not a deterence

Technocrat

not a deterence

Josh

Tue Jan 30 15:25:34 -0800 2007

(in reply to not a deterence )

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Domestic dogs are thousands of times more dangerous than large predators in terms of attacks and fatalities, yet we encourage cohabitation with these animals. It isn't fair to apply the double standard. It's baseless fear mongering. Data for total fatalities and attacks for all the above are easy to come by. I understand the threat large predators (particularly wolf packs) are to livestock, but killing the animals doesn't solve the problem. Killing animals can solve the larger issue of population control. Like I said before, if we expect legitimate cohabitation with large predators we need to be more clever about how we diffuse populations from unhealthy gradients. This is something we have failed to do completely.

not a deterence

President4242

Tue Jan 30 17:06:02 -0800 2007
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Domestic dogs are thousands of times more dangerous than large predators in terms of attacks and fatalities, yet we encourage cohabitation with these animals.

And for just about any rancher in Eastern Oregon, if your dog attacks their herd, you can say goodbye to that dog, it will be shot if caught. Completely legally too- a trespassing dog or cat in Oregon is officially a stray out of the control of the owner, a pest that the neighbors are not expected to put up with.

not a deterence

scott7477

Wed Jan 31 06:55:23 -0800 2007
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Does that law apply in metro areas of Oregon such as Portland, Salem, or Eugene?

not a deterence

President4242

Wed Jan 31 10:04:39 -0800 2007
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Does that law apply in metro areas of Oregon such as Portland, Salem, or Eugene?

I believe it does, but to a lesser extent since often firearms are banned by local ordinance, and likely you're not going to have any livestock to be damaged (also depending on local ordinance- I was surprised to learn that I could keep chickens in the backyard in Beaverton).

I agree on the dogs

zogger

Wed Jan 31 18:37:25 -0800 2007
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I've related here my encounters with a wild pack not too long ago. And that particular pack only stopped coming around when I killed one and wounded another. 4 times total, twice they attacked us. The first time theyran at my girlfriend who was just walking from the greenhouse to the house and they surprised her, she saw them coming fast and ran, made it to the house and our dogs startled them, then I ran out and they ran. The second time I was looking for them later that day because I had a hunch where they had gone to hide, and I was right and they jumped out and came at us, but one of my dogs got in the middle of them and went surprisingly (to me anyway, medium awesome fight) medieval and held her own for awhile, but I couldn't get a shot in. So I got in close and was going to try and kick some away-distract them-to get a shot, but they took off. Awhile later-on the next week they came back and that's when I finally nailed them, less than 50 yards from my calves, which they were directly headed for.

Basically, when I am outside, I am armed, I am under no illusion as to how I would fare faced with half a dozen wild pitbull crosses. Quite dangerous guys once they go nutso feral like that.

In the US, the top threats to humans from animals are dog attack, followed by white tail deer collisions in cars.

And just to be clear, I am not one to say just shoot all the large predators on sight, far from it, I like them, just we need to always take into perspective that we as humans have a right to live and a right to space as well. A common sense compromise is in order, and it depends on the human, and the animal, on a case by case basis. Extreme problem animals just have to be dealt with. It is unfortunate but true. Most will not become much of a problem at all, but some just will. Just depends. And I like the idea of the huge guard dogs, that is proving to be a nice compromise for most stock - and your kids- protection scenarios and situations, -albeit people do lose dogs to the big predators, too.