In the days after Denise Gallant scared off a cougar by blasting Metallica from her phone, the Chemainus resident was fielding more than a dozen calls a day from media outlets around the world. Nearly two years later, the story is still attracting attention — this time from a German game show.
Gallant was contacted this week by the editor of a popular German television show — similar to Jeopardy! — asking for permission to include her story as a topic in the quiz program.
She isn’t sure exactly how or when the story will appear on the show, which can’t be named because she signed a confidentiality agreement, but she’s looking forward to watching the episode once it airs.
“It’s pretty cool, because I keep thinking about, you know, how many people are going to see it — if it’s big, like Jeopardy! I mean, a lot of people watch shows like that,” she said. “Although it probably won’t be a very long segment or anything, it’s still funny to think that I’ll be in all those living rooms.”
Gallant was hiking with her dog, Murphy, on a logging road south of Duncan in July 2019 when she sensed she was being watched. She looked over her shoulder to see a cougar staring at her from about 15 metres away.
She stood her ground and tried to scare the big cat away by calmly, but firmly, speaking to the animal.
“He didn’t move at all, so I thought what’s the next scariest thing I can do? And I thought Metallica,” Gallant said.
She pulled out her cellphone and and flipped through her iTunes to find Don’t Tread on Me. As soon as the first notes sounded, the cougar took off into the bush, she said.
Gallant posted about the encounter on her Facebook page, thanking Metallica for saving her life. Local media called first, then reporters from outlets in Italy, Spain, China, Japan, Russia, Romania and Cuba. She was taking up to 17 interviews a day at one point, she said.
Then came a call from California: It was Metallica frontman James Hetfield. The two chatted about dogs and cougars once Gallant overcame her disbelief.
She’s texted Hetfield a few times since then, wishing him a happy birthday or saying hello, but Gallant said she tries not to bother him.
“It’s like having something really great that you can’t use,” Gallant said. “It’s like having a really, really fancy car that you don’t want to wreck, so it sits in the garage. That’s what his phone number is like.”
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