tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post111223567600710291..comments2024-03-26T22:16:26.572-04:00Comments on Terrierman's Daily Dose: The Beast of Exmoor and Other NonsensePBurnshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-83393152392951066912018-08-06T10:54:46.622-04:002018-08-06T10:54:46.622-04:00One interesting thing about the various legends of...One interesting thing about the various legends of huge black dogs in the UK is when these legends originated. The key to understanding both what they are, and why the legends are so place-specific is in the genesis of the legends.<br /><br />They mostly start at a period of British history when smuggling of luxury good was absolutely rife. The government had just come out of a major war, and was short of money. Taxing income had yet to be thought of, so taxes on luxury goods were the best way of extracting money from the populace without causing riots.<br /><br />Unfortunately Britain is an island, and most of us British are somewhat rebellious to the point of criminality when dodging tax comes up. The Scottish people were further from continental Europe and tended to go in for covert stills and the like; down in England smuggled booze and tobacco were more common.<br /><br />Now, the thing about smuggling is this: actually shifting the goods from ship to shore is only half the battle. The other half is getting the stuff from shore to somewhere where the local revenue collectors won't see it, and it is very helpful indeed if you can persuade inconvenient witnesses to stay out of your way. Hence we see an outbreak of what one friend of mine terms the Health & Safety Beast.<br /><br />"Stay out of that lane that runs from the hidden cove up to the church with the large and easily accessed crypt, for a huge dog with red-glowing eyes, truly a hound from Hell is known to roam this lane on the night of the full moon!"<br /><br />Or rather, stay out of that lane or we might be forced to give you a little tap on the head with a club, and we can really do without having to make an inconvenient dead body disappear into the night, when we would be much better occupied hauling booze.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02618328278732100203noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-17489049700519202782016-10-07T21:17:17.636-04:002016-10-07T21:17:17.636-04:00There are cougar that have been shot inside Califo...There are cougar that have been shot inside California towns and suburbs; coyotes live in central LA, and bobcats were found living on freeway loops and under tool sheds in suburban Seattle. Meanwhile, at our home place in Nevada, coyotes, cougars, and black bears walk down the road. <br /><br />What does crack me up is the supposed "monster" reported from a Midwestern state. The monster was somewhat large and smelled very bad. The picture looked suspiciously like a wolverine, a monster that is somewhat large and smells very bad. The "imaginary monster" was really a wild animal that the viewer had no idea existed.<br />yakimabellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16240548612502961431noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-46501988855985136822012-08-31T07:28:49.598-04:002012-08-31T07:28:49.598-04:00Clearly this is all just a newfangled misinterpret...Clearly this is all just a newfangled misinterpretation of sightings of the 'black dog' (madra dubh or gytrash). <br /><br />If there's one thing we know from ghost hunters, the supernatural explanation is always the most likely one.Simbahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14754179758579802451noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-11242318265122816032012-08-29T08:02:00.674-04:002012-08-29T08:02:00.674-04:00Last week one of our neighbors called to warn us h...Last week one of our neighbors called to warn us his son-in-law had seen a cougar crossing a field just above our farm in western Frederick Co, MD. I don't know the eye witness and another neighbor (longtime resident and farmer) who was also warned does not know the eye witness.<br /><br />Just to be safe, I had a talk with Sam (our Maremma) to keep an eye out for a large cat. :)PipedreamFarmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15689373141070251132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-70232721320570099262009-07-09T06:01:49.926-04:002009-07-09T06:01:49.926-04:00As far as I know (and I take something of an inter...As far as I know (and I take something of an interest in such beasties), apart from escaped tame big cats recaptured there have only been two definitively large, unknown felids shot in the UK, both in northern Scotland, and the skins of both have been retained.<br /><br />In one case, this large (body length of about 3 feet, excluding tail) black cat was caught in a snare and behaved so ferociously that the gamekeeper who found it stood back quite a way when he shot it.<br /><br />On examination the animal was something of a mystery; it had very large teeth and for its size a very small brain-pan, smaller than a normal domestic cat. The eye orbits were complete, which in domestic cats they are not, and all in all the beast looked most peculiar, right down to unusually large ears.<br /><br />At a rough guess, I'd say it was an F1 or F2 hybrid between a domestic cat and an exotic of some sort; these are now getting quite common as pets (and one was almost certainly the cause of the Church Fenton tiger reports of a couple of years ago; the area that this purported tiger was seen in is right next door to an RAF training base, and the surounding area is regularly and thoroughly hunted by the Bramham Moor and Badsworth foxhounds and never yet have they spoken on a tiger).<br /><br />Apart from these reports, there is a continual low level of sightings of large black felids plus the occasional physical encounter with one, which usually results in mild scratches to the victim and only occurs under extreme provocation of the cat, for instance being actually stepped upon.<br /><br />What you do not see is predation of deer, which are increasing in numbers in the UK, nor do you see much predation of domestic cats, small dogs, livestock and rabbits and nor does the predation of non-rabbit species increase when myxy locally wipes out rabbits. You don't even see local predation of deer infected with bovine tuberculosis, which is a local zoonotic that has badgers as the reservoir host.<br /><br />What you do see is a strong correlation between sightings of big cats, truly enormous black dogs and other, stranger phenomena with geological faults which would lead to the hypothesis that geomagnetism-induced hallucination is the cause of many of the stranger sightings.