When It Comes To Wacky Claims,

And it's not just workers' comp or general liability carriers that have to cope with animal-related claims. Auto insurers should also be on the alert.

"As an agent of only five years at the time, the strangest claim I had ever heard was when one of my insureds called to report an attack by buffalo to his van," wrote Sue Vargovich, an agent with Effler Schmitt Company in Toledo, Ohio.

The insured had been driving through an animal safari, and the car in front of him had been feeding the animals before moving on, Ms. Vargovich wrote.

"It was then that several buffalo decided they were still hungry and started pushing the front of the vehicle, ramming and ramming until the hood and front end were damaged." Luckily, she added, the insured was able to make his escape.

Rachel Lightfoot, a senior compliance analyst with Merastar Auto & Home Insurance in Chattanooga, Tenn., also wrote in about animals with a strange "herd" mentality. "My dad does work as a geologist and hydrologist, often having to take soil and water samples," she wrote. "Once he had to park in a field in which some cows were grazing."

The cows were far enough from the car that he didn't worry about them, Ms. Lightfoot said, noting that her father went about the business of collecting his samples.

"When he came back to his car some time later, he found it surrounded by cows who were rubbing against it, biting it, kicking, etc," Ms. Lightfoot wrote. "He couldn't tell whether the cows felt attracted or threatened. When he was finally able to get them away from his car, Dad found strange scratches and dents everywhere except the roof."

Her father called to ask if this damage would be covered, and Ms. Lightfoot said "that definitely met the definition of 'other than collision.'"

Tim Ward, an executive vice president at Senn Dunn in Greensboro, N.C.–the 2004 winner of NU's "Commercial Insurance Agency Of The Year" award–wrote of a similarly strange experience, suggesting that the answer to the cows' bizarre behavior may not have been in where Ms. Lightfoot's father had parked, but where he had been beforehand.

Mr. Ward sent in his tale of an insured driving back from an unsuccessful fishing trip on the coast. As he was driving, the insured decided to take one last try at catching something, and stopped to fish in a friend's farm pond in the middle of a cow pasture.

"A herd of cows gathered around the car while he was fishing, but he thought nothing of it until he got ready to leave. As he approached the car he saw a cow chewing on something that was long and black. Each time the cow chewed, the black object bobbed up and down," Mr. Ward wrote.

"Curious, he walked over a little closer and realized that the cow was chewing on his windshield wiper! He ran screaming to his car, waving his arms and shooing the cows, only to discover that they had licked his auto from one end to the other, and had eaten the rubber seals from around the windows," he added.

The reason for such strange behavior is fairly simple, he wrote. "Cows like salt," Mr. Ward explained. "His car had been parked next to the ocean for two days. They saw it as a huge salt lick."

The insured called to explain what had happened. "He said his car was covered with gooey slobber, the paint was ruined, and all the windows were jangling as he rode along because there was no rubber to hold them in place," Mr. Ward wrote. "He wanted to know if comprehensive coverage was really comprehensive."

Luckily for the insured, it was, and the carrier paid the claim to repaint the car and replace the seals.

However, not everyone is so fortunate when our animal friends get hungry.

Herbert Feldman, president and CEO of Alpha Risk Management in Great Neck, N.Y., wrote about a claim handled by the company's Montr?al office involving a shipment of sweaters imported from the Far East that turned up moth-eaten.

"There was no evidence of broken seals or tampering of any kind," he wrote. "The ocean cargo claims adjuster denied the claim based upon exclusion for inherent vice. Basis–the moths were in the larval stage upon sailing, and the only food the adult moths found were the wool sweaters."

However, moths, cows and buffalo aren't the only ones capable of strange behavior, leading to insurance claims. Those highest on the food chain–human beings–also are quite capable of getting themselves into weird predicaments.

For example, Mr. Ward told the story of an insured with an unusual means of supporting himself while cleaning the gutters of his house's steep roof.

