Mike Makens is bitten by a black widow and spends 7 days in excruciating pain as his family tries to procure antivenom from Mexico. Jeremy McGill is a teacher in China, when a friend suggests he see some wild elephants. He travels 1,400 miles to do that and is promptly gored after spooking them.

Craig Hutto, 16, is attacked by a bull shark on a beach in Florida, eventually losing his leg. At a wedding deep in the South African bush, Piet van der Walt is mauled by a leopard who was aiming for his head.

Sgt. Monique Munro-Harris is stung by a deathstalker scorpion in Iraq, and needs to be airlifted through enemy positions to survive. Dane Keiser is pulled under a fence by three lions in a South African game reserve and is seriously injured.

While hiking in the woods with a friend, off-duty deputy sheriff Brandon Parker is bitten by an eastern diamondback rattlesnake and he collapses while attempting to walk back to his truck. Tonga Loumoli is eviscerated by a crocodile needlefish while diving at night, and his diving partner must drag him a quarter mile on a raft to shore.

Achmat Hassiem, a lifeguard and prospective Olympian, has his foot ripped off by a great white during a training exercise. Bruce Kanegai, the karate expert, is struck by a southern pacific rattlesnake while playing golf.

Karen and Charlie Folger are swarmed by killer bees while visiting their new house in the Texas countryside. Krishna Thompson is mauled by a bull shark in the Bahamas during a wedding anniversary celebration.

Gary Brown, Melvin Mammah, two other Americans and a local guide are attacked by a massive escaped chimpanzee while visiting a chimpanzee sanctuary. The guide has his entire face eaten off and dies, while some of the others receive serious injuries. A European viper strikes tourist David Dunn in France, leaving his brother to get him to safety.

Dr. John Raster, an ear, nose and throat specialist, is mauled by a brown bear while on vacation, and he is beyond earshot of his friends. Danie Pienaar, a wildlife specialist, is stricken by a black mamba while deep in the African bush, and he needs to hike to his car to drive out and survive.

During an engagement celebration, 18-year-old Kasey Edwards is mauled by an alligator and loses his arm; Bruce Campton is struck five times by a death adder.

Susan Cenkus and her two children are attacked by a black bear in a forest in Tennessee, and her daughter Elora Petrasek, 6, dies. Both Susan and Luke, her two-year-old son, are badly injured. Lawrence van Sertima is struck by a taipan on September 11, 2001, and the only antivenom available cannot be accessed; being a six-hour flight away, with all planes grounded due to the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.