Not for me, but I use adblock and noscript
And live in the USA!
Henry
dpack
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my pooter lives wherever i tell it to live  
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Woo
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I've seen it now. thanks, the reply post with the link worked.
blimey...
BUT if my kids were threatened, I would....
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Mistress Rose
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Glad we don't have anything that nasty here. I am rather nervous about wild boar getting into the area, although I must say it will give me great pleasure to put up a sign warning dog walkers to keep their dogs on a lead in case they get attacked by a wild boar. At present we sometimes either meet the dog and don't see the owner at all, or hear the owner frantically calling the dog, who is somewhere else, not even in the same wood.
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dpack
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i had forgotten about the hairy piggies, if they are hurt, startled or defending piglets they can be very fierce, mostly they just scamper off into the bushes or hide when they smell or hear folk.
i had some snuffling about around me in total darkness in the forest of dean a long time ago , they came they sniffed they went away . i suspect it is rather different with bears.
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Slim
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they came they sniffed they went away . i suspect it is rather different with bears. |
Surprisingly not that much different (with black bears sans offspring).
The best way to picture coming across a black bear in the woods is to think of a scavenging raccoon crossed with a big fat lumbering dog. Now triple or quadruple the size. I still wouldn't want to get between one and its cubs, but they're pussycats compared to grizzlies (brown bears).
Jam Lady
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Pussycats, you say?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060613-cat-bear.html?source=rss
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dpack
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Slim
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Pussycats, you say?
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060613-cat-bear.html?source=rss |
A perfect example 
dpack
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thinking of them as part raccoon and part big dog and scared of cats does put them in a different category to the white bear that ate my pal's mars bars and then tried to eat him unaware he was an ex para and armed. when i was defleshing the skull for him i was amazed at the size of it's teeth and the strength of bone and muscle the thing had to make them chomp.
im glad your local black ones are not overly keen on eating folk , i get the impression brown ones can be a bit iffy even if they are not hungry or protecting cubs. white ones are always hungry or at least looking to stock up the fridge for later.
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Mistress Rose
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Wild boar also apparently eat bluebells, so a ploughed up bluebell patch is a sign of them.
Small animals can be very protective and territoral. In laws used to have a small poodle that would make sure it brought back the number of people it took out with it, and if when it was with people it would see off any other dog including a huge alsation or similar. Never found out what it would do if confronted with a bear as the situation very rarely arises in the south of England, thank goodness.
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dpack
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there could be a few "exotics" pottering around the uk . my ex fil was a game warden for 8000 acres of woodland ,heath and farmland in surrey. in the early 1980's he was convinced there was a puma/cougar sized feline killing deer ,paw prints, cat style kills (bite to windpipe on red deer ,bite to spine on little ones ,liver eaten first etc etc ). he tried dead bait , long hours in high seats by water etc etc and did not get it in a few years , it stopped leaving kills and traces about 1984. ps he wasn't given to fantasy and had hunted just about every thing .
many of the "exotic"stories are mistakes and hoaxes but im fairly sure some are not, thing is with felines they are rather good at avoiding people. quite a few were turned loose when the wild animal regulations about "pets " came into force but up until then one could buy a puma in a pet shop.
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Slim
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When the discoverer knows enough to distinguish from a bobcat or a lynx, I tend to give credence to claims of mountain lion. It's still a bit of a contentious subject here, but many people swear they've seen the long tails of mountain lions. I myself am pretty sure I heard a warning growl/call while walking just over the border in Canada as a younger lad, but have no visual evidence, other than reports of scat previously in the same area.
They're damn elusive, don't like to be seen by humans much! There is photographic evidence of mountain lions as far south as Massachusetts, so I assume them to be here as well, though maybe transiently. The discussion gets further muddied as the 'catamount' subspecies that used to patrol the New England area has been officially deemed extinct, but people are still reporting sightings of mountain lions. The genetic evidence reveals that we have individuals from the American West and from South America that live here now. As to whether or not they're breeding, it's unknown but seems likely.
