Invasive species...new threats?

Here in the UK, we've got big cats & wild boar. Both of these have been released on purpose.
I've had encounters with both of them including some very scary night time ones. Unlike you over the pond, we're mostly unarmed, but even when I've got a shotgun with me, I don't think I'd have much success with birdshot.
Our government mostly denies their existance, except for a small population of boar in the south of England. I've had the local police look at me as if I was mad when I reported a scary run in with a mountain lion whilst I was out hunting rabbits with an air rifle. They really didn't believe me!!!
I think its only a matter of time before somebody gets hurt or killed.
I always carry the most wicked knife I can get away with over here, when I'm in the countryside, but our laws are stupid & I'd most likely be sent to jail if I was caught with them, as self defence is not a valid reason for carrying a blade.
Anyway, as far as over here is concerned. Invasive species are having an effect & I'm b***** scared of them.
 
invasive threatening species .... we have cane toads and politicians , the cane toad is the totem animal of the politician .. both need eradicating

on a more serious note tho we have feral pigs goats and deer that cause havoc with the farmers . I see them as a self maintaining meat supply tho .

I have seen a couple times now , big cats , the first time I was cruising along looking at the animal eyes in the car lights , fox , I can kill that no worries ,rabbit , mmm food ... cows .. yay steak , then this pair of big yellow eyes with about a foot space between them staring at me .... WTF???... big cat .. it had just taken down a cow literally on the side of the road . I swear I *felt* it thinking "more food ?" when it was staring at me . I thought I was the only one awake in the car at the time but my mum turned to me and says " did you see what I think I just saw ?"

Been back a few times with a camera but I cant find them when I got a camera ready ....
 
Myal said:
Been back a few times with a camera but I cant find them when I got a camera ready ....
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Thats my problem too. Except one time I had a camera when there was a great big boar snorting round my tent in the dead of night.
I'm not usually a coward, but I decided not to take a photo of that one.
Myal, do you have any idea what type of big cat it was? A foot space between its eyes sounds like lion to me, yikes. I hope you have a big gun to go with that camera!!!
 
well, i'm in Australia, so things are rather different than for you seppos.

for example, our only 'large predators' (eg: things that will eat you) are Crocodiles and Sharks. the day i stop going bodysurfing at the beach for fear of shark attack: please just shoot me on the spot.

as for crocs, they're on a whole different level, but by and large so long as you're basically sensible about what your doing, they shouldn't be a problem.

now, what we DO have in Oz in merry abundance is any number of crawling or slithering spiders, snakes and various other venomous critters with a power-to-weight-ratio that could put a bear into orbit that can seriously ruin your day.

but again, a little bush-smarts and they're not really a drama unless you tread on a brown snake (in which case you're screwed).

as for invasive pests, sheesh, we have more of those than you can shake a stick at. Pigs, Goats, Rabbits, Camels, Dogs, Cats, Cane Toads, European Mice/Rats, Buffalo, the list goes on and that's just the fauna. there's also Mother Of Millions, Parthenium Weed, Lippia grass, Hudson's Pear, Prickly Pear and all manner of invasive floral pests.
 
philbro said:
Thats my problem too. Except one time I had a camera when there was a great big boar snorting round my tent in the dead of night.
I'm not usually a coward, but I decided not to take a photo of that one.
Myal, do you have any idea what type of big cat it was? A foot space between its eyes sounds like lion to me, yikes. I hope you have a big gun to go with that camera!!!
Click to expand...

All I know about it is that its eyes reflected yellow in the headlights , it was black ... and bloody big .. We were on our way home from a jaunt up thru QLD to Cook Town and were on our way hoe , I was going to drop off osme oconuts and stuff to my cousin near Armidale but forgot when i mapped out the shortest route home .. we got down near to Tamworth when i realised and I just got the GPS to take us by th shortest route to Armidale .... it did its thing and had us taking roads that were nothing more than 2 wheel ruts thru paddocks ..

we had driven thru a few mobs of sleeping cows , and then thru a mob that was all upright and awake , kinda jumpy ... we got thru them and were rounding a bend on the crest of a hill when I saw what i thought was the outline of a brahman cross bul laying down .. but it as wrong ... then the thing lifted its head as the headlights hit it , it was pitch black , but its eyes were forward facing , and reflected yellow mt brain starts doing handstands ... forward facing eyes = meat eating predator ... there are none here that big but one s looking at me now .... it was just a cat that had taken down a cow .

My car was low on fuel and running a bit sick from a couple tanks of cheap fuel .. it wouldnt idle at all and was being a pig to start when it stopped ... the hill we were climbing had me locked back into 1st and 2nd gear to get up .. I had a camera in the luggage in the back of the car ... but it meant parking the car ( no handbrake - steep hill ) getting out to get the camera ( bleeding great cat out there kinda scary to do right then ) finding batteries with something like charge left in them hoping the dam thing started up again but having THE PICTURE that proves these things are really out here and not myth ..

or just doing the sensible thing and keeping on going and not messing with something big enough to eat me , Ill come back with a car that wont let me down and camera ready to go and snap a picture later on one day ..

I been back a few times cruising up and down at night , staked out a few cattle mobs sleeping that would have made me hungry if I was an oversized feline ..got me some infra red camera gear , but no , still looking for that cat or any of its family ... no luck so far .

FWIW i have no gun .. sad n scary I know but true .
 
Makes the herping trips interesting in the everglades :)

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