A Vancouver Island woman who used a Metallica song to scare off a cougar got a phone call from the band’s frontman James Hetfield.
“I was a little bit lost for words,” Denise Gallant told CTV News.
Gallant was walking her dog in Duncan, B.C. when she noticed a cougar stalking them. She made herself as big as possible and started shouting at the wild animal, who didn’t back off. So, Gallant tried playing a bit of Metallica’s “Don’t Tread On Me” on her iPhone.
“The first three, four notes of the intro and he was just gone,” she said.
Her story went viral and caught the attention of Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, who shared it on his Facebook page. A rep for the band then contacted her and told her to expect a call.
Gallant said Hetfield was “so down to earth and such a great person.” They talked about their dogs and life on Vancouver Island. “If you had told the 18-year-old me that this would happen, I never would've believed it,” she told CTV News. “I would've just fallen out of my skin with excitement.”
Hetfield followed up the call with a selfie. “Thought you might like some confirmation that it was me,” he texted.