The Western mtn. lions likely just ranged far enough to make it here, the south american stock are expected to have been pets that were released by rich idiots after they grew to be too large and dangerous to keep on illegally in their Manhattan apartments
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Mistress Rose
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In the UK the only cats of that sort are wild cats, and I understand they really are wild, but they live in Scotland and only there in very remote areas on the whole.
We are fairly sure we have a big cat of some sort in out area. It has been seen in various places on the Downs, and we have seen it, although not close and have some paw print evidence too.
A swamp cat was killed on the road not too far from here a few years ago, and a friend has a picture of an enormous, but domestic cat standards, animal he saw in his garden. All of these must have escaped or been released from captivity, as none are native.
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dpack
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the scottish wild cat is very rare ,about twice the size of a largish domestic , it can cross breed with domestics which usually results in wild cat markings and a fairly big size (i'm fairly sure i had one for 15 yrs , mum went camping, got pregnant and all the kittens had the wild cat striped tail and grew up huge )
much of the wild population has domestic and wild cat genetics
the beast dick was after was far bigger ,he reckoned about the size of a puma ,4 ft between front and back paws when drinking and probably around 50kg.
one of the neighbours had a pair of pet lions (properly caged etc so it wasn’t them ) and the mystery beast left prints about half the size of napoleon and josephine (he had a deal to give them manky deer carcases if he was culling sick ones ). beasty left smaller paw prints than them that were similar but not quite the same.
it was big enough to drop adult red deer but usually went for fallow (and probably bunnies but it did not leave bits of them as they are snack size)
this was before dna testing so if he did ever see hair or dung he didn’t get samples.
thinking of mistaken identity my ronnie ( [wolf x gsd] x [ wolf x newfie] ) was huge for a "dog", hairy and mistaken for a bear by a couple who met him in the woods, they sent a picture of his paw print with a yale key to show scale to the local paper (he did have big paws but he would have been a very small bear )
i didn't bother correcting the story so there are probably folk still think there are bears in the woods of urban west yorkshire which i find quite amusing
in south yorks a family pet dog (gsd x ) had a partial hair cut ,leaving a "mane" to help treat its mange , that one was mistaken for a lion when it said hello to a delivery driver
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Slim
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the scottish wild cat is very rare ,about twice the size of a largish domestic , it can cross breed with domestics which usually results in wild cat markings and a fairly big size (i'm fairly sure i had one for 15 yrs , mum went camping, got pregnant and all the kittens had the wild cat striped tail and grew up huge )
much of the wild population has domestic and wild cat genetics
the beast dick was after was far bigger ,he reckoned about the size of a puma ,4 ft between front and back paws when drinking and probably around 50kg.
one of the neighbours had a pair of pet lions (properly caged etc so it wasn’t them ) and the mystery beast left prints about half the size of napoleon and josephine (he had a deal to give them manky deer carcases if he was culling sick ones ). beasty left smaller paw prints than them that were similar but not quite the same.
it was big enough to drop adult red deer but usually went for fallow (and probably bunnies but it did not leave bits of them as they are snack size)
this was before dna testing so if he did ever see hair or dung he didn’t get samples.
thinking of mistaken identity my ronnie ( [wolf x gsd] x [ wolf x newfie] ) was huge for a "dog", hairy and mistaken for a bear by a couple who met him in the woods, they sent a picture of his paw print with a yale key to show scale to the local paper (he did have big paws but he would have been a very small bear )
i didn't bother correcting the story so there are probably folk still think there are bears in the woods of urban west yorkshire which i find quite amusing
in south yorks a family pet dog (gsd x ) had a partial hair cut ,leaving a "mane" to help treat its mange , that one was mistaken for a lion when it said hello to a delivery driver |
Sounds lynx-ish...
