Wolf Attack on Dog

[Toddy]

S'okay we're all inclined to do it.

Don't the states or counties in America have dog wardens ?

Toddy

 

[Haggis]

In point of fact there are "animal control" folk just about everywhere, but it seems they usually wait until a specific animal is reported. Feral dogs, or free roaming house dogs present, a unique difficultly outside city limits: feral dogs can and do roam over many thousands of acres, domestic dogs must be "caught in the act", what ever that act may be. To compound all this, many states have laws protecting the free roaming dogs,,,

 

[santaman2000]

S'okay we're all inclined to do it.

Don't the states or counties in America have dog wardens ?

Toddy

Most towns do, at least if the budget allows; and the urbanized/suburbanized counties as well. But most rural areas have next to nothing in the way of animal control. Even those that do have, usually they're rarely called as the local farmers take the same approach you mentioned in Scotland; they shoot the strays.

 

[Toddy]

Farmers may only shoot dogs that they suspect of worrying their sheep, etc.,. They report other strays just like the rest of us. Thing is though, even if someone is walking their dog and have it off the leash, if the farmer suspects and shoots it, then the owner has no comeback. It's considered the owner's fault because he/she was irresponsible.

http://naturenet.net/law/dogs.html

Toddy

 

[Bluebs4]

I live on the outskirts of bristol and fox attacks on dogs have happened , iv been crossing everything that one waltzes into my garden , my dogs have pulled the sent out of the air but Mr Fox has a first name Cunning . Iv been googling wolfs since this thread and boy they are some animal almost perfect as a pack and very clever efficient killers my new favourite beast.

 

[santaman2000]

Farmers may only shoot dogs that they suspect of worrying their sheep, etc.,. They report other strays just like the rest of us. Thing is though, even if someone is walking their dog and have it off the leash, if the farmer suspects and shoots it, then the owner has no comeback. It's considered the owner's fault because he/she was irresponsible.

http://naturenet.net/law/dogs.html

Toddy

Pretty much the same here Toddy. The actual laws vary somewhat from state to state but generally you aren't supposed to shoot a stray just for being a stray. That said, those areas without sufficient budget for an animal control officer likewise don't have sufficient budget (nor inclination) to investigate shootings of strays. Particularly since there's usually a presumption (whether deserved or not) that such strays were indeed causing some trouble.

A few years ago one of my cousins shot a pair of bulldogs in her back yard. She and others had requested the owner to keep them restrained on several previous occasions. On that particular day, she was awakened by the squealing of her own Lab puppy outside. When she went out to check, she found the bulldogs had dug into the Lab's pen and were attacking him. She retrieved her 40 cal and shot both of them, but it was too late to save her pup. When the Sherrif's Deputy questioned the bulldogs' owner, he denied any knowledge of them at all.

 

[boatman]

Picked this up from another forum so. no. the farmer may not just shoot your dog nor can the gamekeeper that threatened to shoot our previous dog when she was on a country road with the dog on a lead with my wife who was alone.

1. A farmer commits a criminal offence in threatening to shoot a dog, and also in actually shooting a dog, unless he honestly believed his livestock was 'in immediate need of protection' and that ‘the means of protection adopted or proposed to be adopted were or would be reasonable having regard to all the circumstances’. So where shouting, throwing something or shooting over the head would be enough, then that is what should be done first to avoid committing an offence. (Criminal Damage Act 1971).

2. The dog owner can sue the farmer for compensation, and his only defence to killing a dog is he believed and had reasonable grounds for that belief, that either 'there was no other reasonable means of ending or preventing the worrying' or if the owner is not there, that ‘there was no practicable means of ascertaining to whom it belongs’. He must also have reported the shooting to the police within 48 hours. The dog owner has 6 years in which to bring an action for compensation. Some dogs are highly valuable. (Animals Act 1971).

3. The dog owner commits an offence if (a) their dog is in a field with livestock worrying them, Worrying means attacking livestock, or chasing livestock in such a way as may reasonably be expected to cause injury or suffering to the livestock or, in the case of females, abortion, or loss of or diminution in their produce; or (b) their dog is not under control in a field with sheep, even if he was not worrying them, but a police dog, a guide dog, trained sheep dog, a working gun dog or a pack of hounds are all excluded. (Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953).