"He had a great idea–get a long rope, throw it over the house and tie it to the bumper of his car. Then he was able to get on the back of the roof and tie the rope around his waist–he was secure," Mr. Ward wrote. The man took an extra precautionary measure, but one that was not nearly as reliable. "His 10-year-old son had been ordered to stay by the car. But as 10-year-olds will do, he ran off to play."

What happened next was unfortunate, as the man's wife started the car to go somewhere.

"He hears the car start and tries to untie the rope, but it is too late," Mr. Ward wrote. "She drives off, pulling him up one side of the roof, down the other and off the second story. Luckily he lands in a bush, but is knocked unconscious."

The man was dragged from the bush and down the block before a neighbor ran into the street to stop the car, in what Mr. Ward called a "strange example of the coverage under auto med pay." While the carrier paid the claim, he added, "they declined coverage for the 10-year-old's red behind."

Bad ideas like the one cited by Mr. Ward often end up as an insurance claim. Wes Turrentine, a vice president with the Turrentine Insurance Agency in Alexandria, La., wrote of an insured who owned a land-clearing operation and was clearing trees off a property using a D-9 Caterpillar bulldozer.

The insured got off the bulldozer to talk with the property owner, setting the stage for bad decision-making, as one of his employees, "who knew nothing about operating a D-9 dozer, decided he would run the dozer while his boss was talking."

The property owner had parked a brand-new Cadillac behind the bulldozer, and as Mr. Turrentine put it, "you can guess the outcome of this one!" as the bulldozer backed up and flattened the car.

Another example of bad thinking happened to another insured of Mr. Turrentine's–a convenience store owner. Two young ladies came in to use the restroom, and apparently the need was so great that each couldn't wait for the other to finish. Given the circumstances, one of them decided to make use of the sink.

"Well, as you would know a sink will not hold the weight of a young adult," Mr. Turrentine wrote. "The sink broke off the wall, cutting the young lady on the rear end." Not surprisingly, he added, "a few days later we got a letter from an attorney stating that they were going to sue us" because of the injury.

Another of Mr. Turrentine's stories showed that, sometimes, people are just unlucky.

"We had an insured driving down a main street with a friend of his riding in the front passenger seat with him," he wrote. "As they crossed a railroad track, the front tire flipped a lawnmower blade, which was laying on the tracks, up through the bottom of the car and the front passenger seat where the friend was sitting, cutting his rear end."

Other odd-ball claims are made that much stranger by their explanation. Jim Tice, chairman of Capitol Insurance Center Inc. in Indianapolis, wrote about a claim he saw early in his career when he was an underwriter at State Farm.

"Someone had filed an auto medical payments claim saying simply, 'I shut the trunk on my wife's chest,'" he wrote. "I have spent the last 40 years trying to picture that in my mind."

Sometimes, insurance can play the role of karmic retribution.

"A married man in Phoenix found himself in a bit of a jam," wrote Nancy Germond, president of Insurance Writer in Jefferson City, Mo., citing a claim handled by a boss of hers early in her career involving a fire that burned down an entire wing of a Phoenix motel on Christmas Eve.

The married man in question also had a mistress, for whom he rented a room at a local motel. "He made the mistake of putting the motel room in his name and paying for the room for her for quite some time," Ms. Germond recalled.

With the holidays approaching, the man bought his mistress a tree, which they both decorated. "Apparently, he did not share any Christmas tree safety tips with her," she said, adding that while the man spent Christmas with his family, his lady friend left the lights on when she left the room that night. "Unfortunately, the tree caught fire and burned down an entire wing of the motel."

Ms. Germond's boss at the time, an independent adjuster, investigated the claim.

"He was quite surprised (as the man's wife later was, too, no doubt) to find that the room was in a name other than that of the…girl," she wrote. "After running an assets check, he tracked down the gentleman and the carrier was able to subrogate with his homeowners' carrier."

Although the claim was resolved, Ms. Germond noted that her boss "was never clear on the status of the marriage after this occurrence."