- 7 minutes ago
When people think about dangerous wildlife, they often imagine animals that attack only when threatened, cornered, or surprised.
In reality, a small number of species have been documented behaving in ways that suggest deliberate predation on humans under specific conditions.
This does not mean humans are their preferred prey in the way a lion prefers antelope or a shark prefers seals.
However, history, field research, and survivor accounts show that some animals have actively tracked, stalked, and attacked people as food sources.
This article explores five animals that can hunt humans intentionally, using real-world examples, biological context, and safety-focused analysis.
In reality, a small number of species have been documented behaving in ways that suggest deliberate predation on humans under specific conditions.
This does not mean humans are their preferred prey in the way a lion prefers antelope or a shark prefers seals.
However, history, field research, and survivor accounts show that some animals have actively tracked, stalked, and attacked people as food sources.
This article explores five animals that can hunt humans intentionally, using real-world examples, biological context, and safety-focused analysis.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Sophie Cunningham said something simple, women's sports should be for women, that,
00:04one line delivered in an ESPN profile, split the WNBA down the middle. And the league's biggest
00:10names have been picking sides ever since. Some players are wearing shirts against her at mid
00:16court. Some commentators are calling her the bravest voice in the leg. Her own coach called
00:22her a distraction. Her own superstar teammate wouldn't even say her name out loud when reporters
00:27pushed. So over the next few minutes, we're going to walk through exactly who's lined up on Sophie
00:32Cunningham's side, who's lined up against her, and who's trying very hard to stand in the middle
00:37without getting hit from either direction. Because right now, Sophie Cunningham has divided a leg.
00:43And the list of who stands with her and who doesn't keeps growing every single week. It started with
00:48an ESPN feature, not a press conference, not a Twitter rant, a profile piece. In a wide-ranging
00:55profile from ESPN's Hallie Grossman, Cunningham, one of the league's most polarizing and recognized
01:00players, spoke on her perceived political beliefs because of what she looks like and where she's
01:06from. Buried inside that profile was a section on transgender athletes, and that section is what
01:12set everything on fire. Her actual words weren't complicated. I want to protect young girls in a
01:17locker room, she told ESPN. Or young girls in sport, who shouldn't have to go against biological
01:23men. That was it, that was the sentence that turned into a season-long storyline.
01:28Cunningham didn't stop there when reporters came calling again.
01:32I said what I said, I think it's kind of common sense, Cunningham said. And I think I'll always
01:37believe in that. I think it's really important to protect children. And that's little girls who are
01:42also involved in that category. Asked to walk it back, she didn't. A few days later, before Indiana's
01:48game against the Connecticut Sun, Cunningham was asked to elaborate on those comments. Rather than
01:54walk them back, she reaffirmed her stance. Now here's where the who stands with her question starts
01:59getting interesting. Because the reaction split almost instantly along predictable lines, but not
02:05entirely. On one side, conservative media grabbed the story and ran. Many conservative figures online
02:11were swift in boosting her remarks. Which current professional female athlete will follow Sophie
02:17Cunningham in saying women's sports should only be for women? Tag them below, right-wing activist
02:23Riley Gaines, a former swimmer who tied for fifth place in a NCAA women's championship competition with
02:29a trans athlete, said on X. Podcaster Tomi Lahren jumped in too, framing Cunningham as something close
02:36to a lone voice. Sophie Cunningham standing up for women in women's sports is getting a lot of
02:41attention. Because she seems to be one of the only if not the only professional female
02:45athletes doing it, podcaster Tomi Lahren wrote. Some do it when they retire because the stakes
02:51are lower, but it takes real guts to do it while you're actively playing. The White House
02:56got involved too. The athlete, who is no stranger to receiving love from the Trump administration,
03:02also received a shout-out from the Department of Education. When asked by a reporter about the
03:07controversy, White House press secretary Caroline Levin said Cunningham was speaking the truth and
03:13called the backlash unwarranted. On the other side, it took almost no time for opposition to show up at
03:19the arena. By the time Indiana hit the road, the games themselves had turned into rallies. A crowd of
03:25critics and supporters of Indiana guard Sophie Cunningham's stance on transgender participation in
03:31women's sports gathered around and inside Target Center on Sunday as the fever faced the Lynx in
03:37Minnesota. This wasn't a one-off. It's the third straight fever game that drew a rally after
03:42Cunningham recently voiced support for barring transgender girls and women from girls and women's
03:48sports in an ESPN article published last week. So within about three weeks of one interview, Sophie
03:54Cunningham had the White House press secretary defending her on one side and opposing coaches putting on
04:00protest shirts before tip-off on the other. That's the split we're going to trace piece by piece,
04:05name by name. If you want to know who doesn't stand with Sophie Cunningham, start with the sideline.
