August 21, 2019

"One researcher... accused the dogs in the National Park of Brasilia, where they hunted in massive packs, of scaring off natural predators."

"It was found that the closer humans lived to a nature preserve, the more likely dogs had penetrated it But perhaps most striking? The dogs were neither feral nor domestic — but somewhere in between. 'All the dogs we detected had an "owner" or a person that the animal has a bond with... The species population increases following human populations, exacerbating their potential impact on wildlife.'... [Researchers] set up cameras and discovered dozens of dogs in the [Tijuca forest, one of the world’s largest urban woodlands]. They estimated more than 100 dogs were in the park — not residents, it turned out, so much as frequent visitors, tracking in from nearby favelas. 'These are people who are very poor... They don’t have money to build walls. . . . When the owners leave for work, the dog leaves, too, and only returns when the owner comes back to the house from work.' The owners often have no idea what their dogs are up to. Even if they were told... they almost certainly wouldn’t believe it.... 'We’d do interviews with the farmers: "Have you seen these dogs?" And they’d say, "Yeah, but my dogs aren’t the problem; it’s my neighbor’s dogs."'"

From "The dog is one of the world’s most destructive mammals. Brazil proves it" (WaPo).

46 comments:

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

Hells Bells! that's my town!

Infinite Monkeys said...

"Yeah, but my dogs aren’t the problem; it’s my neighbor’s dogs."

Practically every dog owner everywhere.

henry said...

Written by a cat person?

Fen said...

WaPo: "They dont have money to build walls"

Walls? Uh-oh. Somebody at WaPo just ended their career.

Expat(ish) said...

To be fair (Letterkenny reference, natch) the dog was practically designed by man to be exactly that way. Territorial, loyal, fierce, self sacrificing, warm at night, and edible.

-XC

Michael K said...

Gerbils are better pets for WaPoo readers.

reader said...

Inside dogs

Jaq said...

If you want to prove this for yourself, get backyard chickens. I remember one conversation with a neighbor whose dog could be heard eating one of my chickens directly behind me saying “My dogs wouldn’t do that, besides, they are right in my house.” Fucking lying bitch. Then she pretended to be surprised when I pointed out that her dog was eating Ginger right behind us, the only one of my chickens I had named, because she would come up to us whenever we went out. The fact that it had a name somehow engaged some sympathy circuit in her, I guess. Plus being caught in a boldfaced lie.

Jaq said...

Dogs are great, it’s the owners so many times who really suck.

Fernandinande said...

"Yeah, but my dogs aren’t the problem; it’s my neighbor’s dogs."'"

Recently three pitbulls killed a 9-year-old girl who was riding a bicycle in Detroit, and the poor (Hispanic named) dad actually said "I don't blame the dogs [paraphrase:] because the owner never even fed them".

wild chicken said...

Dogs ran free in my LA neighborhood when I was a kid. You'd see them charging down the street, headed over to the next block for some bitch or whatever.

Third world is just 50 years behind.

CJinPA said...

Dogs that are neither feral nor domestic would be a huge problem. They do as much destruction as wild dogs, but their population isn't kept in check by disease, starvation and exposure to the elements.

Calypso Facto said...

I was at a rural property a few years ago that was fully fenced, and commented to the owner that he had put in a lot of work to keep his dogs in. He replied that the fence was to keep the roving packs of neighborhood dogs OUT.

Wince said...

Shoot them. How hard is that?

CJinPA said...

Maybe a system of doggie tubes is the answer?

gilbar said...

are they actually saying that dogs kill more animals than cats*?
OR, are they saying that dogs; COULD kill more animals than cats, if we
turned the WHOLE WORLD into a national park, and let our dogs run wild there?

cats* cats kill More birds than windmills do; which is REALLY Saying Something

mockturtle said...

One doesn't have to go that far afield to observe this problem. In the rural NW packs of dogs have always been a problem for livestock, pets and people. I had to use my bear spray on more than one occasion when we lived in the mountains as one neighbor let his pack out at night to forage. My sister's neighbor had a pack of wolf hybrids that also ran loose. My sister told him they would get shot if he didn't keep them in. While these dogs have owners, they are not pets. They are predatory animals. As in most of these cases, the dogs themselves are not at fault. They are doing what packs of dogs will do. I'd rather shoot the owner.

