This thread is to discuss how animals (other then humans ! ) can be used in an survival situation. We tend to think of animals in terms of a source of food but this fails to deal with the scope of the topic. Unless you have mechanical knowledge maintaining the likes of cars and trucks may not be feasible remember that at some point you are going to have to make replacement parts. You might even use a mixture of modern day vehicles and horse drawn carts.

Now I am going to start off the discussion by putting forward two animals that could be of use in a survival situation.
The first one is camels . Camel milk can be drank , the animals themselves can endure harsh conditions and they can be used for transport purposes.
Since I'm going to assume you all know about sheep the next animal I am going to put forward is the Alpaca . I don't know if an Alpaca could be used in an transport role but there wool can be used to make warm clothing.

A note on pets . Make sure you have the means of taking your beloved pet where ever you go and ignore or deal with other peoples inclination to eat your pet. I would defend my cat like I would any other member of the family.
Providing you can provide for your pet you have a means of keeping your moral up . Dogs are particularly useful they can assist you in your hunt for food if they are trained to do so and a dog could also alert you to the presence of intruders. If you wanted to you could research the idea of training carrier pigeons.

Personally, I would prefer a llama to an alpaca because with its larger size it can carry more. I don't know if this is getting off topic, but if it is, we need a new thread...what about fishin' skills? I think every survivalist needs to know how to fish.

This is a good topic and highly debatable.It is an ongoing question in my house as we have pets.My son believes it a good idea to have dogs, both for hunting and warning of strangers etc.I say no. Here's why.
A) Whatever food you find will have to be shared, no matter how little.
B) It would be better to learn to hunt yourself, in case you find yourself without your dog.
C) Unless you have a very well trained animal, imagine you are hiding from a threat and your dog starts barking, giving you away.
That's certainly an interesting idea about a camel, but I live in Canada and they aren't exactly abundunt.Would definitely be hard to hide it, too.

OK, here's an oddball choice-silkworms! In the event of a total economic collapse, natural silk could once again become as valuable as diamonds...

Also, while were on the insect thing, you could raise grubs to eat. Or, what about honeybees?

I think I'm going to like this topic.

A good choice would be a flock of Geese...not only would they make one hell of a racket to warn of intruders, the eggs could be harvested as a valuable and renewable source of protein.

...adopting a pack of dogs would also be a benefit, aside from the slight risk of having them turn on you, they could be harnessed as a team to pull a wheeled sled, or even put to use in a treadmill to generate mechanical/electrical power

[edit on 27-6-2007 by citizen smith]

Originally posted by AccessDenied
A) Whatever food you find will have to be shared, no matter how little.

Fair point A lot would depend on the situation if you are a nomad in an area with little food and you failed to stock any food for your pet in advance then you may not be able to look after your pet. If you end up in a situation where you pretty much end up being a farmer then you may be able to keep your pets.

I think that if you plan to take your pet with you need to stock up on pet food in advance. In terms of cat food the way to go would be the sachets known as single serves on the box I have. The single serves are small and light weight so you could transport cat food without to much trouble.

Make sure you have a cage to transport your cat around in and a leash for your dog. Personally for me the moral boast I would get from having my cat around far out weighs the disadvantage of having to carry additional supplies around for her. A cat could also keep the rodents away from your long term food storage areas.

B) It would be better to learn to hunt yourself, in case you find yourself without your dog.

That is solid reasoning but is there no reason why you cant learn to hunt with and without a dog ?

C) Unless you have a very well trained animal, imagine you are hiding from a threat and your dog starts barking, giving you away.

A lot depends on what you want the animal for and what you train it do to in advance.

[edit on 27-6-2007 by xpert11]

Geese and chickens, Edible, provide protein in the form of eggs. Geese are natures alarm system. Just try sneakin' by a bunch of geese, it's hard to do. Chickens keep the pests under control in your garden(s).

Dogs. Protection, both physical and mental. Cats would be useful in keeping the rodents under control around your storage.

Silkworms would never have occurred to me, great idea...diamonds indeed.

Many animals would, and are, useful in the making of cloth, and for a small group of family members I wouldn't think a lot would be necessary to provide.

'Course all these critters require care and protection from predators of all sorts. So there is bad right along with the good.

The trick To animals in a survival situation is the same as any survival technique. Training. We have 2 spoiled rotten house cats and a spoiled rotten lab/boxer mix. All of our animals are highly trained. The dog will not make a peep in less told to guard. the cats were easier to train but they come when called, and will only go in there box. As for sharing food with our animals I personally don't eat rodents but the cats do and love them so no rodent problems in my house. I use my dog for hunting its only fare that she gets a share of the hard earned goods. Its called being a pack. We all live together or die together.
Things are so much easier if your hunkered down moving with the cats can be a pain. They are inside cats only and that was by design not accident. but they are just as happy in the BOV as they are in the house also by design. We call them and say go time in a commanding voice and they run into there travel cage, and wate to be carried out to the Jeep. the dog we just say ride and she will knock you over trying to get out the door.

Ferrets would make a good survival companion...they're intelligent, and can be trained to hunt for rabbits for example, dont require much in the way of food, and will happily be carried around in a parka pocket, or walked on a leash

Originally posted by citizen smith
Ferrets would make a good survival companion...they're intelligent, and can be trained to hunt for rabbits for example, dont require much in the way of food, and will happily be carried around in a parka pocket, or walked on a leash

And you can eat them!

Any one see a pattern emerging with me? I'd rather eat a ferret than a mc Donalds, teenagers with spots put me off eating.

Originally posted by Now_Then
teenagers with spots put me off eating.

Not to worry, the spots can quite easily be picked off and then you can eat them

Originally posted by citizen smith

Originally posted by Now_Then
teenagers with spots put me off eating.

Not to worry, the spots can quite easily be picked off and then you can eat them

Oh please no more of that or I'm gonna toss my chili dog!

Another thought would be to breed rats.

The idea being that they can breed and multiply fast enough, can, live on next to anything, and as long you kept them in sanitary conditions, would make an alternative food source.

They'd also provide a good supply of pelts to make a rather fetching cloak, matching hat and gloves too maybe?

I kept rats as a kid, let them breed - had two litters of about 25 each, very easy, lots of fun. Difficult to keep the lil sods apart, they breed like... rats.

Rats could be a very good food source, they are very clean and their immune systems are top notch. - Has to be happy familys tho, happy rats = easy to keep, they are intelligent, they can be depressed and grumpy.

Also after 3-4 months would you eat something you've prob given a name?? (I would)

I can see to problems with rats is two fold. If you were to use Rats as an source of food or source of material you would need a lot of them because of there small size. There is also the risk that Rats could eat away at your alternative food supply. However there size could work in there favour when it came to transporting large amounts of the animals from place to place.

Pigs could be an option as well as cattle if you settling down somewhere. If you are brave and maybe a bit foolish you could to try domesticate feral Pigs. for hygiene reasons make sure you have an method of preserving and cooking your food properly.

[edit on 27-6-2007 by xpert11]