04:11Coaches around the leg didn't wait for a microphone to be shoved in their face. Some of them made their
04:16position visible before the ball was even tipped. The clearest example is Minnesota Lynx head coach Cheryl
04:22Reeve. Before Indiana even walked into Target Center, Reeve had already made a public choice about which side of
04:29this she was standing on. Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve wore a light blue shirt under her jacket that said,
04:34trans kids belong. As she directed her team, the top team in the WNBA, to a 108-100 win over
04:41the
04:42fever. That wasn't a slip of the tongue in a press conference. That was a wardrobe choice,
04:47worn on national television, directly at the team carrying Cunningham on its roster. And Reeve wasn't
04:53shy about her history on the issue either. Lynx head coach Cheryl Reeve, who has been vocal about
04:58her support of the transgender community over the years. Including in the days leading up to the
05:03fever clash, wore a shirt during the game that said, trans kids belong. But here's the twist that
05:09makes this story more layered than a simple good guy, bad guy split. Reeve and Cunningham didn't ignore
05:15each other. They talked, face to face, at midcourt, before the game that had half the building split
05:20into two protesting factions. Before the contest, Cunningham and Reeve held a conversation at midcourt.
05:26Reeve didn't want to share the exact nature of their talk. Afterward, Reeve gave a window into how she
05:31squares fierce disagreement, with basic respect. Reeve and Cunningham had a conversation before the
05:37game. And while Reeve declined to say what they talked about, she told reporters after the game that
05:42both women understand that they have platforms. There are some things that we have in common, and maybe
05:48some things you differ on, just like any issues, Reeve said. I think it's how you handle things. It was
05:53nice to be in person, for sure. So Reeve stood against the position, visibly, in fabric in front of
05:59cameras, while still choosing basic decency in person. That's one kind of opposition. Then there's a
06:05different kind, showing up in the stands, rather than on the sideline. Fans didn't just watch this play
06:11out, they showed up wearing the argument on their chests. Fans in the stands were also spotted wearing
06:16shirts that read, trans kids belong in sports. Others were wearing shirts reading, XXXY, referring
06:23to biological sex chromosomes. Both camps in the same arena, on the same night. Golden State Valkyrie's
06:29head coach, Natalie Nakes also weighed in when asked directly. Choosing to offer support for inclusion,
06:35rather than sidestep the question, the way some of her peers did. A small but telling data point in
06:41figuring out where the league's coaching ranks actually stand. Then there's the booing. Actual,
06:46audible, stadium-wide booing, night after night. Sophie Cunningham's comments around transgender
06:51athletes playing women's sports have caused a controversy firestorm to hit the WNBA, with the
06:58Indiana Fever star being booed in Friday's game against the Portland Fire. She didn't hide from it,
07:04either, she responded to the crowd directly. Cunningham was booed by fans in Friday's win over
07:09Portland, before holding up an L sign with her hands in response. And it wasn't just noise.
07:15In Portland, things got uglier than a chorus of booze. A fire-season ticket holder, reported being
07:21spat on, by a fan who was yelling homophobic and transphobic slurs during the game. And the incident
07:26is being investigated by police and the fire organization, per the Oregonian. That's not a
07:32disagreement anymore. That's the temperature this story reached in just one road trip. Then there's
07:37the institution itself, not a person, but the union representing every player in the league,
07:42including Cunningham. The WNBPA made its position known in a way that had nothing to do with press
07:48conferences and everything to do with money. When Cunningham's viral pointing gesture toward Phoenix
07:54Mercury forward Dewana Bonner turned into one of the biggest merchandising opportunities of the
07:59season, the union stepped in. The WNBA Players Association is reportedly refusing to allow its
08:06licensed business partners to monetize Sophie Cunningham's viral pointing gesture. At Phoenix
08:12Mercury forward Dewana Bonner, with the union reportedly labeling the moment, derogatory.