In AZ I have Mexican-American neighbors who put their small dogs out to roam the streets for the day while they are at work. Animal control has been pretty good about following up on complaints as loose dogs are against our county ordinance.

MadisonMan said...

Won't a herd of feral pigs take care of the dogs?

mockturtle said...

Per Fernandistein: Recently three pitbulls killed a 9-year-old girl who was riding a bicycle in Detroit, and the poor (Hispanic named) dad actually said "I don't blame the dogs [paraphrase:] because the owner never even fed them".

There needs to be a moratorium on breeding pit bulls and pit bull mixes. Again, not the dog's fault, but humans bred them to kill other dogs in a ring and their genetic makeup is not to be trusted. There are far too many cases of children and adults being savaged by pit bulls and pit mixes. I would euthanize all that are now in shelters and any that are brought in to shelters.

mockturtle said...

Yes, call it genocide if you wish. ;-)

Saint Croix said...

Dogs are awesome and the WaPo can suck it!

Saint Croix said...

"The dog is one of the world’s most destructive mammals."

The most destructive would be human beings, right?

Bob Boyd said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Lucien said...

In Beverly Hills packs of Goldendoodles roam the streets, searching for a bevy of Maltipoos.

Bruce Hayden said...

Not surprising. I started living on and off in Summit County Colorado almost a half century ago. A lot of young people living the mountain life, which necessitated having a large dog. Spitz breeds like huskies were esp popular. Guys would go to work during the day pounding nails, and the gals into town to work in the shops and restaurants, leaving the dogs to run wild. Then one summer it blew up around Breckinridge, the county seat. The dogs would get together every day, while their “owners” were at work, and run in large packs. Everyone thought that it was funny when they started taking mini dogs belonging to the visiting tourists. But little kids weren’t much bigger, and when they went for some little kids, things blew up. You had the “watch your kids better” faction, and the “control your dogs” faction, dueling in the paper. The latter won, and a county wide leash law was adopted, and enforced, ultimately in some cases, with some errant canines paying the ultimate price.

I think that packs of domestic dogs can be more dangerous than wolves. They can run in bigger packs, because they don’t have to depend on the pack to eat. And being “domesticated”, they don’t have the fear of humans that most wolves do.

Expat(ish) said...

In our ultra suburban fenced FL neighborhood there is a very nice older guy with a very very large Belgian Malinois (this is the dog many PD use, not the smaller milder Shepard) that is barely under control.

His dog used to lunge at my small (23 lb) dog while we were walking - not me, because he never reacted to me walking or running by, just my dog. I finally spoke to him one day when his dog got within a few inches of my dog.

"That's a lovely dog, it would be a shame if I had to shoot him." Now he crosses the street when we meet walking the dogs.

Amusingly my dog now wants to bark at his (safely distant) dog. Dogs are great.

-XC

LA_Bob said...

"The dog is one of the world’s most destructive mammals."

Never heard dogs accused of causing global warming.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

"The dog is one of the world’s most destructive mammals."

Please, please, let this become a major enviro-fascist talking point. You'll be able to build coal-fired plants in Martha's Vineyard in no time.

reader said...

The last time we golfed Sewailo there was a pack of dogs gamboling about. They were all a pretty good size, probably 50lbs plus, mutts and lab mixes. Son misses our dogs and if there weren’t 3 other golfers filling out his foursome he would have stopped to play with them.

Maybe the dogs help to fight coots? The grounds keepers didn’t seem bothered by the presence of the dogs.

Danno said...

WaPoo has pissed off conservatives and anyone not in their hive, so now they want to piss off all dog owners?

Temujin said...

They're coming for our kids, our dogs, our cars, our money, our air conditioners, our heat, our food, our games (football), our genders, our health care, our races, our religions, our words, our guns, our thoughts.

