Are there any documented incidents of an animal going on a rampage only to stop and calm down when met by a human that had treated it kindly? I.e. it knew that human was a friend.
I’m particularly thinking of elephants and bulls here, but other animals are welcome! This is GQ so apocryphal stories like the thorn in the foot don’t count.
It has a lot to do with why it is rampaging. If it is a testosterone related rampage there is a poor chance of a human intervening. A temper tantrum will very often be trumped by a strong bond. A rampaging elephant is a tough one, they do form strong bonds and my guess would be the only chance a handler would have in a rampage would be a strong bond but I can’t come up with any examples.
When elephants go on rampages, it’s almost always testosterone-related. Males periodically go through a stage called musth, when they’re most fertile and super-horny, and incidentally super-destructive to anything that isn’t a female elephant.
Isn’t there some joke(s) told either by a friendly farmer or an animal with the punch-line “so I can eat you (or save the best part) last?”
Yes (you don’t eat a pig like that all at once!).
Quartz, I think there are any number of examples of human-animal interactions where a known human calmed down an angry animal or a human acted in a non-threatening way and was able to calm down an animal.
In terms of examples, I found accounts of Lawrence Anthony, AKA the “Elephant Whisperer”. He lived and worked on a reserve and was known for taking in violent elephants who were otherwise likely to be destroyed. This site contains an excerpt from his book that details one episode that meets your criteria.
It’s a fun topic to research. I’ll let you know what else I dig up.
Isn’t that Cthulhu? Oh wait, that’s being eaten first. 
Wife and I were at a zoo some few weeks back. We made it to the Hippopotamus building and started walking through it, past maybe 5-6 Hippos, big and small.
Came up to a smaller one that seemed to be fixated on something in my direction. Turned out to be me. So I started to stare back. After like 30 seconds it “roared” and continued to glare and snorted. So much so a group of people turned to check me. It was a David Lynch moment that’s for sure. What did I do? My wife was mortified but laughing.
Do cats and dogs count in this? I’ve seen examples of this personally to a lesser degree.
How about people? Are they animals? Common tactic is to get someone who knows them well to talk to them when they are in crisis.
This is not an example, but a case where the animals immediately regretted their attack, It happened while reintroducing a troup of bonobos to the wild.
From here
Nitpick: actually, musth isn’t clearly connected to rut in elephants; it seems to be all about aggression, and female elephants wisely tend to stay clear of males in musth.
You shouldn’t have been singing the “Hungry Hungry Hippos” jingle…
Damn but it’s dusty in here.
Not exactly what you are looking for but I watched a documentary about raising a Bengal tiger from an orphaned cub. He was returned to the wild and it was many years before the guy who raised him could get a chance to see him. They tracked the tiger down and the guy got out of the Jeep somewhat apprehensively. The tiger surveyed the scene for awhile, then crouched and charged from 100 feet away. When it got to the guy it leaped onto its hind legs and threw its legs over the guys shoulder and damn near licked him to death. It was really heart warming to see. Some bonds remain for life.
Dennis
This sounds suspiciously like the story of Christian the lion:
Apologies for the soundtrack - everyone uploading it seems to feel the need.
j