08:17Now, to be fair, that particular incident was about the pointing gesture, not the trans comments
08:23directly. But the pattern is the same. Whatever attention Cunningham generates, her own players' union
08:29has repeatedly chosen to distance itself from it, rather than cash in. The WNBPA is stopping business
08:35partners from utilizing the image. Sports business reporter Darren Roval shared Monday that the WNBPA
08:42is prohibiting business licensees from using the Cunningham point, with the union reportedly calling
08:48it derogatory. The organization that's supposed to represent her interests keeps finding reasons to
08:54keep its distance. Even her own head coach admitted the noise was becoming a problem. Stephanie White didn't
09:01attack Cunningham's position, but she didn't defend it either, she just wanted it to go away. White
09:06admitted after Friday's game that the Cunningham drama had started to become a distraction, and that
09:11she was looking forward to talking about on-court action instead of off-court comments. That's not
09:17opposition in the way Cheryl Reeves' shirt was opposition, but it's not support, either. It's a coach
09:23quietly wishing the whole thing would blow over. So that's one half of the picture, coaches wearing the
09:29other side's message, a union declining to profit from her. Fans screaming from the rafters, and her
09:34own coach treating the entire saga as an inconvenience. Now let's look at who actually showed up for her.
09:41If the coaching ranks and the union were cool at best, and hostile at worst. A different crowd rushed
09:46in from the media and political world to fill the gap, loud, fast, and organized. Start with Sage Steele,
09:53the former sports anchor who's become one of Cunningham's most vocal defenders in traditional media.
09:58Steele didn't just say she agreed with Cunningham, she framed the entire saga as a test of courage.
10:04She didn't bring this up, said former sports anchor Sage Steele told Elizabeth Vargas Reports.
10:10She was asked by an ESPN reporter about this topic, and she answered. And then, as the controversy
10:16brewed, she went on Twitter and said the same thing. Which is, I am not trying to exclude anyone.
10:21Everybody is welcome at my table, but this is the WNBA. Steele went further, arguing that
10:27Cunningham's willingness to stay on the record, even under pressure. Set her apart from every
10:32other active player in the league. Steele said Cunningham is the only current professional
10:37athlete who has chosen to state her stance. That women's sports should be reserved for people born
10:42as women. And Steele had a theory about why nobody else was speaking up. She believes many may just be
10:48fearful of speaking out after all the backlash Cunningham has received.
10:52I understand the fear, Steele said. I understand why people go silent. But the question is,
10:58to what end? We need to commend Sophie because it is scary. And she has continued to stand for truth.
11:04Then there's Brian Erlasher, the former NFL linebacker, who added his voice from outside
11:09the WNBA, entirely, proof that the support for Cunningham wasn't just staying inside women's
11:15basketball circles. Erlasher couldn't understand why any of this was controversial,
11:19in the first place. Why is that controversial? Erlasher asked. I don't get it. I don't understand
11:25it. It's a simple statement. She stood by it. That's what I love about when people say things
11:30don't back down. He praised her refusal to soften the message under pressure. If you say something,
11:36stand by it. And she said it. She backed it up. She's not backing down. No matter how much heat
11:41she
11:42gets from certain people, he concluded. Government voices piled on too. The White House press secretary
11:48calling her comments, the truth, wasn't a one-off aside. It plugged Cunningham directly into a
11:53national policy fight that had already been running for over a year. The hot-button issue has been part
11:59of sports debates for years, even making its way into government. In February 2025, President Donald
12:06Trump signed an executive order titled, Keeping Men Out of Women's Sports. So when the administration
12:12praised Cunningham, it wasn't praising a random athlete. It was praising someone whose comments lined up
12:18with a policy, the White House had already put its name behind. Then there's the connection that
12:23took things to another level entirely, Riley Gaines. Gaines didn't just tweet support from a
12:28distance. She showed up in person. Gaines told Fox News in the aftermath that Cunningham was unfazed
12:34by the hostility toward her, because she is confident in her beliefs. And she's kept the praise going since.
12:40Gaines has continued to defend Cunningham on Fox News, most recently calling her,
12:45absolutely unshakable and unwavering. And that makes her uncancellable, Gaines said.
12:51Gaines went as far as comparing the booing crowds Cunningham faced to her own experience being targeted
12:56for her stance. Gaines, every time Sophie Cunningham was on the court every, she was booed by the entire
13:02stadium. They're trying to do to her what they did to me. That in-person appearance became a photo
13:08that spread fast. WNBA player Sophie Cunningham poses with right-wing influencer Riley Gaines and
13:15former Levi's executive Jennifer Say after the Fever vs. Link's game. For supporters, it was proof of
13:20solidarity. For critics, it was proof of exactly which Lane Cunningham had chosen. This moment seems
13:26to have ended any attempt Cunningham was initially making to adopt a moderate view on the issue.
13:32Even fans piled in on unrelated moments to defend her character more broadly. When she was hit with
13:38an unrelated lawsuit accusing her of an affair with a team executive, supporters rallied instantly.