Why wouldn't anyone want to be on the left and vote Democrat these days?

Skeptical Voter said...

Town dogs out hunting in a pack are called "sheep killers" in Kern County (Bakersfield CA and about 50 miles around in all directions). There were a real problem about ten years ago. They'd hunt at night and get on a flock of sheep and just kill for sport.

But it's not just Kern County--town dogs hunting in packs are an occasional problem throughout livestock raising country. I had an uncle who raised cattle in Southeastern Arizona. When packs of town dogs became a problem, his 30-30 rifle was used to "solve" the problem. At the time (50's and early 60's) townfolk and ranchers both knew that was just the way it was.

These days with PETA hard at work, a rancher, faced with a pack of town dogs, would have to shoot, shovel and shut up. Dear Old Fluffy would just disappear after one of his or her nocturnal forays.

Jaq said...

" so now they want to piss off all dog owners?”

This is why Islam is never going to take over North America. Not without having the power to use high school football stadiums for beheadings, anyways.

JAORE said...

Why do you need an AR 15?

There are packs of dogs running wild while the owners do nothing....

Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...

Reader at 10:43;
It's possible the golf course had hired the dogs to patrol the course and keep out unwanted wildlife. I know several people living around an urban lake that have Border Collies specifically to keep the geese off their lawns. The dogs don't actually attack the geese, they just herd them back into the water.

Jaq said...

There should be a ruling that non migratory Canada geese are no longer protected under the migratory bird treaty.

rcocean said...

We had a 'Nice" dog in our neighborhood that somehow got into a chicken coop and killed all the Chickens. Dogs are predators. When they can't be part of Our Pack, they go and form other packs. End Pontification.

Unknown said...

What kind of carbon footprint do dogs leave?

You have to wonder about having dogs with the world ending and so much strife on twitter.

Unknown said...

The Muslims were right about dogs all along!

allahu akbar!

reader said...

Gojuplyr you might be right.

https://www.usga.org/course-care/regional-updates/west-region/coots-are-back.html

1. Dogs—Specially trained dogs are very good at chasing coots off property or keeping them in the water. The most common breeds for coot control are border collies and Australian shepherds because both have excellent herding ability. The main limitation to using dogs is that they must chase coots multiple times throughout the day and into the evening hours.

gilbar said...

MadisonMan said... Won't a herd of feral pigs take care of the dogs?
a pack of Wolves certainly will

Michael K said...

The main limitation to using dogs is that they must chase coots multiple times throughout the day and into the evening hours.


The golf course south of Chicago that I used to play a lot developed a Canadian Goose problem. That is true all over the midwest as they stopped migrating. The golf course had an Australian sheepdog to chase them but the last time I was there I found that the dog had been banned. Idiots thought it was cruel.

jimbino said...

Diseases Acquired From Dogs

* Anthrax
* Blastomycosis
* Bergeyella (Weeksella) zoohelcum
* Brucella canis
* Campylobacteriosis
* Capnocytophaga canimorsus
* Capnocytophaga cynodegmi
* CDC groups EF-4a and EF-4b
* CDC group NO-1
* Cheyletiellosis
* Coenurosis
* Cryptosporidiosis
* Cutaneous larva migrans
* Demodex folliculorum
* Dermatophytosis
* Dipylidium caninum
* Echinococcosis
* Francisella tularensis
* Gastrospirillum hominis
* Granulocytic ehrlichiosis
* Leptospirosis
* Lyme disease
* Neisseria canis
* Neisseria weaveri
* Pasteurella multocida
* Plague
* Rabies
* Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever
* Salmonellosis
* Scabies
* Staphylococcus intermedius
* Strongyloides stercoralis
* Trichinosis
* Visceral larva migrans
* Yersinia enterocolitica

Seeing Red said...

Not yet for me.

mockturtle said...

Dogs—Specially trained dogs are very good at chasing coots off property

Bet they can't keep old coots off the course...

Jaq said...

Weird that I am still alive, jimbino, but now that you posted it, the next time I eat a dog, I will be sure it’s not undercooked.