Dominant animal species?

[Scythe13]

(28 May 2014, 11:46)bigpaul Wrote: oh no not the zoo animals ....again!!!

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we have enough escaped animals in the wild already, let loose when the licencing was brought in or escaped courtesy of the Animal Liberation lot, a few more wont make much of a difference.

That's what Australia said when the Bull Frog (might have been the cane toad, my memory is not perfect) was accidentally intorduced.

The thing is, it wouldn't take a huge number of introduced specimines to cause a potentially MASSIVE difference. Whether it's wild boar, bears, lions, wolves, or some other highly adaptive species.

[Mortblanc]

I have been told that a Siberian Tiger can smell a person carrying a 12f/p pellet rifle $hitting hos pants 1/4 mile away!

[Tartar Horde]

Your up early Mort, or is it late? I forget which..

[bigpaul]

there are known "exotic" animals living in the wild but no body has ever seen them close up, even the "wild" boar that were let loose are very elusive and only a few people have ever seen them.

[Scythe13]

(28 May 2014, 12:48)bigpaul Wrote: there are known "exotic" animals living in the wild but no body has ever seen them close up, even the "wild" boar that were let loose are very elusive and only a few people have ever seen them.

Be that as it may, but what about WTSHTF. I like lions as an example, because they are more than capable of adapting to our winters. But right now, not many people have seen lions out and about. But what if they started to breed and increase in number to powerful packs, post SHTF? It really wouldn't matter if hardly anybody saw any of the exotic species now, what matters would be THEN. Now is just a few fleeting sightings. But NOW, doesn't hold the possibility of a pack of lions running through a countryside view here in the UK.

[Midnitemo]

Rats will be the most prolific in the beginning but the biggest problem will be the humble moggy gone feral as they are potentially the best predator in the UK pound for pound and could seriously undermine the small animal eco system , we must deal with them wherever we find them as they have little place in a post event society(nota cat hater myself) as for exotic,s unless the event is very sudden I think zoo's&safari parks will have euthanized them.

[bigpaul]

I don't see "exotics" as being much of a problem even IF they get loose(which I see as not likely) the first bad british winter will finish MOST of them off, there are panthers and the like loose in the countryside now but nobody has seem them close up only at long distance.

[Scythe13]

(28 May 2014, 14:27)bigpaul Wrote: I don't see "exotics" as being much of a problem even IF they get loose(which I see as not likely) the first bad british winter will finish MOST of them off, there are panthers and the like loose in the countryside now but nobody has seem them close up only at long distance.

What about the ones that can adapt to the harsh winters? Like lions, tigers, bears, wolves, and the alike? Plenty of prey species in the UK, sheep, cows, horses, goats, people.....

[bigpaul]

I really don't see them being in enough numbers to cause a problem.

[Devonian]

I think the large exotics such as Lions, Tigers and Bears etc wouldn't last that long as they would be hunted down and killed out of irrational fear. The length of time needed for such animals to bread is also far too drawn out for them to become dominant, whereas the likes of rats and rabbits reproduce much much more quickly and in far greater numbers.

Wolves and hyenas etc I think are a bit a different, they could easily escape and disappear with colonies developing in a similar way to the wild Boar, but again these will be isolated and they would not be a dominant species.

I still think rats; magpies and crows will be the real winners.

Rabbits I think will be too widely hunted in the early years, so that will keep their numbers low, the same goes for Deer.

So who really want to go rat catching when rabbit and deer are available?

Magpies and crows are smart and they will be more difficult to kill/capture.