13:44A bombshell news broke as Sophie Cunningham was accused of having an affair with Phoenix Mercury
13:49CEO Josh Bartlestein. On Wednesday, Cunningham responded to the accusations on X. The Indiana Fever
13:56Guard denied all allegations and said that she was deeply saddened with the lawsuit. Fans rallied in
14:02the comments section and shared their support for her. So that's the other half, conservative media
14:07figures, a former NFL star, a White House press office, and an activist who's arguably become her
14:13most public ally, all lining up loudly and fast. Between those two camps, there wasn't a lot of room
14:19left for anyone trying to stay neutral, but some tried anyway. No name matters more in this story than
14:25Caitlin Clark's, and no reaction has been more scrutinized than hers. She's Cunningham's own
14:30teammate, the face of the fever, and the player whose silence or comment on anything gets amplified
14:36across the entire sports world instantly. For weeks, Clark said nothing. Then, after a loss to
14:41Minnesota, the same night Cheryl Reeve wore her shirt, reporters finally got her on the record.
14:47And what she said satisfied almost nobody looking for a clean side to root for.
14:51I think it's for leagues and governing bodies to work with their athletes to find solutions,
14:56the Indiana Fever Guard told reporters after the team's loss to the Minnesota Lynx.
15:01Clark said the topic of trans girls and women in sports isn't something she and her teammates
15:06discuss in the locker room. Our focus is on basketball, Clark said. That's what we talk about
15:12and how we can get wins. And obviously, we didn't do that tonight. That answer became the story in
15:18itself. Outlets described it different ways. Some framed it as Clark distancing herself from
15:23her teammate. Others as Clark simply refusing to engage. TMZ's take was blunt about the dodge.
15:30Caitlin was asked about Sophie's stance after Sunday's 108-100 loss to the Minnesota Lynx.
15:37She didn't pick sides, said it was above her pay grade, claimed it wasn't a topic in the locker room,
15:42and said she was only focused on winning WNBA games. When a reporter tried to push further,
15:48Clark shut it down without hesitation. After being pressed further, Clark shut the reporter down.
15:53I just answered for you, she said curtly. That single line, sharp, short final,
15:58told you everything about how much patience Clark had left for the question by that point in the week.
16:03But Clark's silence on Cunningham specifically doesn't mean she's been silent on the broader issue.
16:09In a separate conversation, she laid out a far more detailed personal position,
16:14one that reads a lot more sympathetic to inclusion than anything her teammate has said.
16:18I've been in those, you shouldn't belong here conversations many times. And for me,
16:23I don't want that space, especially Golden State, to ever feel like that. So I'm all about women,
16:29little girls deserving to play, and that includes trans women, so I'm all about inclusivity.
16:34She went further, pushing back specifically on the framing that trans athletes are the central
16:39threat to the sport. I come from a space of inclusion, and the narrative that I think that
16:43is problematic is to suggest that transgender athletes are the biggest problem in women's
16:49sports. I think this is what's bothersome, is that there's a faction of people in our country
16:53that are making this a massive issue. She also revealed she'd been pushing the league itself to
16:58get ahead of this, instead of leaving it to individual players to sort out in interviews.
17:03So where does that leave Clark, not standing with Cunningham, not standing against her publicly,
17:08either, at least not by name. She built a wall around the topic entirely, treating every question
17:14about her teammate as a distraction from the scoreboard, while quietly laying out a personal
17:19view that lanes in a very different direction. And Clark wasn't the only one trying to walk that
17:24tightrope. Storm center Stephanie Dawson took a more direct, physical approach, showing her position
17:30without ever naming Cunningham out loud. Before Tuesday night's matchup between the Indiana
17:35Fever and the Seattle Storm, Storm center Stephanie Dawson publicly showed her support for transgender
17:41people, with a statement that seemed directed at Cunningham. Fans read the message immediately.
17:46Stephanie Dawson had a loud and clear message for Sophie Cunningham before they played each
17:51other, someone else said, adding a fire emoji. Clearly, she decided to take a stand for trans
17:56athletes after Cunningham's controversial stance. Then there's commentary from outside the locker
18:02room entirely, sportswriter Howard Bryant, who didn't just question Cunningham's position,
18:07he questioned her motives for taking it in the first place. Commentator Howard Bryant wrote in
18:12The Guardian that Cunningham is clearly trying to cash in on this 15 minutes of fame to ensure she
18:18has a future when her basketball career ends. Her whiteness sells, Bryant wrote. That's a different
18:23kind of opposition than a t-shirt or a boo, that's a direct challenge to why she's speaking at all.
