.com/corrections/", "actionableFeedbackPolicy": "https://badiyaa.com/contact/", "ownershipFundingInfo": "https://badiyaa.com/about/#ownership", "sameAs": [ "https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61595518283625", "https://www.instagram.com/badiyaa.com.ai/", "https://www.threads.net/@badiyaa.com.ai" ], "parentOrganization": { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Rezilient Digital", "url": "https://www.rezilientdigital.com/", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "Fl No 3, Nav Shyam Sadan, Plot No 38, Pestom Sagar, Chembur", "addressLocality": "Mumbai", "addressRegion": "Maharashtra", "postalCode": "400089", "addressCountry": "IN" }, "sameAs": [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/rezilientdigital" ] } }, "isAccessibleForFree": true, "inLanguage": "en-US", "wordCount": 638, "image": [ "https://badiyaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/mountain-lion-in-glacier-national-park.webp", "https://badiyaa.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/mountain-lion-in-glacier-national-park-1024x683.webp" ], "articleSection": "Pets & Animals", "keywords": "Cougar, James Hetfield, Metallica, Vancouver Island", "articleBody": "The cougar ignored her shouting. It ignored her waving arms. Then Dee Gallant held up her phone, played Metallica’s “Don’t Tread on Me,” and the big cat vanished into the brush. The standoff happened on the evening of July 23, 2019, on a logging road outside Duncan, a small city in the Cowichan Valley on Canada’s Vancouver Island. Gallant was out with her husky, Murphy, when she sensed something watching them. To her right stood a cougar, and it was moving toward her. The story resurfaced this week in a Reddit “today I learned” post, more than seven years after the clip first spread, and commenters traded jokes about which band would have worked better. Shouting first, heavy metal second Gallant said in interviews at the time that she started with the standard playbook: make yourself big, wave your arms. The animal kept coming. When she yelled at it to stop, it did, and she began filming. In her roughly 50 seconds of video the cougar stands on a rise and stares down at her while she calls out “Bad kitty!” and tells it to get going. It did not budge. “So I flipped through my iTunes and found the heaviest Metallica song I could find and held it up and played it and he took off in the bush,” she said. The track comes from the band’s self-titled 1991 album, often called the Black Album. Gallant, who walked home unhurt, had a punchline ready: “I guess he didn’t want to eat anything that leaves a Metallica taste in his mouth.” She added: “Metallica saved my life, so yeah thanks Metallica!” The band apparently heard. Within about two weeks, according to reports at the time, frontman James Hetfield phoned Gallant himself and followed up with a selfie and the message “Thought you might like some confirmation that it was me.” What British Columbia tells hikers to do Gallant’s instincts line up closely with the province’s own advice. British Columbia’s Conservation Officer Service publishes cougar guidance that boils down to a few steps: Stay calm, keep the cougar in sight and back away slowly, leaving it a clear route out. Look as large as possible and never run or turn your back. If the cat shows interest or follows you, get aggressive: hold eye contact, show your teeth and make loud noise. Keep dogs on a leash, since a loose dog can lead a cougar straight back to its owner. Noise is the bridge to Metallica. The province lists horns, sirens, propane cannons and radios with sound amplifiers among the scare devices that can push predators away, because the animals react to new and strange sounds. It also warns that predators adapt quickly, so one trick will not work forever. A phone speaker playing thrash metal is a pocket-sized version of the same idea, and in Gallant’s case it was the sound the cat had not heard before. Why Vancouver Island The location was no fluke. Cougars range from the Yukon to the southern Andes, but Vancouver Island has an especially dense population, and research into attacks before 1991 found the highest share in British Columbia, particularly on the island. Even so, cougars are reclusive and mostly avoid people, and most sightings end the way Gallant’s did. British Columbia’s wildlife keeps making unscheduled appearances: Badiyaa covered an elk that parked itself outside a British Columbia home for hours, and further south a black bear walked into a California library and ate a jar of honey. For anyone in cougar country, the province’s line for a cougar that poses an immediate threat is the Conservation Officer Service call center at 1-877-952-7277. Further reading Wikipedia: Cougar Illustrative image. Image: National Park Service, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.", "markdown": "https://badiyaa.com/metallica-cougar-dee-gallant-vancouver-island.md" }