I'm starting to wish I could get a cat with some scottish wildcat genetics.... Probably the closest I could get around here is a Maine Coon cat.
Interesting that someone confused wolfish prints for bear.... I always think bear hind prints looks like a big barefoot print. Looks a bit like "bigfoot went running with his dog"
dpack
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i thought the maine coon was part domestic part bengal cat as a starting point.
they are about the same size as the wildcats and wc crosses
any of those would keep the bears off the patio
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Jam Lady
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Maine coon is a large, long haired domestic cat.
"The Maine Coon is the largest breed of domestic cat. On average, males weigh from 13 to 18 lb (5.9 to 8.2 kg) with females weighing from 8 to 12 lb (3.6 to 5.4 kg). The height of adults can vary between 10 and 16 in (25 and 41 cm) and they can reach a length of up to 48 in (120 cm), including the tail, which can reach a length of 14 in (36 cm) and is long, tapering, and heavily furred, almost resembling a raccoon's tail. The body is solid and muscular, which is necessary for supporting their own weight, and the chest is broad. Maine Coons possess a rectangular body shape and are slow to physically mature; their full potential size is normally not reached until they are three to five years old, while other cats take about one year."
Bengal is a cross from Asian leopard cat and domestic cats. The first three generations out from the cross are usually kept as foundation stock for breeding, or for specialty owners. The fourth generation is sold as pets. Popular for their rosette markings, agility, long muscular body, fondness for water.
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Mistress Rose
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Son has a cat with some Maine Coon in its breeding he thinks. It is very furry, apart from its lower legs, so looks as if it is wearing boots, has the mottling in some lights on its sides, and has a very mobile tail. It wags it when pleased rather like a dog. It is all black with green eyes. Rather pretty. Not at all vocal and does like water.
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buzzy
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Maine coon is a large, long haired domestic cat.
"The Maine Coon is the largest breed of domestic cat. On average, males weigh from 13 to 18 lb (5.9 to 8.2 kg) with females weighing from 8 to 12 lb (3.6 to 5.4 kg). The height of adults can vary between 10 and 16 in (25 and 41 cm) and they can reach a length of up to 48 in (120 cm), including the tail, which can reach a length of 14 in (36 cm) and is long, tapering, and heavily furred, almost resembling a raccoon's tail. The body is solid and muscular, which is necessary for supporting their own weight, and the chest is broad. Maine Coons possess a rectangular body shape and are slow to physically mature; their full potential size is normally not reached until they are three to five years old, while other cats take about one year."
Bengal is a cross from Asian leopard cat and domestic cats. The first three generations out from the cross are usually kept as foundation stock for breeding, or for specialty owners. The fourth generation is sold as pets. Popular for their rosette markings, agility, long muscular body, fondness for water. |
Oh good grief! 
Teetotal cats! Where will it all end?
Henry
Slim
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Son has a cat with some Maine Coon in its breeding he thinks. It is very furry, apart from its lower legs, so looks as if it is wearing boots, has the mottling in some lights on its sides, and has a very mobile tail. It wags it when pleased rather like a dog. It is all black with green eyes. Rather pretty. Not at all vocal and does like water. |
I think of all black as suggesting Norwegian forest cat. Where's Erikht when you need him?
My 12 lb orange tabby was acting a little strange the night before last. Really upset with us for bringing him in. Then as we left yesterday morning we noticed he kept hanging out by a car. Turns out he had caught a rabbit and was annoyed that we kept him from being able to eat it that night. Last night he "brought up" the remains of the hindquarter that he had eaten while we were away for the day. 
dpack
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puss in boots sounds amusing
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Mistress Rose
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She is rather pretty rather than amusing, and I am sure, as most cats would, that you would get a distainful feline 'look' for even suggesting she is amusing in appearence.
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dpack
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the last one i laughed at was dangling cartoon style from the wire roof of a fox trap ,disdainful is an understatement of it's mood
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Mistress Rose
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