18:28So by the time Indiana's road trip wrapped up, you had a superstar teammate refusing to engage.
18:34An opposing center sending a message without saying a name, and a national columnist accusing her
18:40of using the moment for personal gain. None of that is a t-shirt in the arena or a chant
18:45from the stands.
18:46It's quieter, but it's still a side being taken. By the time all three road games wrapped Portland,
18:51Seattle, Minneapolis, the pattern was set, and it hasn't really broken since. The comments followed
18:57Indiana throughout its three-game road trip. Supporters and critics gathered outside games
19:02in Seattle, Portland, and Minneapolis. Cunningham was loudly booed, opposing players and coaches
19:08wore shirts supporting transgender inclusion. Cunningham herself has kept insisting the noise
19:13around her isn't touching the team. When asked directly whether the rallies were becoming a burden,
19:19she pushed back on her own coach's read of the situation.
19:22I have honestly had nothing to do with the rallies, Cunningham said. I think it's people just
19:27practicing their rights of freedom of speech and doing what other fans have been doing since the
19:32WNBA has started. And so props to them, props to everyone who is able to be confident and be bold
19:38and courageous enough to speak their truths. She's also framed the entire saga as a potential win for
19:44the leg rather than a wound. Cunningham added that embracing the rallies is a way for the leg to be
19:50inclusive. I think this is a great opportunity for the WNBA. You know, they preach diversity and being
19:56inclusive. Meanwhile, the fine print of the actual rulebook has moved in a direction that lines up
20:01with her original comment, whether or not the league wants to frame it that way. The newly passed 2026
20:07collective bargaining agreement stipulates that only players who are women are eligible to play in the
20:13WNBA. And for context on the scale of what she was actually reacting to, there wasn't a wave of
20:18trans athletes she was responding to in real time. The comments circulated widely and set ablaze a
20:24renewed conversation about transgender inclusion, despite there being no active transgender woman
20:30playing or coming into the league. There's also been fallout for people who were never on a roster
20:35at all. A teenager who showed up to a game holding a sign in support of Cunningham became a target
20:41far
20:41beyond anything she or her family expected. They expected a photograph of her supporting Cunningham
20:47to circulate. They did not anticipate their daughter becoming the face of a national WNBA
20:53controversy. Once her photo spread, strangers went looking for more than just her opinion.
20:58The attention quickly spread beyond news reports about Keaton. Strangers found photographs of Wilson
21:04and began directing insults at the teenager and her family. That's the kind of collateral damage that
21:10doesn't show up in a headline about Cunningham herself, but it's part of what standing with her
21:14has actually cost some of the people who tried. Inside the walls of the fever organization,
21:20the official position has stayed almost defiantly neutral. When coaches were pushed to comment on
21:25demonstrations happening right outside their own arenas, the answers were carefully bloodless.
21:30When head coach Stephanie White was asked about the rally and Cunningham's comments,
21:35the team's public relations representative stepped in to read a statement.
21:39Neither our organization nor Sophie had any knowledge of this demonstration and no contact
21:44with its organizers, the statement said. Our only goal as a team, whether at home or away,
21:49is to win basketball games and make fever fans for life, and we are united in that mission.
21:55Opposing coaches gave nearly identical non-answers. Storm head coach Sonja Rahman was also asked about it,
22:01and said in part that the organization always wants to be an area where people feel welcome
22:06coming into this building. She said from her understanding, everyone worked successfully
22:11for fans to feel safe, included, and welcome. So where does that leave the ledger? On one side,
22:17Sage Steele, Brian Erlesher, Riley Gaines, Tomi Lauren, the White House press office,
22:22and a wave of fans who have turned her into a symbol of a fight much bigger than basketball.
22:27On the other, Cheryl Reeves' shirt, Stephanie Dawson's silent statement,
22:31the players' union blocking her biggest merchandising moment, booing crowds in three
22:35different cities, and a columnist questioning her motives outright. And in the middle,
22:40the person closest to her, Kaitlyn Clark, has spent weeks trying not to answer the question at all,
22:45while quietly staking out a position of her own that doesn't fully match either camp.
22:50What's clear is that Cunningham hasn't backed off an inch, and neither has anyone else.
22:54The coaches keep wearing what they want to wear. The union keeps blocking what it wants to block.
23:00The White House keeps praising what it wants to praise. And every time Indiana takes the floor in
23:05a new city, somebody's outside the arena with a sign, ready to remind everyone that this fight isn't close to
23:11over.
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