Predator control for native wildlife

livinglandnz

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This is about as large as a predator is in my country (NZ) I hate Feral cats with a passion due to how destructive they are, our native birdlife and reptiles are precious. I have started setting stoat traps as well. It has been a pretty bad year for feral cats. I have seen good numbers of ground birds though despite how badly their broods were knocked back in early spring by predation. My regular trapping and shooting must be working.
 

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baymule

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I would suspect that a big sow or boar got to the dog and turned on the man. Had an old farmer here that got down in his hog pen with some sows he'd had for several years, litters of pigs and all... don't know if a sow turned on him, he fell down, passed out or what but he was torn apart by the time someone saw/found him....
And THAT’S why I designed my Pig Palace at my previous farm with the ability to feed and water the feeder pigs we raised for the freezer, without having to go in the pen.
 

livinglandnz

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I have totalled 5 feral cats in the last two weeks, sons of bitches. I have noticed a decline in California Quail in the last month, but after trapping the last cat I heard a male Quail calling which was nice to hear. The frogs are going crazy at the moment as well which I love to hear as well.
 

Britesea

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Luckily we don't have the problem with mountain lions here like out in places like Ca where they have attacked humans... Of course, according to F&G we don't "have mountain lions in Va".... yeah right.... They would scare me because they are so stealthy... and can take down a horse so a human would be no match for them. Our black bears are mostly just a nuisance... tearing up bird feeders, getting into garbage and stuff...occasionally killing some animals; don't know of any attacks on humans although it is not impossible... I would be very concerned in grizzly country. They are much more volatile tempered so I have heard and read. And wolves, but I don't know that they have migrated this far south... and there is a red wolf that is supposed to be smaller and is critically endangered in NC but they are having to try to just keep the numbers status quo because they get on the road and get killed, or shot by hunters. They look alot like a coyote from a distance and I understand they have been interbreeding with them some also. I think that the off spring are mostly sterile so that is a dead end road. They are not a problem here.
Actually, Black bears can be more dangerous than grizzlies. If a grizzly attacks a human, they mostly just mess you up some, but black bears will hunt you down to kill and eat. I knew someone in Alaska that told us about how a black bear stalked her neighbor for three days until it found a way inside the house and killed and ate him. The guy didn't believe in guns... might have saved his life.
 

CLSranch

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Me and the boys got a coyote last week, in a trap at the neighbors. The boys first. Oldest boy 5 helped me set the traps. We kept the tail, I didn't want to skin and tan it. Wanting the neighbor to set/use the coon traps I gave him. If I bait them in here I'm pulling them TO my chickens. If he gets them they didn't make it to my house yet. Also why I can't trap for coyotes on my land, that and if not my dogs the closer neighbors dogs will get into them.
I already have both coyote/coon that do come into the yard, not wanting to bait anymore in.
 

farmerjan

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We are lucky in that there are not that great a number of feral cats because the coyotes will keep that population in control here. I understand that they are a major problem where they were introduced and nothing to keep them in check.
Our coyotes have become a serious nuisance here in certain areas; they are smart and have learned to live within cities and suburban areas quietly and with stealth. They keep down the populations of rabbits, ground hogs, deer fawns; wild turkeys, and then go after the "domestic " animals because they are easy. Cats, small dogs, chickens, sheep, goats, small calves. There was a post where the one coyote went after a 2 yr old that the father had taken out of the car seat and set down on the ground when he went to get something out of the car on the other side, and grabbed the child by the seat which, luckily, was well padded by its' diaper... and tried dragging the child away screaming, and the father went after the coyote... In broad daylight in a subdivision......

They are as big a threat as anything since they have adapted so well to more suburban areas as well as out in the country. So, I guess they are equivalent to your feral cat population... except they are bigger and will attack much bigger prey.
 
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