Dominant animal species?

[Scythe13]

WTSHTF, what do you think will be the dominant animal species within the first year of life post SHTF....obviously aside from humans....and I do mean in the UK.

Please note, I mean hunt-able species, not insects. It is in the hunting section.

[Devonian]

[Binnie]

Rabbits!

[bigpaul]

they will be mostly what you see now as roadkill, mainly deer and badgers, rabbits will increase until they get mixy then die off again(it goes in cycles), definitely more rats, lots and lots of rats.

[TOF]

Domestic cats and dogs gone feral. I wouldn't turn my nose up at either in a nice stew.

[Mortblanc]

Once again, you are using "SHTF" as if it were a defined term with measurable stages at specific intervals.

what if SHTF is an uncontrollable outbreak of Hoof and Mouth or non-human anthrax, that kills every mammal in GB and leaves the human population intact?

[bigpaul]

then we'll all turn into bloody vegetarians!!!

[Tartar Horde]

Far too many ponderables and possible scenarios to make an educated guess Scythe to be honest. Perhaps if you could structure your proposition with a more specific event we could debate with more certainty.

[Scythe13]

Far too many ponderables and possible scenarios to make an educated guess Scythe to be honest. Perhaps if you could structure your proposition with a more specific event we could debate with more certainty.

You know how much I love uncertainty's variability. Certain people have a certain bias, e.g. we all know BP expects about a 90% die off, so his response will be the result of that view. Comments about the possibility of a huge viral outbreak also show new perspectives that some people may not have thought about. The domestic animals and even farm animals element might be a new thought to others still. Same as the scavengers, or the the breeding speed of a species.

For me, at least, the uncertainty allows people a wider scope, which could bring more information into play.

The possibility of zoo animals escaping or being released is also a huge element. Lions at places like Longleat are capable of surviving UK winters at the moment. So WTSHTF, if they escape (EMP, their doors are opened, no electrical fences, etc) they would be able to survive very well, properly adapted, and within a few generations, if not just 1 or even the current generation, they could be very much a dominant threat. Plenty of prey species for them, e.g. horses, cows, etc.

[bigpaul]

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.