 

[pete79]

Happens every winter where I live. Some years more than others. It's a behaviour progression. Life gets a little harder in the bush as winter arrives and goes on, and the wolves have to cover more ground and this increases the likelihood of them coming near people. They come across a few dogs whose owners let roam free and fido doesn't get to come home that evening. Pretty soon they realise that people aren't really that observant, and as long as they stay back a bit they can help themselves to a dog or 2. After a while they get used to seeing people around and hanging around houses, and they end up taking dogs off chains in front of people. Just animals taking advantage of an available food source really. They are huge too, and definitely outweigh the majority of dog breeds.

 

[santaman2000]

Happens every winter where I live. Some years more than others. It's a behaviour progression. Life gets a little harder in the bush as winter arrives and goes on, and the wolves have to cover more ground and this increases the likelihood of them coming near people. They come across a few dogs whose owners let roam free and fido doesn't get to come home that evening. Pretty soon they realise that people aren't really that observant, and as long as they stay back a bit they can help themselves to a dog or 2. After a while they get used to seeing people around and hanging around houses, and they end up taking dogs off chains in front of people. Just animals taking advantage of an available food source really. They are huge too, and definitely outweigh the majority of dog breeds.

Their size depends as much on which species of wolf as it does on which breed of dog. Many American wolf species are under 100 pounds. Or perhaps I would be more accurate to say, "sub-species." Red Wolves are the first to mind but also some sub-species of Grey Wolves. Though admittedly, the ones being reintroduced and thriving tend to be the larger ones.

 

[pete79]

Their size depends as much on which species of wolf as it does on which breed of dog. Many American wolf species are under 100 pounds. Or perhaps I would be more accurate to say, "sub-species." Red Wolves are the first to mind but also some sub-species of Grey Wolves. Though admittedly, the ones being reintroduced and thriving tend to be the larger ones.

100 lps plus round here. Like most animals, the further north you go, the larger they get. Surface area to volume ratio - it pays to be big for heat regulation in a northern climate. They're like a big dog on stilts, and the love to partake of a domestic dog or two.

 

[Uilleachan]

Feral dogs in the sahara can be found right across north africa, coast to coast. For Muslims the dog is an unclean animal and as muslims make up the majority of the population I think I can safely say the presence of the feral dog, in significant numbers isn't down to people sharing those beliefs neglecting and discarding one time pets, it's a much more complex issue.

Feral dogs can be found in the center of Cairo or out in the middle of nowhere with almost equal measure. If there's something to eat and a source of drinking water there'll be dogs somewhere in about it. They are filling an available niche in the absence of other contenders, kind of like the urban fox exploiting available niches of the towns & cities in the UK.

The wolf is an amazing animal. I don't know much about the wolf of the americas south middle and north, and all the sub species. But the eurasian wolf is slowly relocating back across western europe on a couple of fronts.

The Italian wolf is moving back across the maritime alps in to the south east of france, there are figured to be around 100+ wolfs now living in the south east of france, with a parent population in italy of around 1000+ and thought to be increasing by around 7% PA

Eastern wolves are now established in Germany, again, and thought to be present in several established packs, total population is thought to be present in numbers of between 50 to 100 individual animals. The netherlands have had one confirmed sighting and recently a local authority roadside clean up team found an unusual road killed dog that was sent off for testing, that turned out to be a wolf, found just 30k from the north sea coast It's reckoned this animal was out scouting for a territory from the new population centre in germany.

There is still the iberian wolf in, well, Iberia (spain & portugal). It's reckoned that the populations of east and the far west will reconnect at some point in the next 10 to 20 years.

The eurasian wolf differs from the american cousins in a few critical areas, 1) they are able to subsist and prosper in smaller family groups/packs, typically 5 to 12 individuals comprise viable pack sizes, as opposed to double that and bigger for the grey wolf of north america, for example. 2) they require considerably smaller areas for territories, 250 to 500 sq miles being typical 3) Are considerably more adapt at coexisting with humans, as evidenced by the dutch wolf and the reappearance in western europe generally.

The bear too is back on the rise all across eastern europe. The reemergence of both the bear and the wolf in europe is the great ecological success story of the day.

 

[santaman2000]

100 lps plus round here. Like most animals, the further north you go, the larger they get. Surface area to volume ratio - it pays to be big for heat regulation in a northern climate. They're like a big dog on stilts, and the love to partake of a domestic dog or two.

Yeah. The thing about the size getting larger as you go north applies to most species it seems, not just canines.

The coyotes here also like to snag the occasional dog or cat. They seem to know better than to try to take on a donkey or mule though.