Boondocking and security

[Bogo]

Thinking of the aerial bombers, starlings are the worst. You better have a hat on if they fly overhead. It will rain poop. It takes killing many of them before they flee. They are an invasive species and persona-non-grate here in the USA. Fire at will into their flocks. They are also harming the native song bird populations by nesting space and food competition as well as causing large amounts of crop loss. They are also carriers for many diseases humans and livestock can catch. Almost every time I've had a large flock come through I've had disease problems in the cattle after. To us cattle producers they are a pest and are a big threat when grain is being fed. I would not be surprised to find out they are a major cause of salmonella in livestock and on vegetable crops. http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/animals/eurostarling.shtml Feral pigs are another salmonella spreader. If you see a feral pig, shoot it and report it. Peccaries, alternate name javelina, are the only New World native pig like animal family and in the USA they are only found in the south west. They are also found throughout Central America, and much of South America. Many states are now getting smart and putting open seasons with no limits on feral hogs and wild hogs. Here in Iowa feral pigs are shoot on sight and report where you saw them to the DNR. They do a tremendous amount of damage to native wildlife, crops, and gardens. They are especially troublesome to ground nesting birds.

[eamarquardt]

Thinking of the aerial bombers, starlings are the worst. You better have a hat on if they fly overhead. It will rain poop. It takes killing many of them before they flee. They are an invasive species and persona-non-grate here in the USA. Fire at will into their flocks. They are also harming the native song bird populations by nesting space and food competition as well as causing large amounts of crop loss. They are also carriers for many diseases humans and livestock can catch. Almost every time I've had a large flock come through I've had disease problems in the cattle after. To us cattle producers they are a pest and are a big threat when grain is being fed. I would not be surprised to find out they are a major cause of salmonella in livestock and on vegetable crops. http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/animals/eurostarling.shtml Feral pigs are another salmonella spreader. If you see a feral pig, shoot it and report it. Peccaries, alternate name javelina, are the only New World native pig like animal family and in the USA they are only found in the south west. They are also found throughout Central America, and much of South America. Many states are now getting smart and putting open seasons with no limits on feral hogs and wild hogs. Here in Iowa feral pigs are shoot on sight and report where you saw them to the DNR. They do a tremendous amount of damage to native wildlife, crops, and gardens. They are especially troublesome to ground nesting birds.

From camping safety to being dive bombed by starlings. My how we digress. I love it and don't understand why folks get their knickers in a knot when the same happens on other threads.

Keep it up!

Cheers,

Gus

[48Rob]

Gus,

Disease spreading birdies and mean little piggies are a potential danger to people boondock camping...
As are bears and other wildlife.

How people choose to deal with the threat is where the tension begins...

Rob

[eamarquardt]

Gus,

Disease spreading birdies and mean little piggies are a potential danger to people boondock camping...
As are bears and other wildlife.

How people choose to deal with the threat is where the tension begins...

Rob

Agreed. I was "dumped on" by a birdie not long ago. When we used to visit Santa Rosa Island we used to go hiking. One time we came upon a group of wild boar. Them's some mean "little piggies". Fortunately they were more afraid of us than we were of them and they scattered. We considered ourselves fortunate as we had no defenses against a pissed off little piggy or two.

Cheers,

Gus

[Kody]

We are having an enormous problem with fruit bats, aka, flying foxes, here in Australia. The worst of it is centered on the disease that the bats spread, (Hendra). You may have heard of the outbreak of Hendra Virus that has caused so much fear and death here. The virus kills horses and the people who are trying to treat the horses also contract the virus and they also die. There have been at least nine people die from Hendra and there is no cure. The boffins who are working on this disease have only just recently found an answer by immunizing the horses but it is still a major threat for people. The immunization costs $375.00 for each horse and most people cant afford this. One of the first people to die was a vet here in Rockhampton. He was also the vet who looked after our German Shepherd Kody and was a most loved and respected guy. It was thought that the disease was restricted to horses but it caused the death of at least two dogs and nine people, most of whom were vetinarians.
The second big problem with the bats is the damage they have created to the environment. They have destroyed countless hundreds of trees in and around many towns and have driven away all the tourists by their constant defecation that falls from the sky like rain. The danger of contracting Hendra has people too scared to walk down the street in the towns that the bats have overrun. The stench of the streets in some areas will make you throw up but you must not hurt the bats. If you get caught killing/shooting a bat, the fine is over $2000.
The local councils want the bat colonies destroyed completely but the Federal Native Animal laws prohibit any destruction of the bats. People have been fined big time for even trying to scare the bats away with an air horn. Some councils have had a permit granted to kill some bats but not all of them that have infested a town. The cry from the Federal Conservation mob is that the bats are endangered, (yeah, right!). If you pick up a bat, either dead or alive, and you get scratched by a claw, you need to seek medical treatment. The bats carry a rabies type of disease that can make you extremely and dangerously ill or even kill you. They also fly up to 50 or 60 miles each night in their search for food.
I have had to take our cars out of the garage to build our TD. This has caused a problem as the bats have come every night to feed on the flowers of the Ironbark trees that cover our property. I have to wash the cars frequently to clean off all the feces the bats have dropped throughout the night. It has reached the point now that I have to erect a tarp to park the cars under for evening. This is not the biggest problem. The biggest problem is that the roof of the garage is where we collect the rain water (for drinking and cooking) that is stored in two 1150 gallon tanks. All our drinking water is filtered extensively and so far, there have been no problems with any disease or from pollution of the tank water during the 11 years that we have lived on the property. At least when the flowers have gone, the bats also disappear. I can almost tolerate the attitude of the Government with the bats but don't get me started on the protection of the crocodiles that are now in plague numbers across the entire north of Australia.

Kody

[Bogo]

It's not the little piggies you have to worry about. It's the grown up sows and boars who will charge you if they feel threatened.

[droid_ca]

We had an old trapper that had some pigs get away from him and they went into the hill around here and a few years latter they were finding small piggy foot prints I guess the Conservation officers were wrong about them dying off and now if anybody sees one they are allowed to take them out