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-45150448480188954732009-02-18T00:22:00.000-05:002009-02-18T00:22:00.000-05:00Those photos of "red wolves" and coyotes are fasci...Those photos of "red wolves" and coyotes are fascinating and concerning. It was only a few years ago that the State of Maryland declared coyotes now live in every county. I've never seen one where I live but a credible person I know has, and she lives in a neighborhood in our still (relatively) rural county. Our Maryland farm is for sale and we plan to move to a southern state (SC) with a very well-established coyote population. I'm told you can legally hunt coyote there 365 days a year. Frankly, these healthy coyote numbers makes me a bit unsettled, especially pondering small terrier ownership again after several years without. Maybe it's over-blown fear of the unknown, but I'll cop to feeling a bit worried.<BR/><BR/>SeahorseSeahorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00133454380103294333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-84766159773000355032009-02-17T12:09:00.000-05:002009-02-17T12:09:00.000-05:00My bet is that these are lurchers. Time will tell...My bet is that these are lurchers. Time will tell. You will note that no one seems to have reported a missing Big Cat, these animals were seen at night in a car while wearing InfraRed or LowLight googgles, etc. <BR/><BR/>Known Big Cats that have escaped zoos in the U.S. or the U.K. before (see >> http://ady.tearn.com/ady.aspx?id=38&mid=bigcatrescue&pid=1&url=http%3A//www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3279439/Boy-finds-cheetah-in-his-garden.html&z=44 ) are typically located or shot within a week. A breeding population would require: 1) several animals escaped at once; 2) of the same species; 3) different sexes, 3) in the same area with no mortality or infecundity, and; 4) no reporting of the escape and no inquiry as to "whatever happened to your lions?".<BR/><BR/>P.PBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-5862853833520742372009-02-17T10:48:00.000-05:002009-02-17T10:48:00.000-05:00You might have missed this article.Escapees from "...You might have missed <A HREF="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/4142014/Big-cats-spotted-by-Government-agency-officials.html" REL="nofollow">this article</A>.<BR/><BR/>Escapees from "safari parks" seems to be the leading hypothesis.Chas S. Cliftonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00923547685265741325noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-2826856948216229942009-02-17T02:35:00.000-05:002009-02-17T02:35:00.000-05:00I do not think the red wolves in the Monongahela h...I do not think the red wolves in the Monongahela have been DNA tested, but my bet is that they are a migrating pair and kin from the Alligator in North Carolina. Wolves will move a long way to find new space. Coyote-wolf crosses are also coming down from NY. Some of the eastern coyotes are 40-60 pound animals -- smaller than a grey wolf but larger than a western coyote. See http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2005/02/eastern-coyotes.html for a picture of a 59-lb coyote, and here >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2006/03/central-park-coyote-new-york-city.html for a coyote captured in Central Park (they really are everywhere now). <BR/><BR/>PPBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-78112083354296315262009-02-17T00:02:00.000-05:002009-02-17T00:02:00.000-05:00Sonnavagun! I had no idea, though the guys telling...Sonnavagun! I had no idea, though the guys telling me about these wolves were quite specific and believable. Are you saying that these animals are naturally occuring and have been around for a long time? I think I would have taken them for coyotes, though I'm by no means expert in coyote identification, either!<BR/><BR/>SeahorseSeahorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00133454380103294333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-26883893841777999712009-02-16T22:43:00.000-05:002009-02-16T22:43:00.000-05:00We have plenty of Lion-on-the-Brain here."Cougar" ...We have plenty of Lion-on-the-Brain here.<BR/><BR/>"Cougar" sitings in Beaver County, PA -- with TV news footage of the Lab-sized dog-tracks as "proof."<BR/><BR/>Geezers in north-central PA who will SWEAR that the PGC is secretly importing mountain lions, and spin the most amazing tales of pre-dawn traffic stops of Game Commission officers with trailers full of breeding stock. These are the same guys who earnestly believe that the PGC imported coyotes, and that those same coyotes are eating all the deer.<BR/><BR/>Finally, there were the livestock attacks, also in Beaver county, that the owners KNEW were the work of giant coyotes aka WOLVES because, <I>no dog could do it</I>. They stopped after police shot a pack of scraggly dogs that tried to steal and eat a toddler from her back patio.<BR/><BR/>The Brits are silly, but I don't think we are so much less so. Even PA has its Sasquatch sightings.Heather Houlahanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13891198124130533198noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-80090927559655048402009-02-16T19:10:00.000-05:002009-02-16T19:10:00.000-05:00My brother lives in the Missouri Ozarks and says h...My brother lives in the Missouri Ozarks and says he has seen a cougar near his property. And locals who have goats claim they've seen a large and smaller cougar (mother and cub?) skulking around their farms, and have lost several of their herds to the cats. No doubt, if they exist, some good ol' boy will soon have the hides tacked up onto the back of his shed.Jo Mercerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14390713861753487735noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-78637222972114215472009-02-16T19:08:00.000-05:002009-02-16T19:08:00.000-05:00Not only true, Seahorse, but I have pictures. See...Not only true, Seahorse, but I have pictures. See >> http://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2008/05/monongahela-national-forest-virginia.html<BR/><BR/>Those are red wolves -- the original east coast wolf -- which is stable hybrid between gray wolves and coyotes. <BR/><BR/>P.PBurnshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05781540805883519064noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7684843.post-35723062497793201882009-02-16T18:55:00.000-05:002009-02-16T18:55:00.000-05:00I was struck by your comment about wolves living i...I was struck by your comment about wolves living in North Carolina. I had two guys tell me the other day that there are wolves in West Virginia, which surprised me. I questioned them carefully, asking if they meant coyotes, or wolf-hybrid "dogs", or anything other than wild wolves. They assured me they knew what they were talking about. They went on to say some wolves had inter-bred with domestic dogs and there were large packs prowling through the mountains where they regularly camp. According to their story, in the area they frequent, there used to be large sheep flocks, but the sheep have been wiped out by the wolves and the farmers don't even try to keep sheep anymore. <BR/><BR/>SeahorseSeahorsehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00133454380103294333noreply@blogger.com